Mets Game 37: Win Over Yankees
Mets 9 Yankees 7
Mets come back in dramatic fashion to win Game One of the 2014 World Subway Series.
Mets Game Notes
Imagine if all these Mets sluggers played their home games in the Bronx instead of Citi Field? Makes one want to renovate Citi Field and play in Yankee Stadium for a few years, such as when the Yankees made Shea Stadium their home in the 1970s. Doesn’t Danny Meyer need to build a few more restaurants around Shea Bridge or something?
Huge win for the Mets, who started the ball rolling with their huge win over the Phillies on Sunday afternoon. As manager Terry Collins intimated, the Mets have high energy and that Sunday win was what they needed to get going. Or, it could just be that Ryne Sandberg handed the Mets the game on Sunday, and the current Yankees are not quite the Yankees we remember from a few years ago.
Is it me or were the Mets players way more excited and juiced up to play in this game, than were the Yankees? No, it’s not me. For the Yankees, the Subway Series has always been just another series.
Curtis Granderson pretty much had to hit at least one homerun in these two games at his previous home park — I mean, if he can’t hit any at Yankee Stadium, where will he hit them? Is anyone else secretly expecting a 3-HR display from the Grandyman on Tuesday night?
And, speaking of the Grandyman, did anyone watch the YES broadcast? I’m sooooo curious to know how John Sterling called the blast — did he say, “the Grandyman can”?
Travis d’Arnaud‘s solo shot looked like a mistake. It seemed like d’Arnaud was taking a safety swing at a flat slider that might have moved off the plate, and next thing he knew, the ball got caught into the jet-stream and drifted over the fence. He looked genuinely surprised to see the ball carry into the seats. I guess that’s what they mean when they talk about this park.
I was miffed by David Wright‘s approach at the plate in this game. Yankee Stadium plays exactly to his strength: driving the ball to right field. Wright knows he’s having trouble hitting the long ball, knows there’s a jet-stream and short porch in right, has great ability to hit the other way, yet, he was muscling up, collapsing his front leg Reggie Jackson style, and trying to pull long flies. All he had to do was exactly what d’Arnaud did — poke an outside pitch to right, and watch the ball float over the fence. I get (but don’t agree with) why Wright muscles up in Citi Cavern, but in a park like this? Just make contact. For goodness sakes, even the pop-gun power of Eric Young, Jr. plays at Yankee Stadium.
After the Mets went ahead 9-7 in the top of the 8th, Gary Cohen asked if “you can ask” Jenrry Mejia to go out to start the bottom of the inning, to which Ron Darling replied, “no, you cannot, not after him being a starter and asking him to get one out.” Hmm … actually, the question SHOULD HAVE BEEN: “Mejia threw 101 pitches on Friday night. Can you ask him to completely ignore the body’s healing process and put him on the mound on his third day of rest, when a 101-pitch effort requires at least four days of rest?
Ironically, one of the reasons Mejia preferred to be a starter was because it is a regular routine, and he felt that his arm injuries were due to being misused as a reliever. Huh.
What was Daniel Murphy thinking attempting to steal second base with two out, Granderson at the plate, and the Mets down by one? Oh, wait, why in the world would Murphy be “thinking”? For once, GKR threw a little bit of criticism toward Murphy for a boneheaded play — though, Keith Hernandez softened it by suggesting that “the manager can always put the stop sign on.”
Very strange to see the Yankees deviate from their historic and hallowed uniforms; those white-billed caps reminded me of black-and-white cookies.
I found it hilarious that Gary Cohen described the contract given to Brian McCann as a “terrible contract,” considering the contract the Mets gave to Curtis Granderson. People in glass houses …
The Yankees are pretty banged up right now. In addition to several players on the DL, Mark Teixeira has a leg issue, Ichiro Suzuki is hobbling, and now, in this game, Carlos Beltran hyperextended his elbow. Yet, they somehow have a barely winning record. I stand by my belief that Joe Girardi is a much more effective manager than he’s generally given credit for.
