Subway Series Game 3: Imagine if Yoenis Cespedes wanted to come out after five innings

Matt Harvey has every right to prioritize his future health and earning potential. But he can't negotiate a departure after 77 pitches of one-hit ball and claim that all he wants to do is pitch.

From Newsday's Anthony Rieber:

"More than anything, I wanted to be out there," Harvey said. "The way things were going, the tight game, the last thing I wanted to do was come out."
It was The Dark Knight at his worst. Saying things that could not possibly be further from the truth:

It may seem unfair to hold Harvey responsible for last night's 11-2 loss when he was the only Met who did his job well. If the bullpen and the defense had done their jobs, today's headlines might proclaim that the Boras/Harvey part-time pitcher plan had passed its first test.

But this plan required four innings from a Mets bullpen that has trouble handling more than two innings, and that's when Tyler Clippard is not missing time with back problems. This is the time when the starting pitcher is supposed to figuratively put the team on his back.

And that's just what Harvey did for the first five innings. On national TV, against the hated Yankees, on a day when the Met bats continued their recent quiet. If the skies had opened up after the fifth inning, Harvey would not have been brought back after a long rain delay under normal circumstances. And his quotes might not have earned Rieber's response below:

"For me, I know where I want to be and that's on the mound and in a Mets uniform."

"The last thing I want to do is not play and not pitch, especially if we get into the postseason."

For not accepting responsibility, for putting his manager and teammates in the unenviable position of having to live within the limits that Harvey and Boras put in motion, and for saying he wants to be out there when he engineered the exact opposite situation, Harvey should be nominated for an Emmy for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.
 
Only no one in the Mets clubhouse is laughing.

Yoenis Cespedes offered to play centerfield when he came to the Mets, even though that was not his regular position. He's stopped hitting since he was hit by a pitch last Tuesday but refuses to use that as an excuse. Cespedes may end up getting some votes for National League MVP despite only joining the Mets in August. Harvey's been around all year and has had a pretty good year. But nobody is using "Harvey" and "MVP" in the same sentence.

Harvey showed last night that he can produce after a long layoff. Going forward, the Mets should just shut him down until the playoffs (or until the season-ending series with the Nats if the Mets have not yet cliinched), then only use him in games in which he announces beforehand that he wants to pitch as much as he can.

Superhero movies are box-office gold these days. But nobody wants to see "The Dark Knight Takes Himself Out of the Game."

Subway Series Game 2: Yankees resume their rightful dominance in the universe

We're getting the band back together --
Ethan, Lisa and Jon.

I am still peeved that Squawker Jon and I were unable to get Subway Series tickets this time around, but at least we got to watch most of Game 2 together.

We also made it a mini-Daily News reunion, as we met with our old web room friend and cohort Ethan Sacks at Henry's on the Upper West Side to watch the game. We have known each other for ages, but it has been a while since I had seen Ethan -- too long! So it was great to catch up with him yesterday.

Ethan is a fellow Yankee fan, but *not* an A-Rod fan! Fortunately, there were no fisticuffs at our reunion.

Daily News readers will recognize this shirt
-- it is an Ed Murawinski cartoon from the
2000 Subway Series. Murawinski was one
of the DN staffers laid off this week.

It took my express bus forever to get to Manhattan, though, so I missed seeing Carlos Beltran's 1st inning homer, although I did listen to it via the MLB At-Bat app. (Note: I listened to Mets broadcasters Howie Rose and Josh Lewin, as opposed to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. You know, because I actually wanted to know what was happening in the game!) We did see when Michael Pineda was taken out, and wonder why Joe Girardi was doing his usual overmanaging.

I read in today's New York Post the latest bloviating from Yankees GM Brian (Fredo) Cashman. Cash, who thinks he's a badass because he rides a bicycle without a helmet (I think that makes him a moron, but I digress), “If we are world champions, I don’t care how we got there," he tells George King, sounding like he is conceding the AL East. Um, Bri, maybe it's too much bike riding without a helmet, but you do understand that the Wild Card no longer automatically entitles teams to postseason ALDS series bids, and that the Yanks will have to win a one-game playoff in order to advance? So your cockiness is moronic.

Oh, and I posted a photo of myself on Facebook yesterday holding a mimosa and toasting the Yankees' victory in the Subway Series. Unfortunately, I made a typo and spelled "Series" as "Seties." Not good for the professional proofreader!

I blame my bad typing on my iPhone, but others are blaming it on the al-al-al-al-alcohol. Two of the members of my running club's fantasy football league mocked me for this typo. Josh had this to say -- make that, to snark!: "'Seties?!' Must we correct the Proofreader?! Just say no to drinking and posting."

My response? "Josh and Mark, you got me! How embarrassing! Speaking of embarrassing, Thor wasn't much of a superhero today, eh?" Heh. (Note that I didn't attempt to spell Noah Syndergaard then! Imagine how I could have butchered that name!)

* * *

Squawker Jon was getting on me today for being tardy in my writing. Dude is like Robert DeNiro in "Awakenings" -- after years of slumbering, he is all of a sudden Squawking up a storm. Today he made Matt Harvey babying jokes. And Jon was nagging me to finish my Squawk early this afternoon.

I saw this Tyvek suit on the side of the
road today during my run. Is Jesse Pinkman
back in business -- this time on
Staten Island?

Look, I ran 10 miles (!) this morning. I am in training for the Staten Island Half-Marathon, which is happening in three weeks. And this is the first time I have ever run past nine miles, other than in my previous half-marathon. So I was exhausted, and just wanted to relax when I got home. Jon's big journey today was going to Zabar's to get a bagel!

I did make a point of picking up the Sunday New York Daily News today. I was hoping that they would allow Bill Madden, Filip Bondy, David Hinckley, et al to say farewell to their readers. After all, each of them has been at the paper for at least three decades before being laid off.

