Mets Game 50: Win Over Yankees
Mets 9 Yankees 4
Jeremy Hefner earns his first victory of 2013 while the Mets are on the verge of sweeping the big bad Yankees in a four-game series.
Mets Game Notes
Seriously, could it be any better for Mets fans? Could it possibly be any better for the Wilpons, who before this surprising turn of events was looking at a summer of empty seats in Citi Field?
Both casual and serious Mets fans will be energized by this series win over the Bronx Bombers. Rejoice. Enjoy. Savor. Immerse yourself in the moment. But please, don’t let it warp the reality, or raise expectations.
Yes, the other team was in those classic pinstripes, and the game played only footsteps from the hallowed ground of Monument Park. But it was David Phelps on the mound, not C.C. Sabathia. It was David Adams or Jayson Nix at 3B, not Alex Rodriguez or Kevin Youkilis. Reid Brignac — not Derek Jeter (or even Eduardo Nunez) — played shortstop. Batting cleanup was not Mark Teixeira but Lyle Overbay. The former Detroit Tiger in the outfield was not Curtis Granderson, but Brennan Boesch. If you had told me back in March that the Mets would win three of four from the Yankees in this series — and be poised to sweep — I would have laughed. But considering what the current Yankees roster looks like right now, it’s far from surprising. In short, the Mets could not have picked a better time to play the Yankees — and, to their credit, they took this gift bull by the horns.
Yet, Ike Davis and Ruben Tejada still look like non-MLBers. It seems like every day, Tejada finds a new way to surprise me with his mind-numbing vapor locks and bizarre decisions. I mentioned this before only half-jokingly, but now I’m serious: is he dealing with something serious off-the-field, like girl problems? His focus is nonexistent.
As for Davis, yes he had two more hits, added on to two from the day before. At least one of those four was a gift from the official scorer. None have really showed me anything especially promising, other than the outcome — the process looks pretty much the same, despite tons of hype re: his video-watching and weight-shift adjustments. He has a big, complicated swing and an enormously wide stance that works against him — at some point, he might be able to get all that complexity to work together and put him on a hot streak. Until then, it’s hard to imagine any kind of consistency.
Every time Ike Davis steps in the batter’s box, I can hear Ted Nugent and/or Wilson Pickett singing “Na, na na na na, na na na na, na na na na na na na na na … na na na na …”
Happy to see Hefner finally get a win. He works hard, has a tremendous attitude, and has deserved better. Difficult not to root for him.
Daniel Murphy remains red-hot. At the moment, his offense is making up for his fielding limitations and baserunning blunders.
Did anyone else have the thought flash through his/her mind that the Yankees would hit seven straight singles against LaTroy Hawkins in the bottom of the ninth, combine them with a half-dozen defensive indifferences, and win the game? Perhaps, just for a moment, that thought crossed your mind.
Next Mets Game
The Mets go for the sweep sending Dillon Gee to the mound against Vidal Sassoon Nuno. Who? Yeah. Game time is 7:05 p.m.
The Yanks aren’t quite the Yanks. But, until now, they kept on winning against AL opponents. The opponents not noticeably worse than the Mets, you know, I’ll take the wins. Why should they not count now? The Yanks won with their “B” team before. Glad the Mets got them now, but the Mets are the ones who beat Rivera and the Yanks three times in a row.
The starting pitching looked good enough to pitch a team with better talent out there. The line-up still has lots of problems.
But, if you want to believe that this series is more about the Mets being capable and less about the Yankees fielding a AAA club, then the next question you must ask yourself is why have the Mets been playing about 10 games under .500 up until now? Is everyone magically “gelling” at the same time? Has Terry Collins been a remarkably awful manager?
The headlines everynight is about how Ike does. That is not fair to him or the Mets. I doubt any other ML team would approach him as Sandy et al has. His swing is screwed up he has no confidence and its affected his fielding. Simply send him down and sort this issue out. Find an approach he CAN use it get him to settle into it. This is a garbage year any way. Tejada might be an easier solve.
The real spotlight is on TC who is a lame duck manager, has lost this team and get the team to perform even the simplest routine baseball tasks. Base running is poor, & defense is no better. As for Wheeler….No chance I bring him up into this mess.
If you can only derive enjoyment from baseball when your team is in the postseason, then unfortunately more often than not this game will not be fun for you to watch.
But please, don’t insult us and tell us we have been brainwashed. We just have a different outlook in general on watching sports. We are trying to have some fun with this season 😀
While I agree with you that Met fans should enjoy the moment, I also agree with Izzy in that ultimately a win against the Yankees is the same as a win against anyone else. I would rather be swept by the Yanks and in the playoff race than sweep the Yanks, have Harvey start the AS game (which means nithing) and be a bottom dweller. If this run vs Yanks propels this team back to respectability, great, otherwise, so what. It is still very important for this franchise to be decent this year, meaning .500 or above, to change the recent trend amongst the fan base and around the league, as this is important for recruiting FAs. If not, then it is best to be a bottom 10 team, or bottom 5 team, to insure a top pick next year and to provide protection of that pick when signing a badly needed FA like Choo for next year.
Yep. It’s actually about a 7 to 8 games in the loss column, and you’d be surprised at how many Met fans do not ascribe to that dizzying logic.
This isn’t actually how many fans see things. There are certain teams that fans get riled up about. The word is “rivalries.” It is pretty sad really that this has to be said as if it is somehow news to anyone around here.
Yes, have perspective. But, the mentality here is akin to someone having a bad time of things being told not even to enjoy a good day, since their life stinks. Yeah, it stinks. But, it’s still nice to have a good day.
And, actual teams don’t just say “let’s really really suck so we have better draft choices.” Even if “it’s best” that they do so. This isn’t fantasy baseball. It’s real life.
Don’t get me wrong, any win vs. the Yankees, and for that matter the Phillies and all other NL east rivals, if a good day by me, but it is just one win in the standings, and to me Ws and Ls trump everything else. Also, I think the team should compete to win every single game. My comment regarding the top 10 pick was really more sarcastic in that if they finish with the 12th worst record, Alderson will have another excuse for not signing a top talent.
However, this blog is not by any means targeted to the average Mets fan. The content, in fact, is not necessarily targeted to ANY Mets fanatic, but rather to people who enjoy the process of baseball primarily, and, secondarily, happen to follow the Mets. If visitors happen to be Mets fans, OK, but as a longtime reader/commenter you know that this is not a “fan blog” — there are already at least a hundred of those on the internet.
If there is anything that should be particularly upsetting to Mets fans about this series is the fact that the Mets players are clearly “pumped up” — most have ratcheted up their intensity and effort an extra notch because their opponent is the Yankees. While one can’t expect 100% intensity for 162 ballgames, it’s disheartening to realize that these Mets players have the ability to “turn it up a notch” but have chosen not to do so for the majority of this season.
Perhaps it’s a reflection of the manager’s inability to motivate his players or instill a sense of urgency?