Remember when the Yankees used to dominate the Subway Series? Good times, good times. Sigh.
Are you tired of the Yankees losing to the Mets? I'm kind of tired of the Yankees losing to the Mets. This is getting silly.
The game kicked off on an ominous note as Nuno drilled Eric Young on foot, walked Daniel Murphy after a long at-bat, then gave up an RBI base hit up the middle to David Wright. One out later, Curtis Granderson stepped up and did what he did best during his time at Yankee Stadium--crush a breaking ball in the middle of the plate into the seats in right field. Grandy's three-run bomb made it 4-0, Mets. Nuno ended the inning shortly after that, but he still threw 37 pitches in an ugly first.
Yankees came right back against Zack Wheeler, as Brett Gardner led off the game with a single up the middle and Derek Jeter followed with a walk. Jacoby Ellsbury, quietly slumping at 4-for-32 entering today, bounced into a double played, apparently ending the rally. Fortunately, Mark Teixeira saved the inning from absolute failure by lacing a single over the shift in right center field, scoring Gardner to make it 4-1. Brian McCann then truly saved the inning by sending a two-run bomb to the short porch, cutting the Mets' lead to 4-3. Alfonso Soriano flew out to end the inning, but the Yankees had life.
The second inning brought some hope as Nuno quickly rebounded with a six-pitch, 1-2-3 frame. The Yankees put runners on first and third with one out for Gardner, who drove Wheeler's pitch count to over 50 already, but ultimately struck out on a pitch in the dirt. Jeter ended the inning with a ground out. The Mets suffered no such RISPfails when David Wright led off the third with a double. Two deep fly balls to center, including one that might have fallen for a hit if not for Ellsbury's incredible range, brought Wright home to give the Mets a two-run cushion. The Yankees celebrated by having another RISPfail in the bottom of the third, as Soriano grounded out to third with McCann on second and two outs.
More frustration followed in the fourth when Nuno walked the leadoff hitter and Yangervis Solarte threw away a potential double play ball from Eric Young. Instead of no one on and two outs, there were two runners in scoring position and no one out. The Mets made Solarte's mistake loom large when Murphy hit a sacrifice fly and now facing Alfredo Aceves, Wright lined his third base hit of the game to left for another RBI hit. The Mets' four-run lead from the top of the first was officially back. Aceves ended the inning with a groundout and a Granderson strikeout, but the damage was done. The Yankees' defense just can't make those mistakes with a shaky pitcher like Nuno on the mound, and the Mets made them pay.
The Yankees continued to wear Wheeler down in the fourth, as the young Mets starter walked Solarte and Kelly Johnson back-to-back to begin the fourth, not exactly what his skipper Terry Collins wanted to see with a decent lead. Brian Roberts flew out to move Solarte to third, and Gardner singled him home with a smash to right field. Regrettably, on wheeler's 99th pitch of the game (again, in the fourth), Jeter hit one back to the mound and Wheeler started a 1-6-3 double play to escape the inning with minimal damage. Wheeler was just another bad pitcher on the mound tonight, as he ended up throwing 118 pitches and not even finishing five innings. Wonder if Collins will regret keeping him out there for so long just trying to get him the win.
The next inning, the Mets' offense effectively put the game out of hand. Juan Lagares popped a double up into no man's land in center. Aceves got the next two outs and seemed ready to move the game on, but Ruben Tejada singled to center, scoring Lagares. Aceves made matters worse by walking Eric Young and ultimately surrendering a three-run bomb to Murphy, who clanged it high off the right field foul pole to give the Mets a commanding 11-4 lead. Who know how much longer Aceves will be with the Yankees? They'll need to make a move to put Thursday's reported starter, Chase Whitley, on the 40-man roster, and while they could theoretically just DFA Bruce Billings or something, maybe they'll cut ties with Ace entirely. He is not the stud he was in 2009. Sigh.
It was a long drag onward to the four-hour mark of this game, but it did in fact finally end. Each team scored some more runs and although Solarte belted a solo homer, the Yankees also stranded a few runners against Daisuke Matsuzaka because of course they did. Gardner and McCann both notched multi-hit games, something that was especially nice to see out of McCann, who has not yet seemed completely comfortable at the plate.
The one bright spot on the mound for the Yankees was Matt Daley, who looked much better than he did in his brief appearance earlier in the season. Daley kept the Mets off the board with three no-hit shutout innings of relief, providing the rest of the bullpen a much-needed breather, though Preston Claiborne was needed for the final inning.
One other plus was that we got another "Joe Girardi throws in the towel" GIF (and reverse), as he was ejected arguing a called strike three on Johnson in the fifth inning. Personally, I think he just wanted to leave and manage from his office. Could you blame him?
Thankfully, Masahiro Tanaka is pitching tomorrow night for the Yankees at Citi Field, where he'll face popular Mets prospect Rafael Montero, who will make his MLB debut. The Yankees could really use some quality #TanakaTime and for their offense to beat up on a rookie, so here's hoping that happens. Blah.