And as much as Madden drove me nuts with his anti-A-Rod crusade, I still read his baseball column every Sunday. Unfortunately, after nearly forty years at the News, they didn't even give him the courtesy of letting him write a farewell column to his readers. The closest the News gave to a Madden tribute is letting Mike Lupica, who is still on the payroll, write about him today. My eyes rolled so hard over that, they're in the back of my head now! The newspaper business is a really cruel one.

Subway Series Game 2 and Game 3 Preview: Babying Matt Harvey

Sunday night will be the latest regular-season Mets-Yankee matchup ever, but Matt Harvey will be treated as if it's spring training. Various reports having him getting pulled after 70 pitches or six innings. Or perhaps he will be pulled if he and Scott Boras get colicky again.

Boras will doubtless want to monitor Harvey closely tonight, and it just so happens that Amazon's Deal of the Day is the iBaby Monitor M6 HD Wi-Fi Wireless Digital Baby Camera.

At $139.95 down from $199.95, the Mets could even spring for the device as a peace offering toward Harvey's helicopter agent. After all, the promotional copy promises: "no more endless phone calls from the office to check on your little bundle of joy."

As for Game 2, not much good to say about the 5-0 Met loss. Yoenis Cespedes is 0 for his last 17, but his overall Met numbers remain sensational. What's more concerning, however, is that the Mets have been shut out twice and have scored only eight runs total in their last four games while Cespedes has gone cold.

The Mets now have enough good hitters that others should be able to pick up the slack when Cespedes inevitably cools off.  Lucas Duda hit nine homers in eight games in late July and early August, then failed to hit another one until Friday night. Yet it was when Duda stopped producing that the Mets' offense took off.  Can the Mets now similarly thrive without Cespedes' daily heroics, or is it that, as Cespedes goes, so goes the team? If it's the latter, Cespedes' free-agent price just got higher.

If Harvey does well tonight against the Yankees and shows he is in good form for the postseason, much will be forgiven.  It shouldn't be too much to ask, considering that he is going on ten days rest. As Squawker Lisa would say, sounds like my blogging schedule!

Subway Series Game 1: Mets' cakewalk September schedule continues

The Mets cut their magic number to eight with a 5-1 win over a team that had Met castoff Chris Young (.122 batting avg. in August) batting cleanup. Steven Matz, making his fifth career start, outpitched Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka. No wonder Squawker Lisa called her blog entry "We'll always have Luis Castillo." These days, what you have is Stephen Drew.

Lisa and I agree on one thing - it's better for the blog when both teams do well. But now it's the Yankees who are failing to hold up their end of the bargain. Lisa writes: "The Subway Squawkers talking about an October Subway Series will get much more screen time than if only the Yankees make the postseason." Face it, Lisa: The only way there will be an October Subway Series is if the MTA manages to build a subway line to Toronto in the next month, and considering that it took 25 years for one new station to open (the Hudson Yards 7 stop), I wouldn't hold my breath.

While Met bats have been on fire since Yoenis Cespedes came to town, Yankee bats have gone cold. Here are some Yankee batting averages over the last 30 days:

Jacoby Ellsbury - .190
Brett Gardner - .194
Brian McCann - .208
Chris Young - .216
Chase Headley - .228
Alex Rodriguez - .234

Here are some September ERAs:

Ivan Nova - 10.57  
Luis Severino - 5.02
Michael Pineda 4.67 
Adam Warren 4.15

The Yankees remain likely to make the wild card game, where they should have a good shot with Tanaka on the mound. But unlike Squawker Lisa, these Yankees are not ready for their closeup.

Subway Series Game 1: We'll always have Luis Castillo

Be careful what you wish for.

For a while now, I have wanted the New York Mets to be a winning team again. "It's good for the Squawkers," I would implore, when fellow Yankee fans would roll their eyes at this idea. Alright, Mr. DeMille. I'm ready for my closeup, is what I say!

You see, I am ready to get this blog to the next level. If the Yankees and Mets are both playing in October, it can mean big exposure for us. I want us (or at least me, if introvert Max, um, I mean Squawker Jon, balks) to be on New York sports radio, and TV. I want fame and fortune.  Is that so wrong?

So of course I want the Mets to do well. The Subway Squawkers talking about an October Subway Series will get much more screen time than if only the Yankees make the postseason. And I'm in fighting trim to be on TV now, too, instead of avoiding cameras. So yes, you're darn tooting I want a Subway Series next month. (And for us to do a "Warriors" parody video. Jon, you'd better agree!)

Anyway, now we have a situation where the Mets have gotten good; maybe a little too good. They are going to win the NL East. No 2007-esque collapse is in sight. (The Nationals are the ones who choked away the division, not the Mets!)  Meanwhile, the Yankees have lost their hold on the AL East, and are, unless they go on a roll, destined to make the Wild Card. (It remains to be seen, though, who their opponent will be. although it looks like it will be Houston.) So Mets fans are starting to chirp in response to my squawking. The cacophony is alarming!

I really wanted to be at last night's game, but even standing room only tickets were over $50 each. So I sat down and watched the game at home. And Citi Field was rocking last night. Mike Vaccaro, the great New York Post columnist, calls Friday's game Opening Night for Citi Field, in that it was the first real game since opening in 2009 where the house was rocking the way Shea Stadium used to be. I agree.

Last night's game was good -- if you are a Mets fan. For a Yankee fan like me, we got treated to some truly boneheaded moves from Joe Girardi, from benching Brian McCann to not pinch-hitting for Brendan Ryan with A-Rod to Girardi's bullpen wackiness. He threw in the towel right from the beginning, and it was not fun to watch. Given that Tanaka was on the mound, Joe should have actually, you know, tried to win the game. He didn't. Oy.

I also am going to have to hear sass from the now-vocal Mets fans I know. Good grief. My friend Sully compares Mets fans these days to Robert De Niro in "Awakenings." Heh.

But at least we'll always have Luis Castillo to torture Mets fans with. "Dropped the ball! He dropped the ball! Here comes Teixeira. And the Yankees win! Oh, my goodness. He dropped the ball!"