Next Mets Game
The Mets and Yankees do it again in the Bronx on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM. Zack Wheeler faces Vidal Nuno. Prior to the game, Nuno will be exhibiting his latest fashions, including a line of designer jeans and new scent of men’s cologne. Oh, wait — wrong Vidal.
All Murphy’s doing for the team is producing an 800+ OPS (and a 136 OPS+ – tops among NL second basemen), and you still can’t find anything better to do than “prove” how dumb he is. I’m concerned that if he has a career year you’ll have a stroke.
Duda pulls off 3-6-3 double plays in consecutive innings, and no comment? That last play was huge – especially Wright’s ace relay – and again points to how the Mets are executing defense so much better than a year ago.
I’ve said it already, but again: there’s enough going wrong with the Mets that there’s no reason to go on fishing expeditions.
As for Sterling’s commentary on Granderson’s homer, it was a standard “See ya!” He did sound a little pumped up, though.
And I can’t agree more about the Yankees caps. Dignity is diminished with that apparel choice.
Mayor’s Trophy only mattered because George Steinbrenner had a thing about beating the Mets. Since his passing, few people in the Yankee organization care. The one person who probably cared more about losing to the Mets because it was the Mets (as opposed to just another loss) was Joe Girardi. Do you really think Yangervis Sovarte, Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian Roberts, Kelly Johnson, Preston Claiborne, or any of the other Yanks are more pumped up to play the Mets than any other team? Pass me some of Bud Selig’s Kool-Aid, maybe I’ll feel differently.
I had a stroke last year when Murphy led the Mets in most offensive categories. How do I follow up a stroke? Perhaps I’ll drop dead when/if Murphy finishes the year with a .800+ OPS and continues to play passable defense.
Did I say Murphy was dumb? I don’t know if he is. Based on what I’ve seen of him, my guess is he simply doesn’t think or consider circumstances most of the time. That annoys the heck out of me, because it’s one of the few things in baseball that one can control, and something that doesn’t require special talent, and can mean the difference between winning and losing. Smart baseball is winning baseball – it’s what used to be the “edge” (prior to PEDs and home run derby).
Playing Adulterated League baseball, in a bandbox in the Bronx, all the mistakes drift away with the jet-stream that carries baseballs over the fence. So yeah, sour grapes. There’s a reason I actively avoid AL baseball — it’s boring.
I’m still not clear on your Subway Series comments. Are you saying the Yankees are passionless businessmen, that the Mets are immature for being excited, or something else? In any case, here are Girardi’s and Jeter’s thoughts, which run counter to yours.
“I think people get very excited about it,” Girardi said. “I think sometimes people might consider the intensity level to be higher [depending] where people are in the standings. But when you get in the ballpark, it’s pretty intense.”
“It’s a fun atmosphere,” Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. “The fans get into it, therefore it’s exciting for us as players. So we look forward to it. It’s a good time.”
I also wanted to say something about Duda. Those were two very good plays. And the lovable oaf was humble enough to say the final play was due to luck. That WASN’T due to luck… he has some skill over there.
In today’s game, Murphy’s approach (if you want to call it that) plays well. His approach is: run like wild at every opportunity. It works perfectly, because fundies around MLB are terrible. Maybe THAT’S the new Moneyball — to run like crazy, all the time.
His moderate speed is all he needs to steal bases in today’s game, because pitchers don’t pay attention to runners, don’t have good moves, and take a long time to get to the plate, and few catchers are good enough to make up for the time lost. My resentment is not toward Murphy as much as toward MLB in general. Yes, I’m a bitter curmudgeon, which everyone already knows.
Girardi and Jeter are employees of MLB, and among the best in the business at promoting the game through the media. It’s their job to say things like that. Has Jeter ever said anything to the press that wasn’t previously prepared?
Here’s a thought: why can’t the Mets be this excited 162 games a year?
