I have a lot of respect for a Mets team that just lost five
of six games this month to their cross-town rival New York Yankees.
If the Mets miss out on the baseball playoffs this year by a
couple of games, they are going to rue the 2012 versions of the Subway Series.
But in truth they played pretty well this weekend, putting up some good at-bats
against the Yankees top two pitchers in CC Sabathia (who hasn’t really pitched
like the ace we all know he is despite his solid numbers) and Andy Pettitte (who
had a rare misstep in his inability to escape a first-inning jam on Friday). They
might have even swept the Yankees if not for manager Terry Collins’ debatablepitching moves although he can’t really be blamed for being afraid to go to his
shaky bullpen.
But the games were all pretty close, which was great because
the Subway Series always has more meaning when the Yankees and Mets are both
competitive. Despite their lack of power and shaky bullpen, the Mets are
still within striking distance of the Washington Nationals for the National
League East division lead. It will be a lot of fun this summer to see if the
Mets can hold on and compete for a division title or one of those wild card
slots. It would be terrific for the franchise if the Mets actually make the playoffs. It could help banish the
dark cloud cast by the Bernie Madoff scandal for good.
The Mets were scrappy on the field and very feisty off of it,
seemingly never believing the conventional wisdom they are out of the Yankees
league. This feistiness was reflected by
Mets closer Frank Francisco’s eagerness to start a minor New York tabloid controversy
by calling the Yankees “chickens.” Francisco did back up his trash talk by closing
out the Mets’ sole victory in the Subway Series although he also quickly headed
to the disabled list. Was he really hurt that bad or is he the real chicken? We
probably won’t know until next year, unless the Mets and Yankees somehow meet
up again this year in the World Series. How awesome would that be?
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