 

Who let the dogs out? A-Rod! Yes, Alex Rodriguez was responsible for the song being a hit

I loved the Ken Jeong/Alex Rodriguez apology skit at the ESPYs this week (see clip below). The comedian read apologies from A-Rod for inventing gluten, for the Knicks (as well as even for the TV show "The Knick"!) and for a slew of other silly items. The clip got Mike Lupica so angry that the Daily News writer channeled his inner Mushnick and wrote a whole column about how offensive it was.

There is one thing, though, that Alex still needs to apologize for: making "Who Let the Dogs Out" popular!

No joke. This is the 15th anniversary of the song, and Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated looked back at it as part of their "Where Are They Now" issue. Even NPR (!) got into the act, interviewing Reiter about his article. And yes, it was A-Rod who made the song a hit!

Here are some fun facts about the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out":

• The Seattle Mariners were the first team to play the song. They initially did so as a goof on "a country-western catcher named Joe Oliver," Reiter said. The team "played it one time, then another player on the Mariners said, 'You know what? I want you to play that song as my at-bat music.' That player was Alex Rodriguez — A-Rod was really the one who first made this song popular."
• Steve Greenberg, the song's producer, also produced Hanson's "MMMMBop," thus making him responsible for two of the worst songs of all time.
• In the 2000 MLB playoffs, five of the teams "(the Cardinals, Giants, Mariners, Mets and White Sox) were playing 'WLTDO' as their rally song," Sports Illustrated notes.
• I had moved to New York City from Texas in the fall of 2000, and my uncles took me to see the Mets in a postseason game -- they clinched the first round of the playoffs against the San Francisco Giants. I don't remember much about the game except for them playing "Who Let the Dogs Out" after they won!
• But the SI article notes that when the Mets met the Yankees in the Subway Series that year, actually hired the Baha Men to play their hit before Game 4 at Shea Stadium. To which I note, no wonder Derek Jeter had to shut fans up with his leadoff homer in that game! 
• Nelson Doubleday hated the song: "I can’t stand that ‘Let Out the Dogs’ song," he said then. "I have three dogs of my own."

So c'mon, Alex, you have to apologize for this song, and the fact that it's stuck in my head right now and won't go away!

Subway Series Game 3: A-Rod hits #659, Yankees win, mayhem ensues

How are you feeling, Squawker Jon? Are you sore like Mr. Met, now that your team has lost two out of three to the Yankees? Did you forget how many outs there were, like Met Eric Campbell did tonight?

Boy, that was a sloppy, messy game. Bad pitching, lots of bad plays. Not exactly one for the highlight reels. But ultimately, the Yankees won, and they (and I) have the bragging rights. Sorry, Jon!

As for the ESPN broadcasters, It was funny hearing John Kruk talking about A-Rod guessing on pitches, and then get to see A-Rod "guess" his way to home run #659.  I also had to laugh about them second-guessing on the A-Rod milestone thing, suggesting that they weren't going to tell him what to do, and then doing just that.

Sorry, folks, but I don't care if Alex wants to spend his $6 million on portraits of himself as great men in history. A-Rod as Napoleon! A-Rod as Patton! A-Rod as Einstein! It's his money. He doesn't need to promise to give it to charity or anything else.

Show A-Rod the money!

The Yankees signed the A-Rod contract in December 2007, the exact date that the Mitchell Report was released, and four months after Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record. They could have put contingencies in there. They didn't. Am I supposed to feel sorry that a $4 billion team is going to have to pay $6 million -- pocket change for them -- for a contract they signed? No way.

My friend Joe had this great comment on Facebook tonight:

When A-Rod hits his next home run I want him to cross home plate, point to the owners box, and do the Johnny Manziel money sign. The back page of the NY Post needs this to happen.

I agree, Joe! 

Subway Series Game 2: Call it a 'Lisaography' -- Let's pretend this game didn't happen

A toast -- to myself! -- after a grueling obstacle race.

So much for my predictions about A-Rod hitting No. 660 off Matt Harvey. So much for the Yankees' hitting off Matt Harvey. So much for CC Sabathia being an effective major league pitcher! Oy, what a nightmare. Game 2 of the Subway Series was not fun.

Squawker Jon, I actually did have an excuse as to why I hadn't written about yesterday's game, aside from it being my version of "Yankeeography." In the "Lisaography," I wish we could pretend Saturday's game didn't happen!

The state of my trail shoes -- and my socks! -- after the race.

As for my valid excuse, this morning I was at the High Rock Solo, an obstacle race on Staten Island. It is the local version of a Spartan Race. Our readers may remember that when I did the Spartan Race last April, I couldn't do the
climbing obstacles, so I had to do 90 burpees in a row. (Click here if you haven't read my Guideposts article.) Anyhow, one year later, guess what? I still can't do the climby things. (Even if I had wanted to try, my arm is still messed up and sore from the chafing from my half-marathon, so I wasn't going to try! Maybe next year.) So I had to do a lot of jumping jacks -- 25 for each obstacle I missed!

Ranger Ropes: one of the obstacles at
the High Rock Solo. Courtesy
of Run & Shoot Photography

This race was four miles of trail running and over 25 obstacles, including a mud challenge that my shoes got stuck in -- what a nightmare! I had one shoe get stuck so badly that I had to take my foot out in order to get my shoe out. Then it happened with the other shoe. And that was before the first mile was done!

There were a lot of hurdles -- as in literal hurdles -- to do in the race. We also had a slip 'n' slide type thing, which was great fun. Also, my trail running was more like trail walking, as I was very careful not to slip 'n' fall and hurt myself.

My biggest obstacle was the Ranger Ropes shortly before the end of the race.  This consisted of two metal cables strung over a pond. One cable you hang onto with your hands, and one cable you hang onto with your feet. It looked horrible! I was about to skip it and just do the jumping jacks, as I figured I would fall off and end up in the water. But my friend Brian from the running club I belong to suggested I just try it for a few steps. Once I was on, I was hooked, so to speak, and ended up going further! I was scared the whole time, and was sure I was going to fall. But somehow, I ended up finishing -- without falling in! It was a miracle!

