99 bottles of wins on the wall, and one more to go to win the division. And if the Yankees win today and don't happen to fall, they will tie the Red Sox for their season series record. Who would have expected that after the Yanks spotted the Sox an 0-8 lead in the first eight games against each other this year?
While CC Sabathia shutting down the Red Sox (he pitched a no-hitter into the fifth inning, and he only gave up one hit overall) for his 19th win was a big highlight of yesterday's game, my favorite part was seeing former Met Billy Wagner in the mix.
Wagner, who the great Mets blogger Metstradamus calls "Country Time," is somebody I've loved to hate ever since he showed up in Flushing with Mariano Rivera's song "Enter Sandman" as his own theme song. Yes, I know Wagner started using it first. But he should have ditched it then, out of respect for Mo.
Incidentally, Country Time has stopped using the song in Boston now, and has no song at all, allegedly out of respect for Jonathan Papelbon's job as closer. Huh? I've heard eighth inning guys with their own theme song all the time! What's that all about? Heck, Mike Stanton even had a theme song with the Mets - Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue"! And incidentally, how is Wags getting along with that Rhodes Scholar Papelbon, anyway?
At any rate, my favorite Met memory of Billy Wagner was when he blew a 4-0 lead against the Yankees in the Subway Series, then griped about Willie Randolph pitching him in the game. Good times for Country Time!
So yes, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Wagner get knocked around yesterday, even if it wasn't all his fault.
On the other hand, I didn't enjoy seeing the Yanks flail against Dice-K. He had one of his more effective games against the Bombers. While he did allow a bunch of hits, only Robinson Cano was able to score agains thim.
But all in all, it was a great win for the Yankees, as it always is in The Rivalry. And things got even better for the Subway Squawkers Rivalry.
Squawker Jon and I went out for pizza last night, and were listening to the Mets game on the car radio. David Wright - also known as the guy who has fewer homers than Melky Cabrera this year - made a baserunning gaffe against the Marlins. Wright slowed down while rounding the bases, and didn't score before Jeff Francoeur was thrown out at second - thus costing the Mets a run. So much for The Great Gazoo!
Squawker Jon wasn't pleased over that gaffe. But it got worse for my blogging partner. The Mets radio announcers talked about what they considered the best baserunning of the year. They said it was when Mark Teixeira motored around the bases after the Luis Castillo drop. The Mets broadcasters pointed out that Tex had no way of knowing that Castillo would do anything but catch the ball, yet he was running as soon as the ball was hit.
Think about that for a second. It's not enough that the Mets' own broadcasters compared David Wright disparagingly to a Yankee. It's that they used the worst Met moment of the year, and arguably the play that sent the Mets on their downward spiral this season, in order to do so.
Squawker Jon wasn't very pleased at this mention. As for me, I cackled!
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
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