{"id":1277,"date":"2011-05-20T10:09:36","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T14:09:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/?p=1277"},"modified":"2011-05-19T23:46:20","modified_gmt":"2011-05-20T03:46:20","slug":"why-the-mets-have-the-subway-series-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/2011\/05\/20\/why-the-mets-have-the-subway-series-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Why The Mets Have the Subway Series Advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Yankees have righted the ship a little with a three game winning streak, but I still like the way the Mets are playing lately over the Yankees. \u00a0With the exception of the battering the Yankees gave the Orioles last night, they really haven’t been hitting the ball very well. \u00a0It took them 15 innings on Wednesday to score a second run and they’ve got a lot of aging players that aren’t quite hitting like they did in their prime.<\/p>\n

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The Mets are without three of their starting lineup, Angel Pagan, Ike Davis and David Wright. \u00a0So far Justin Turner has really provided the Mets with some good production, and Ruben Tejada and Jason Pridie have filled in pretty well. \u00a0 They’ll be bolstered by playing in the hitter friendly Yankee Stadium, and if Jason Bay can have a nice hot streak, the Mets lineup can still score plenty of runs.<\/p>\n

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So what about the pitching? \u00a0If I had to pick the three pitchers in the Yankees rotation I’d want to face, I got them. \u00a0 The Mets miss C.C. Sabathia and Bartolo Colon. \u00a0Friday night is the briefly a Met Freddy Garcia versus R.A. Dickey. \u00a0Garcia pitched well to start, but he’s got a 4.63 ERA over his last four starts and a very high WHIP. \u00a0Dickey is due to have a good game, having recently reduced his walk total. \u00a0However, he has struggled with a high home run to fly ball ratio, and if he doesn’t get the break he needs on the knuckleball, Yankee Stadium might be cruel. \u00a0If you’re not going to the game and would rather be close to Citi Field, check out the Apple’s <\/a>half priced drink special at McFaddens.<\/p>\n

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Saturday the Mets have Chris Capuano going, who has been pretty solid and\u00a0consistent\u00a0for them. \u00a0 The Yankees have their own personal version of Oliver Perez in A.J. Burnett who has his own definition of effectively wild. \u00a0 He’s due for a high walk game and the Mets have been a pretty patient team. \u00a0This is definitely a winnable game, even if we have to suffer through Fox announcers for it.<\/p>\n

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The finale features Mike Pelfrey against Ivan Nova. \u00a0Looks like a mismatch on paper, although Nova has had the occasional gem. \u00a0Pelfrey has looked great lately, although he has given up a bunch of solo home runs. \u00a0If he can work the sinker more effectively and keep the ball out of the air, he should have no problem dominating the fly ball happy Yankees.<\/p>\n

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It’s time to have some fun. \u00a0The Mets are capable of having a better record than the Yankees after the weekend is over, and depending on the results of the other games, they could be closer to first place as well. \u00a0The Mets have been playing good baseball, and there is no reason for them to be dismissed as a chore for the Yankees. \u00a0Don’t believe people when they say it’s a lose-lose for the Yankees because they’re “supposed” to beat the Mets. \u00a0They’re just being curmudgeons. \u00a0Both teams are supposed to beat the teams on their schedule, regardless of the proximity of the other teams fans. \u00a0If the Yankees fall to 24-21 or 23-22, and more importantly fall further behind Tampa and let the Red Sox and\/or the Blue Jays past them in the division the criticism and panic will be all over the place, regardless of the opponent.<\/p>\n

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Likewise the winning team will gain some legitimacy. \u00a0The Yankees would be keeping pace in a tough division, the Mets would have shaken off a rough start and injuries to get back above .500.<\/p>\n

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The people that say the Yankees are “supposed” to beat the Mets are under the illusion that the Yankees somehow deserve to make the playoffs, deserve to be the best team in the city and the other teams exist only as farm teams for their pennant run. \u00a0 If the Mets were to beat them, which is certainly possibly and perhaps even likely, \u00a0they’ll remind everyone that they deserve equal footing and discussion in this city and that cuts into the divine right the Yankees have to dominate the back pages with their petty arguments about which steroid-addled aging star bats in which position in the batting order.<\/p>\n

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So here’s to a fun Subway Series weekend where everything in the city is about baseball and every player anyone wants to see is on the same field together. \u00a0I like the Mets chances, and can think of no better way to get back above .500 on the season than to beat on the crosstown rivals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Yankees have righted the ship a little with a three game winning streak, but I still like the way the Mets are playing lately over the Yankees. \u00a0With the exception of the battering the Yankees gave the Orioles last night, they really haven’t been hitting the ball very well. \u00a0It took them 15 innings … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Why The Mets Have the Subway Series Advantage”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1133,19,3,17],"tags":[2964,1875,1917,14,76,1919,2967,1918,1920,133],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1277"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1279,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1277\/revisions\/1279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ceetar.com\/optimisticmetsfan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}