After finishing the race, I got a medal and also got to relax with an adult beverage. Squawker Jon, they have a High Rock Challenge for duos. Whaddaya say we do it together next year?

As for Saturday's game, I leave you with this: Matt Harvey's comments about him showing up for Derek Jeter's last home game -- the Yankees were his childhood fave team. Jeremy Schaap recently asked him about that, and why Mets fans were bent out of shape over it. He said (emphasis added):

“I definitely see that side of it,” Harvey answered. “I completely understand. But the other side is that I have bled in a Mets uniform. I’ve definitely sweat in a Mets uniform. And that’s my life. Right now, that’s who I play for.”

Right now, he's a Met. In 2019 (or 2024 or something!), I fully expect Harvey to be wearing pinstripes!

Editorial note: As I wrote this Squawk, A-Rod hit No. 659. Gentlemen, start your lawsuits!

Subway Series Game 1: Squawking Mets fans get their comeuppance

Yes, I know I am writing my Game 1 wrapup after Game 2. So sue me!

Anyhow, Squawker Jon and I didn't buy Subway Series tickets months ago, as we should have. And because this series has been a hot ticket, with even standing room only tickets going for $80 and up on the secondary market for Friday's game, and Harvey Day tix going for $150 and up, it wasn't looking good for the Subway Squawkers to get Subway Series tickets.

The 7 Line is in the top left part of the picture.
The seats in this picture were more full
than the expensive seats.

However, I threw out to the universe that we needed tickets. (Although, not in this blog -- Squawker Jon made me take out my line about needing Subway Series tickets. He thought it was too "beggy"!) My request finally worked, though. On Friday afternoon, one of the directors at my day job came through with free two tickets for us, courtesy of a certain TV network, in the main level of Yankee Stadium. This included access to the Audi Club and the Mohegan Sun Club, both places I had never gotten to visit! I was so happy to get these tickets!

This was great -- not only to get to see Friday's game, and see it in good seats, but to give Jon a bit of comeuppance, after his mocking my throwing our ticket request out to the universe! (Incidentally, after all this, Jon "joked" to me during Saturday's game that I should have gotten us tickets for *that* game! Sheesh.)

The tickets Jon thought I would never get!

Anyhow, before the game, we checked out both clubs to see what was what. In retrospect, given how much Squawker Jon griped about the weather (you can read him whining about the cold and the price of hot chocolate here), we probably should have gone to one of the clubs later on in the game. But then Jon probably would have found something else to whine about, like Yankee fans!

As expected, Yankee Stadium food choices were awful. We were sitting near the Papa John's pizza stand. Most popular pizza city in the world, and your pizza choice is Papa John? Really? Before the game, Jon found the Parm stand, which is hidden in a different place it was hidden in from last year. I tried the fried chicken and waffles stand, sponsored by Aunt Jemima. It is a sorry commentary on the food at Yankee Stadium that my chicken and waffle sliders meal, with the waffle courtesy of a corporate food company, was one of the only edible things I have ever eaten at the ballpark!

Yes, that is an A-Rod shirt!

When looking online for a photo of the sliders, I found this quote last year from the person in charge of cuisine at Yankee Stadium:

"We are always trying to push the culinary envelope, making sure that we align ourselves with current culinary trends and our guests' expectations," said Yankee Stadium Executive Chef, Matt Gibson. "For us, it is important to make sure that everyone who walks through the gates of Yankee Stadium has a memorable food experience."

Yeah, nothing says pushing the culinary envelope like the Johnny Rockets' stand. And I guess the time I got food poisoning after eating the Yankee Stadium sushi was memorable. As was seeing how the once expensive but delicious Lobel's prime rib sandwich is now expensive and disgusting (and not delicious.) C'mon, Yankees -- step up your food game already!

Subway Series t-shirt in the Yankees clubhouse shop.

Anyhow, the game itself was perfect for Yankee fans. Even though there were four (!) sections of the 7 Line Army at the game, the Met fans didn't really have much to cheer about, as the Yankees started mauling on Jacob DeGrom right from the beginning. Some Rookie of the Year! And as Jon noted, we had a great view of all of the homers flying out of the ballpark, including Mark Teixeira's two homers!

I do think the entertainment between innings is pretty lame. You have Alex Rodriguez, the most charismatic player on the team, but you don't use him in your skits, in favor of an assortment of indistinguishable, unmemorable players? Not to mention Brian Cashman inserting himself into a skit. Good grief. 

But the game was great for Yankee fans, shutting up most Met fans pretty early. However, when I went to go use the restroom during the game when the score was 6-0 Yankees, I heard some Met fan yelling "Yankees suck" over and over. I took the bait and yelled back, "Scoreboard!" The fan busted out laughing and said that he was looking for a reaction, but everybody else was ignoring him. We talked a little and laughed a little, and he ended up hugging me!  This is the Mets' "Army" for you -- even the trash talkers aren't very fierce!

At about the sixth inning or so, two knuckleheaded Yankee fans -- a young woman and a young man -- sat right behind us, as the people behind us had either left for the night, or gone into one of the clubs to warm up. (Incidentally, the game's official attendance was 45,310, but the stands were more empty than you would think for such a Subway Series game. Many of the people in the expensive seats either didn't show up, or were in the clubs all evening.)

Anyhow, this twosome, especially the woman, were foulmouthed, even by ballpark standards. This woman, who was more than a little wasted, screamed at her companion for at least two minutes straight, unleashing epithets that would make a drunken sailor blush. And she wouldn't shut up. I told Jon by the eighth inning that if we didn't move elsewhere, I was going to say something to her, and it wasn't going to end well! So we moved a level down, and watched the rest of the game from the back of the field level.

I had noticed that at that the t-shirt stand near us didn't have any A-Rod stuff. So at the end of the game, I went to the official Yankees clubhouse store, and did find some A-Rod shirts. But no dirt capsules!