Sticking to the notion that the Yankees can’t possibly enjoy a dual-audience experience, that it couldn’t be fun, or just a little bit competitive for them. Consider that just because the magic’s gone for you – and believe me, it is – it isn’t gone for everyone else, especially the players.
Your Murphy rebuttal still doesn’t add up. If his approach was to run at every opportunity, he wouldn’t be rated as a superior baserunner, because the law of averages would catch up to him; between last season and this one, it hasn’t. To wit: he’s attempted 8 steals this year, successful 7 times. That’s hardly going wild. Recalibrate already.
If you’re referring to the “magic” of the “subway series” — yeah, that petered out about ten years ago. Ho-hum. In case you haven’t been paying attention, I hate the Adulterated League and its asinine rules. It was a novelty in the 1970s and 80s when they played the Mayor’s Trophy game. It was massively amazing when the two teams faced each other in the World Series. It was cool when they did interleague the first year or two. To me it’s not interesting any more, for dozens of reasons. To me it’s like going out and doing shots of tequila on Cinco de Mayo or downing Champagne on New Year’s Eve.
Watching these games now, as a non-fan, with nothing invested in either team, sorry, no, I’m not seeing any extra effort or focus by the Yankees that is over and above what they’d normally bring to the table. Did I lose the magic, or am I just seeing it objectively, as an outsider?
Duda’s looking more comfortable at first. Those “lucky” plays like the bottom of the ninth stab for a double play must help.
Farnsworth pumping his fist over Duda’s play to end the game, was he happy they won or was he relieved he didn’t blow another save?
Nice to see someone else’s bullpen bleeding runs.
Bringing up another young pitcher is great.
Besides a Mets fan I know you are a baseball fan…ao what doyou think of Jose Fernandez’ injury? Even though he plays for the Marlins I like to see him pitch and envisioned those matchups against Harvey. Now we don’t what’s going to happen. Have you seen Fernandez? Does he have flawed mechanics? Most are blaming his 100mph fastball for wear and tear of his elbow. But I know you don’t agree with that. Can we say we have an epidemic of elbow injuries?
The injury has little, if anything, to do with velocity on its own — unless you consider that the force required for the velocity was compounded by the mechanical flaw.
ALL the UCL injuries are due to a combination of flawed mechanics, improper rest, and dangerous training methods such as long toss.
Have you listened to the interviews I’ve been doing with Angel Borrelli? They’re here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onbaseball.
Not citing Duda’s two great plays? Lame. Hey, you can even be all fair and balanced and note that if the guy wasn’t hurt, he would have been on second base and the second one wouldn’t have been mad.e.
They were great plays, and I think Duda’s defense at 1B in general is just as good as Ike Davis’. Fair?
As for Murph, normally trying to put the tying run in scoring position with 2 outs is a good idea. I’m not sure if the fact that a HR hitter was up completely nullifies that — Grandy does have more singles than HRs this year. Save the ire for those 2-out steals of 3rd or epic misreads where he’s out by a mile.
I thought Colon was pinpoint in every outing? Without that, he’s got nothing. I’m getting concerned.
Unless it’s Dave Roberts in October 2004, I don’t believe it’s a good idea to steal 2B there, not with Curtis Granderson at the plate. Granderson in Yankee Stadium is different from Granderson elsewhere.
Hmm … Colon’s been “dart throwing” for the past 3 years and in turn putting incredible stress on his arm. Could it be that the flawed mechanics are finally catching up with him? Especially now that he can’t use “supplements” from Biogenesis to speed recovery of the tears he’s making in his elbow with every pitch?
Lack of command often means weakness in the fingers, which are driven by the forearm, which is connected to the elbow. If the elbow is wearing out, and/or the forearm is weak/strained, then the fingers aren’t as strong as they need to be for pinpoint command.
In other words, don’t be surprised to hear about Colon missing a start at some point this season due to “forearm tightness,” which is a precursor to UCL damage.
Thanks to you and the comment for a entertaining mets baseball read