N.Y. Mets ~ Bombers' Bullpen Slams Door on Game Two

From the desks of:   HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET  and  BLAME CARLOS MAY

Roosevelt Avenue Showdown

SUBWAY SERIES ~ FLUSHING

I  -  NYM 6; NYY 4

II  -  NYY 4; NYM 3

III  -  Sunday Evening

NEW YORK METS:  Bomber Subs Dump On Chris Young's Effort.  Mets Strand Too Many Runners as Yankees' Bullpen Slams Door on Game Two.

Mike Pelfrey's replacement pitched scoreless baseball through five innings.  The Mets staked Chris Young to a two run lead.  Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered in the third inning off Ivan Nova, and Josh Thole's fielder's choice brought home Scott Hairston in the fourth.


In the sixth, Chris Young faced Alex Rodriguez with one out and Curtis Granderson on first.  Young induced a pop-up to short.  Granderson went on to steal second base.  Then Robinson Cano followed with an inning ending pop-up, this time to David Wright at third.  The Yankees remained scoreless.


In the home sixth, Daniel Murphy led off by lacing a double to left-center.  Scott Hairston did a great job laying off some nasty breaking balls, but struck out on an Ivan Nova fastball right down the middle.  Omar Quintanilla moved Murphy to third on a topper to Derek Jeter at short.  The Yankees then intentionally walked Josh Thole so as to face the pitcher, Chris Young, with two outs.  Coach Terry let his starter bat.  And the Mets' starter rewarded his manager by promptly serving Ivan Nova's first pitch; a fastball; very cleanly to right field, scoring Murphy from third.


With Chris Young helping his own cause, the Mets picked up their much needed insurance run and chased Ivan Nova from the game.  In came Clay Rapada from the Yankees' bullpen to face Kirk Nieuwenhuis.  Rapada got Nieuwenhuis swinging to end the Mets' threat, and hold the Mets to a 3-0 lead.


Out came Chris Young for the seventh inning.  He issued his third walk of the evening to Mark Teixiera leading off.  Nick Swisher then served a liner to right which Lucas Duda misplayed, but was backed up by Nieuwenhuis to keep runners at first and third.  With no move to the bullpen, Raul Ibanez then stepped up and hooked Chris Young's first pitch just inside the right field foul pole for a three run home run, and a tie game.


With Chris Young's night finished, Jon Rauch entered the game to face Russell Martin.  Rauch caught Martin looking.  Pinch hitting for Clay Rapada, Eric Chavez then drove a high fastball just inside the left field foul pole this time, for a go ahead home run.


Cody Eppley came in from the Yankees' pen to face the Mets in the home seventh.  Jodany Valdespin led off with a floater to left, where Raul Ibanez couldn't make a catch.  The ball got away some, and Valdespin made it safely to second.  David Wright moved Valdespin to third on a grounder to Cano.
Joe Girardi then opted to bring Boone Logan into the game to face Lucas Duda.  Lucas swung at a breaking ball, looked at a breaking ball, then swung at another breaking ball, before making his way back to the dugout.  Daniel Murphy followed, and struck out on three pitches as well.


Still leading 4-3 in the eighth, the Yankees turned the ball over to David Robertson.  After striking out Hairston, he walked Omar Quintanilla, and Josh Thole.  With one out, Justin Turner stepped in and looked at strike three on the inside corner.  With two on, Kirk Nieuwenhuis took his turn with two outs.  After Robertson blew a couple of fastballs by him, the teams headed into the ninth.


Jeremy Hefner pitched a scoreless frame, setting up the Mets' last licks against Rafael Soriano in the home ninth.  Jodany Valdespin swung through a strike three fastball for out number one.  David Wright finally punched through with a single; his first hit of the game.  Lucas Duda then stepped in with one out and struck out on a series of nasty breaking balls.  Daniel Murphy came up and lofted a long, hopeful fly to the right field corner.  But it wasn't enough.  Nick Swisher made the catch, and whooped it up in the corner with a Yankee fan.  Game over.  Thuuugh Yankees win.


Ponderous!  There is nothing to be happy about when you lose to Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez.  The largest crowd in Citi Field's brief history watched the Mets knock Ivan Nova out of the box, then let one get away.  And what a shame Chris Young's effort went down the toilet.  He was cruising along until the 7-train got derailed with four runs in the seventh.  Overall, the Mets left eleven men on base, and batted 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position. So it's not like the Mets weren't without chances. They had plenty.


On the other side, what a job the Yankees' bullpen turned in.  In 3.1 innings, five relivers combined to allow two hits, no runs, they walked two, and struck out eight Mets.  It was quite a formidible display.


The Mets suffered their first loss in their last five games.  The Yankees snapped their three game losing streak.  Sunday night will be the Roosevelt Avenue showdown everyone has been waiting for; C.C. Sabathia versus R.A. Dickey in the rubber game.





Mike.BTB

Subway Series ~ Roosevelt Avenue Showdown

From the desks of:   HEAD-BUTTING MR. MET  and  BLAME CARLOS MAY

SUBWAY SERIES~ II

Roosevelt Avenue Showdown

Mets Lead Series 1-0

I  -  NYM 6; NYY 4

GAME TWO

New York Yankees

vs.

NEW YORK METS

From

CITI FIELD
Flushing, Queens

NEW YORK METS:  "It's Seven O'clock and I Wanna Rock; Get a Belly Full of Beer  -  Saturday Night is Alright For Fightin', Get A Little Action In."