I am off to the solo version of the High Rock Challenge (click to see what madness I am doing today!), so my Game 2 report will not be written until this afternoon. So sue me!

Subway Squawkers Preview: How the 2009 Subway Series sent the Mets on a downward spiral

Squawker Jon and I have been to many Yankees and Mets games together over the years, but two games stand out as being the top ones we attended together. Warning: Mets fans will not like these happy recaps!

The first was on Friday, June 12, 2009. The Mets were about to beat the Yankees, 8-7. Alex Rodriguez was up at bat with two men on and two out, and Francisco Rodriguez on the mound. I had told Jon in the previous inning that the game would come down to A-Rod, and I was right. Alex pops up to Luis Castillo, and A-Rod-hating Yankee fans are in mid-boo when Castillo drops the ball. Let me refresh you memory with this clip:

Here is what I had to say in 2009 in the blog after the game:

After I screamed "Holy Bleep" a whole bunch of times, I literally couldn't stop laughing, especially when the Yanks kept on showing the play over and over again on that gigantic video screen. I also clapped my hands so hard I thought I broke a blood vessel in my finger! ....

I wasn't taunting Jon - I was cackling while looking towards home plate, which was in the opposite direction of Jon. He was very quiet right after the play. It took him a few minutes to speak. When he did finally speak, he was about as devastated as I've ever heard him after a loss.  

Here is what Jon wrote then:

 The worst thing about being at Friday night's horrendous Met loss to the Yankees was Squawker Lisa's reaction. She couldn't stop laughing. 

 I say New York is a two-team town. Lisa says the Mets are the little brother. I want my team to show Lisa that she is wrong. That the Mets are just as good, if not better than, the Yankees. Just as deserving of respect. 

 But after tonight's debacle, even I cannot respect the Mets.

In another blog entry, he said this, about the Yankees' rallying clips before the dropped ball:

Apparently it takes a lot to rally the Yankees. You would think a clip from "Rocky" would suffice, given that the Yankees were only one run down to the Mets and playing in a bandbox where the ball could go flying out at any moment. But no, the sluggish Bombers and their fans apparently also required clips from "300" and "We Are Marshall." How desperate must you be to look for inspiration from Matthew McConaughey?

Ahem. That's now Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, Squawker Jon!

Later on that month, we showed up at Citi Field for the first Subway Series in that ballpark. And wouldn't you know it? There was another memorable game! Mariano Rivera got his 500th save -- and his first career RBI, thanks to Francisco Rodriguez walking him with the bases loaded!

Jon was so depressed after that game, which capped a sweep for the Yanks in Citi Field, that he said the loss was even worse than the Castillo game! He talked about the freeze-frame at the end of the movie "The Wrestler," and had a new wish for the way the series ended:

My highlight show of this year's Subway Series would end with a freeze frame of A-Rod's popup still in the air, A-Rod's bat slamming to the ground, K-Rod starting to pump his fist, Yankee fans starting to boo A-Rod, and Met fans starting to cheer.

If there was any moment to point when the Mets went down the drain, it was right then at the Castillo game! And we were there to see it! Isn't that cool, Squawker Jon?

Subway Series Preview: Why the Mets' winning streak is good for Subway Squawkers!

Here is a "Behind the Squawkers" look at this blog: Way back in early 2006, when Squawker Jon and I worked together at the web department of the New York Daily News, we used to trash talk each other on our respective teams. That winter, it looked like both the Yankees and Mets would be playoff-worthy for the first time since the Subway Series year of 2000. So Squawker Jon suggested we do this thing called a "blog" together, our boss Kevin gave us permission, and we started writing Subway Squawkers (Jon came up with the name) on March 1, 2006.

In our first season, we didn't even have blog software! Instead, it was just one long article entry each month on the Daily News website. And Jon was right -- both the Yankees and Mets would make the playoffs that year, with the Yankees losing to the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS (and Joe Torre batting A-Rod eighth!) and the Mets going further, getting all the way to Game 7 of the NLCS. Then Carlos Beltran took that called third strike, and the Mets went on a downward spiral, choking in 2007 and 2008 without making the playoffs, and not even having a winning record since 2008.

The Mets' losing ways changed the state of this blog a lot, taking away much of the trash talk. It was one thing for me to mock the Mets when they were actually a decent team. But mocking Jon and his team when the Mets were in last place didn't have the same cachet. I just looked kinda mean doing so. That meant I had to pull my punches a lot over the last few years.

So now that the magic is back in Citi Field, I can go back to insulting Squawker Jon and the Mets! Yippee! Let me get started with that:

• I see that Jon brought up 1986 in the very first sentence of this morning's Squawk. If we did a drinking game based on how often Mets fans (and their broadcasters) bring up 1986 during a typical game, this photo is what we would all look like by the second inning.
• If you go to the Mets' franchise page on Baseball-Reference.com, you will see pictures of the top 20 Mets, according to their WAR numbers. No. 3 is Dwight Gooden, who pitched a no-hitter for my Yankees. No. 5 is Darryl Strawberry, who has three rings as a Yankee. No. 6 is Carlos Beltran, who has (oh, wait, there is no Beltran highlight as a Yankee! Never mind!) Anyhow, No. 11 and No. 16 are Al Leiter and David Cone. Cone has four rings as a Yankee, none as a Met. And both Leiter and Cone are Yankee broadcasters. Tell me, Jon, how many franchises have five of their top 20 players with such connections to their biggest rivals? 
• Then there is the great Chris Young. When he was a Met, your fans all hated him. Now that he is a Yankee, he is a star! Must be that being in our team's pinstripes worked some magic on him!

So Squawker Jon and Mets fans, watch out!  Now that your team is good again, I am free to bring the pain!

I'm calling it now: A-Rod will hit HR No. 660 against Matt Harvey and the Mets this weekend!

Squawker Jon and I were getting a bite to eat on Friday night when we heard that Alex Rodriguez had hit home run No. 657. It was almost as if the homer were a statement against Joe Girardi batting him sixth (!) that night, even though Alex was the hottest hitter on the team. I quickly did the math in my head and declared: "A-Rod's gonna hit 660 off Matt Harvey!" in the Subway Series next weekend. I also posted my declaration on social media for posterity.

Later on that evening, A-Rod hit No. 658, and it seemed, given him hitting four home runs in 10 days, as if he could get two more homers this weekend. No matter. Given how much A-Rod has a flair for the dramatic, I just couldn't see him matching Willie Mays when the Yankees were on the road. No, I think he is going to do it at home, most likely in the Subway Series, and most likely against Matt Harvey, the biggest name on the New York Mets. And now that the Mets are the hottest team in baseball, with 10 wins in a row, this will make him setting the record even sweeter! Of course, I could be wrong, and A-Rod could go hitless for the weekend (and Squawker Jon could mock me mercilessly!), but I am still sticking to my prediction!

In this morning's New York Post, Ken Davidoff had some conflicting "inside details" about what will happen when Alex hits 660.

According to two sources familiar with the situation, when Rodriguez goes deep with number 660, the Yankees will have a precise period of time — two weeks, as per one of the sources — to declare this as a marketable milestone. If they were to do this, then Rodriguez would sign over the rights to his image and associated branding for the price of $6 million. 

I don't buy this, and here's why: If you were to be selling branded stuff revolving around this, you would need it ready to go at the time that people would buy the items. That would mean having it made up at the time A-Rod hits #660. Remember how Derek Jeter wore a hat and t-shirt with a logo of himself honoring his hitting #3000 in the post-game press conference after he got his 3000th hit? Remember how Steiner Sports was selling autographed merchandise before that milestone, which Jeter signed when he skipped the All-Star Game? Two weeks after #660 is ancient history.

Brian Cashman (l.) and Randy Levine spotted
visiting their attorney to discuss the
A-Rod milestone controversy.

Davidoff also writes that "another person involved in the dispute claims Rodriguez is entitled to his $6 million bonus money immediately upon hitting home run 660." This seems much more likely. The rest of this stuff is Yankee spin, like the way that they think that not mentioning the home run milestone in their press materials will keep it from being a milestone. Who is advising the Yankees -- Lionel Hutz?

Another leak to Davidoff concerns the idea that the Yankees could bring up in the arbitration hearing "past transgressions, including some that have yet to be affirmed," like A-Rod's relationship with Anthony Galea. But couldn't A-Rod's people bring up stuff on the Yankees, like the likelihood that they knew that he (and other players) were juicing? Or bring up the fact that the Yankees are marketing Andy Pettitte, an admitted PED user, even giving him a retired number, a plaque in Monument Park, and his own day?

Aside from A-Rod's flair for the dramatic, I think Alex will hit 660 at home, whether against Matt Harvey or some other pitcher, because of the fact that he will get a huge ovation and a curtain call when he does so. And it is going to be hard for the Yankees to claim that they cannot market his home run milestone if a big crowd, many of them wearing A-Rod shirts, roar in approval of his achievement! Not to mention if A-Rod's teammates celebrate it on the field.

But then again, the leadership of this team is known to talk out of both sides of their mouth. Like this gem in today's paper from Girardi to George King of the Post about A-Rod's steroid suspension: "He paid the consequences and we had to struggle through it because we didn’t have him."

Let me get this straight: Girardi and Cashman and Levine and Hal Steinbrenner have been trying to marginalize A-Rod and get him off the team for years now, but they are somehow the victims here, struggling through the 2014 season without Rodriguez? The same A-Rod that Girardi has had bat sixth and seventh this season, while he had the washed-up Carlos Beltran bat third? Really? Good grief.

In other news, did you see ESPN's Andrew Marchand's entertaining recap of A-Rod sparring with an out-of-town writer? The reporter kept on asking Alex over and over about A-Rod being a "villain" and being booed on the road, to which he finally responded:

A-Rod: I've been booed for 15 years, buddy. I don't know if you haven't been around. It's been one long boo for 15 years.

Love it -- especially his use of "buddy." I do the same thing! If I have called you "buddy" or dude" when I'm talking to you, it is not a compliment!

Subway Series:Zack and Shack

The Mets swept the Yankees in the Bronx and have now beaten the Bombers six straight. Squawker Lisa is so discombobulated she ended up with tickets to see Joe Torre's number get retired. But it's never a completely sunny day with the Mets. Zack Wheeler couldn't get out of the fifth inning with an 11-4 lead. And there are reports of food poisoning at one of the best things about Citi Field - Shake Shack.

The Mets' mantra has been, just wait until all the great young pitchers are up. Never mind that Matt Harvey is recovering from a serious arm injury, and even if most Tommy John patients recover successfully, they often don't fully regain their form right away. In eight starts this season, Wheeler now has a 4.53 ERA, 1.60 WHIP and 24 walks in 41 innings. While I'm looking forward to seeing Rafael Montero tonight and Noah Syndegaard next month, there are of course no guarantees with young pitching.

As for Shake Shack, I find it hard to believe that there could be an outbreak of food poisoning at such a popular place and that there would not be many more reports of people getting sick to their stomach. (Unless lots of people are getting sick to their stomach and assumed it's from watching the Mets.) Maybe if it were two people from the same team who may have shared an order, but not a Met (Lucas Duda) and Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg.

And now the Mets say that Duda got sick at another Shack Shake location outside Citi Field, which makes the whole story even more outlandish. Two different baseball people at two different Shake Shacks? Something about this story is not adding up for me.

Two of the main areas where the Mets are clearly superior to the Yankees are young pitching prospects and stadium food.  So I hope Montero does well tonight and thousands of fans continue to enjoy their Shackburgers. And that the Mets become the first team to beat Masahiro Tanaka.
    