What happened in the Bronx, stays in the Bronx.  But even then, Terry's Kids looked undaunted by the Yankees last series.  Since these teams last played, life has quite literally been a world of sweep, or be swept for the Mets.  In the process however, they've proven they can take a punch, and still continue forward with a good fight.  Teams find that quality disturbing about their opponents.  It raises the volume of the voices talking inside their heads.  Even the Yankees; and Joe Girardi.  There is no page in his Blue Binder to demystify how the Mets win games.

...And you did Joe.  Your team did hit three home runs, and still lost.  After yesterday's game, Joe Girardi wasn't intimating the Bombers needed another clutch home run...was he?  Is that what his binder says?

Yeah.., that's New York.  Never satisfied.  And so, he we go again.  But for the first time, in let's say June, the Mets finally seized upon a Game One.  Doesn't winning Game One change the whole complexion of a series, or at least our perceptions?  After failing to do so against the Phils, Nats, Yanks, and Reds, this win finally came against the Yankees in the rematch series.  Not that it matters.  The Mets are just trying to win games.  But if you're striving to be somebody at the trade deadline, then Jon Niese winning Game One, especially on a night Andy Pettitte faltered, should be viewed as important.  So, yes, this is about finally seizing the moment; about stepping up if you're Jon Niese, and delivering in a big moment.  His wasn't a exactly a superlative start, but it was a winning start; his fifth.  At this point, I'm more concerned with taking a sizable step forward.  Winning Game Ones will help that along.  And from Jon Niese, it's what we needed.

Mets fans.., we won that game on Karma; good Karma.  As alien as that sounds to us; believe it.  A stunt like calling the Yankees a bunch of "chickens" would have gone over like passing gas in a space suit a few years ago; which is to say not very well.  Additionally, the Media would have been pounding this team for being woefully streaky, or worse, inconsistent.  But they, the media, are not.  Instead, the Mets have their attention, and are now starting to get the benefit of the doubt.

Think about it, the Mets haven't been pelted by asteroids smashing into the front office and managers, and the cries of a disenchanted fan base calling for the owner's head have effectively been muted.  And Ike Davis hits a Nick Swisher assisted home run?  The credit goes directly Terry Collins, and his team for making us forget a great many things.  It's AMAZIN' what winning just a few more games than you lose can do.

Tonight, the Mets and Yankees will play Game Two in the Roosevelt Avenue stop on the Subway Series.  Chris Young will oppose Ivan Nova.  The Mets will be able to reload their line up with the usual assortment of lefty bats.  So, I'm feeling good about the Mets chances again tonight.

Let's Go Mets!

 

Mike.BTB

N.Y. YANKEES ~ Beantown Showdown

From the desk of:  BLAME CARLOS MAY

NEW YORK YANKEES  vs.  BOSTON RED SOX

From FENWAY PARK

The Battle for the American League East starts now! 

Both teams are tied for first place; go figure.

BOSTON RED SOX.............68-42   *

NEW YORK YANKEES......68-42   *

 

new york YANKEES:  A matter of trust.

I gotta be honest with you; I don't know how the hell Bartolo Colon and Freddie Garcia have gotten the Bombers this far.  I really don't.  I've watched.  But I don't get it.  I don't trust them as far as I can throw them.  But I'm not trying to understand either.  When the post-season kicks in, I'd be terrified going into a short series with this consortium of hurlers.  But then again, I'm not a Yankee fan; am I (?).  However, to my dismay, even the Yankees are capable of capturing lightning in a bottle too.

 

C.C. is a horse.  No worries for Bomber fans there.  Now that Ivan Nova is back in the fold, he's your number two guy whether you like it or not.  Winning his 10th game of the season against the ChiSox Thursday night kinda seals the deal; no?  Then you got Phil of the future Hughes; Bartolo Colon; and steady Freddie Garcia.  Maybe you guys aren't that bad off after all....?  Oh..., that's right....; I forgot A.J.

 

Bwahahaha!

 

OK; but seriously.  The Yankee staff has options and depth.  It's a matter of trust that I'd be struggling with if I was indeed a Yankee fan.  More so for the Yankees than the Red Sox, this series will provide  three very telling appearances for these starters.  It's a very timely test during the Dog Days of Summer.

 

Can the Yankee starting pitchers make this series more about them, and their ability to contain the BoSox line-up, rather than leaving it up to the Yankee line-up to out-hit Boston's line-up and/or outlasting their starters?  Can they dial up shut-down performances on command?  That's what I'd be looking for on August 5th because that's what it will take later in the year.  Can they be the lead in this series?  I'd like to know if they can pitch three shut-down performances over the weekend.  Even a hard-luck loser would suffice.  But, if nothing else than to gain mounds of confidence, go out and stymie Boston's bats this weekend regardless what the offense provides.

 

Losing two out of three this series isn't something that should concern either team.  But for the Yankees, just as a matter of test, wouldn't you like to see them dominate the Sawx just so you know you can?

Alex Rodriguez:  MIAMI VICE Gets His Cover Blown.

I don't care if A-Rod, or if any grown man or woman, plays poker for money.  I'm just not interested in something like that, much less jumping all over A-Rod for it.  And believe me, you know I don't need much of a reason to besmirch him.

 

But time and again, the player formerly known as Alex Rodriguez, is the perpetrator of his own device; chasing after his never ending quest for Vice; Miami style.  Nothing more; nothing less.  He gets himself involved in these situations where there's no victims in a manner of speaking; only satisfying his passions are involved.  You know the word for someone like that.

 

Poker?  C'mon.  I get why Commissioner Selig would want to police something like that and I'm all for it.  But I personally, just can't get on him for poker.  I'll wait till he does something stupid again (he's like clockwork), and let him have it then.

 

Let's Go Red Sox!

 

Mike.BTB