Subway Series Game 1: Enough with the Met fans crowing and celebrating

Squawker Jon, I hope you haven't gotten carpal tunnel syndrome from writing two blog posts in a row. Funny how you have so much to say when it comes to the Subway Series, especially when your Mets won. Good thing you managed to roust yourself and write once in a while, or I would have to start calling you Subway Snoozer!

Anyhow, your brethren sounded very loud at Yankee Stadium last night, especially from the section that the 7 Line Army occupies. (And what's up with that, anyway -- how does Yankee Stadium allow literally an entire section to be sold to the opposition's fans? Can you imagine Fenway Park selling a section just to Yankee fans for them to make noise in? Are the Yankees that desperate to get fannies in the seats?)

On the other hand, my Yankee brethren sounded positively quiet when Curtis Granderson came up to the plate. Using their (dopey) logic that was exhibited with their shameful booing of Robinson Cano, the same people should have booed Granderson for not just going to the Mets and getting more money there, but for referring to Mets fans as "true New Yorkers." It just goes to show that the booing of Cano is really because Yankee fans wish he were still with the team. Speaking of Robbie Cano, don't you know, are you aware that the Mariners now have a better record than the Yankees?

An aside: I thought about signing your team's dumb petition on true New Yorkerdom so that if I won, I could show that I was a Yankee fan and mock you all. But I didn't want to take a chance of anybody thinking I was a Mets fan -- it would be like having cooties.

It struck me as strange, too, that I heard more cheers than boos in Yankee Stadium when Granderson hit a homer. (It did not strike me as strange, though, that John Sterling reportedly exclaimed "the Grandy Man can" when he hit the homer; Sterling loves his catchphrases!)

As for the flashbacks to the Castillo game, the Yankee radio pre-game featured both Sterling's "Oh Wow" call for that, as well as the call when Mariano Rivera got his 500th save (which was against the Mets, of course, at Citi Field.) And we were at both games! Two of my very favorite Yankee-watching moments. Are you still fuming, Jon?

How about that Kerosene Kyle? This is what happens when your team loses a gazillion dollars in a Ponzi scheme -- they have him as the closer. Even the Yankees never did that! Unfortunately for me, Farnsworth got out of the jam and got the save. But don't reward him by putting Farnsworth back on your fantasy team, Jon!

And yes, the Yankees have a lot of injuries, but 1) that is not an excuse, and 2) that is what happens when you sign old, injury-prone players -- they get injured! 

I will give your Mets credit for one thing -- their contrasting brims (the orange with the blue hat) look a heck of a lot better than the white brims on the Yankees caps! Good grief.

Subway Series Game 1: Shades of Luis Castillo, but with better result for Mets

It's been five years since the Luis Castillo game, and it still gives me nightmares. During the ninth inning of last night's Subway Series opener, it was starting to look like deja vu all over again.

Five years ago, the Mets let the first game of the Subway Series, 8-7, in the bottom of the ninth. Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira reached base, A-Rod popped up to Castillo, and I still don't want to think about what happened next. 

Last night, the Mets led the first game of the Subway Series, 9-7, in the bottom of the ninth. Once again, Jeter and Teixeira reached base. But there would be two crucial differences between 2014 and 2009.

In 2009, the game ended when Met infielder Castillo muffed what should have been an easy play. 

In 2014, the game ended when Met infielder Lucas Duda made a great play on a sharply-hit grounder by Brian McCann, starting and finishing a double play.

The other difference was Teixeira's health.

In 2009, Teixeira scored the winning run from first because he was hustling all the way when A-Rod hit what looked like a game-ending pop out.

But in 2014, a hobbling Teixeira could only make it to first when he hit what should have been a double. Teixeira was immediately removed for a pinch-runner.

If Teixeira had made it to second, the tying run would have been in scoring position. Duda would not have been able to get the force at second to start the double play. The inning would have continued after McCann's at bat, and the way Farnsworth was pitching, the Yankees would have had a good chance to give Met fans more nightmares.

Instead, the Mets have now beaten the Yankees five straight.

Subway Series: Old Timers' Day

Last year, the Mets swept the Yankees in the Subway Series. But this season, the Mets don't have Matt Harvey while the Yankees have Masahiro Tanaka. And the Mets figure to embarrass themselves before the games with the presentation of the ridiculous "true New Yorkers" letter and whatever fawning retirement gift they have for Derek Jeter.

Jeter turns 40 next month, and perhaps the Mets are already honoring him by collecting elderly ex-Yankees. Bobby Abreu and Bartolo Colon are 40 and Kyle Farnsworth is 38. The fourth ex-Yankee on the Mets' roster, Curtis Granderson, is a comparative youngster at 33. (The Yankees have one ex-Met - Carlos Beltran.)

By the way, Squawker Lisa, while Beltran got off to a great start in the Bronx and Granderson was awful in the early going, over the last two weeks Granderson is hitting .308 with two homers, seven RBI and five runs, while Beltran is hitting .147 with no homers, two RBI and three runs. 

Lisa has justifiably ripped me for having Kerosene Kyle on my fantasy team, but I remedied that by dropping him for Jeurys Familia after Terry Collins said Familia was moving closer to being the closer. I hope that's true, but after trying Jose Valverde and Farnsworth, I hope the Mets don't turn
next to just-released 36-year-old Heath Bell.

The day before the 2013 Subway Series, the Met rallied for three runs in the eighth inning and broke a five-game losing streak. Yesterday, the Mets rallied for three runs in the ninth and went on to break a five-game losing streak.  So here's hoping the Mets can pull off another sweep of the Yankees.

Of course, the Mets followed the four-game Subway Series sweep by losing ten of their next twelve. 

At 17-19, the Mets now have to go 73-53 the rest of the way to win 90 games.

Subway Series Wrapup: Get out the brooms!

Squawker Lisa, I see you somehow can't find the time to write about your Yankees. So let me help you out.

The Yankees were swept four straight games.

By the Mets.

The same Mets who had lost 25 of their last 36 games. The Mets who had lost five of their last six going into the Subway Series, allowing an average of five runs per game.

The Yankees scored a total of seven runs in the Subway Series.

The Mets set a team record for most strikeouts in three games without a walk over the last three games - 34 strikeouts and zero walks.

Matt Harvey pitched only one of those games.

The other two were pitched by Dillon Gee and Jeremy Hefner. After beating the Yankees in the Bronx, Gee's road ERA is down to 7.76. Hefner's road ERA is down to 6.11. 

Ike Davis had four RBI in the series. He has one other RBI in May. 

The Yankees are now 11th in the American League in runs scored. Their pitching has carried them so far, particularly the relief pitching. 

The Yankees' top two relievers, Mariano Rivera and David Robertson, both suffered losses in the series.

But don't worry, Lisa, Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis are returning! Sure, Teixeira generally forgets how to hit in his first month of the season. And Youk, who was so-so in April, should find a way to get back on the DL before too long.  Meanwhile, Lyle Overbay will probably have to leave the lineup despite being second on the Yankees in RBI. 

So I can't blame you if you decide to take a well-timed trip to the DL and ease your way back in to having to write about the Yankees by blogging on flat ground.

Well-swept flat ground.

Subway Series Game 3: Mets rule the rails

The Mets clinched the 2013 Subway Series with a 9-4 thumping of the Yankees. It was only the third time since May 3 the Mets had scored as many as five runs in a game. Look on the bright side, Squawker Lisa - at least David Phelps got more outs than Mariano did on Tuesday!

Jeremy Hefner was 0-5 going into the game, including two losses to the lowly Marlins. The Mets were 0-10 in games Hefner started. When the Mets scored five runs in the top of the first, I figured it would be one of those games in which the Yankees would come back with several runs of their own in the bottom of the first. Instead, Hefner allowed just one run through five innings before giving up a couple more in the sixth.

Even the cheap Yankee stadium homers are bouncing the Mets' way, with Marlon Byrd hitting one off the top of the right field wall.

So much for the Yankees' current roster of castoffs and fill-ins massively overachieving. But at least the Yankees do have Mark Teixeira and Kevin Youkilis expected back on Friday in time to face the Red Sox. What, Squawker Lisa, not rushing them back tonight to try to prevent Dillon Gee from completing a sweep?

Gee is 2-6 with a 6.34 ERA this season. His road ERA is 9.97. I'm not really sure who Vidal Nuno is, but he does have a 1.93 ERA in 14 innings so far.  So the Yankees should have a good shot at avoiding a sweep, but this Subway Series has clearly defied predictions so far. Let's Go Mets!

My thoughts on Subway Series Game 1

Sorry, but last night's game was a bit of a snoozer (and no, that wasn't just because my Yankees lost.) It just wasn't all that exciting, even for a Subway Series game.

We have been hearing for years about how the Yankees and Mets players don't really consider the Subway Series any different from other games. In those times, they seemed to be putting a damper on the hype. This time around though, this series really doesn't feel very special.

The only real excitement you could see/feel in the ballpark that translated to watching at home was courtesy of the 7 Line Army -- the group of Mets fans who had batches of seats together in the outfield, and all wore the same shirt.  By the way, there was a nice article about Darren Meenan in Capital New York this week, but of course, some jealous Mets fans ripped into him in the comments section, just because. Squawker Jon, I thought the why Mets fans acted like crabs keeping their fellow crabs from exiting the bucket!

Anyhow, hopefully tonight will be a bit more interesting. It certainly should be, since not only is it a Matt Harvey/Hiroki Kuroda matchup, but Squawker Jon and I will be there in person! If tonight isn't a sellout, though, it will not bode well for the Subway Series in the future!


Our friends at TiqIQ had these interesting stats regarding this week's series:

• • With a combined average price of $116, this is the cheapest Subway Series over the last four years. 
  • This year's combined average price is down 6% from 2012, 3% from 2011, and 41% from 2010.
  • This years most expensive Subway Series game is Game 2 at Citi Field with an average of $140.  
  • This years least expensive Subway Series game is the final game at Yankee Stadium with an average of $109
  • The cheapest secondary-market ticket the series is $28 with fees for the final game at Yankees stadium. 
  • The least expensive ticket in Flushing is $29 for the opener on Monday.
  
  
  
  The most expensive Subway Series game over the last four years had an average price of $255 on 7/2/11 at Citi Field
  The Least expensive  Subway Series game over the last four years had an average price of $99 on 5/22/11 at Yankee Stadium
  
  
  The premium over the regular season average for Mets tickets for this year's series is +67% compared to a +140% premium last season. 
  The premium over regular season average for Yankee Ignore warning s tickets for this year's series is +9%, compared to a +20% premium last season. 
  
  

What do you think? Tell us about it.

Subway Series Game 1 - Gardner goes Endy, but Mets win

When Brett Gardner pulled an Endy Chavez and robbed Daniel Murphy of a two-run homer, the Mets appeared headed for another ignominious defeat at the hands of the Yankees. But the Mets overcame Gardner's play of the year, thanks to David Wright's game-tying homer and Murphy's game winning hit. Jon Niese lowered his ERA to 4.40, which is pretty good considering it was 5.93 on May 11.Bobby Parnell picked up his fifth save in May.

With Niese, Wright, Murphy and Parnell spearheading the win, the Mets looked as if they might have the makings of a good core after all. (Let's not talk about Ike Davis' three strikeouts.)

The Mets knocked the Yankees out of first place tonight, and now they go for a Citi Field sweep with Matt Harvey making his first start against the Yankees.  Hiroki Kuroda has faced the Mets three times at Citi Field and is 0-3 with a 6.19 ERA. He also lost his only start at Shea Stadium, allowing six runs in 2 2/3 innings. All of these starts came when he was with the Dodgers. The only current Met to homer off of Kuroda is Davis.

Squawker Lisa and I are going to the game.We've already seen Harvey win once this season and I'm hoping he can continue to show that the most exciting young player in the Subway Series is a member of the Mets.