Subway Series Preview

It only comes around once a year, twice if we ever get so lucky. The rivalry never seems to die off,it just varies depending on standings at the time of the year when the two ballclubs face off. Yes, that's right, Subway Series time has arrived in New York. It's the annual four game meeting between the New York Mets and New York Yankees that rolls around every summer. Its the battle of New York and its had soome pretty memorable moments over the last twenty years that these two teams have faced off.

The very first game played between the two clubs, in June of 1997, sticks out with a lot of fans, as Dave Mlicki threw a complete game shutout, with the Mets coming away with a 6-0 victory. The rivalry reached a new level in 2000, when Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza had their incidents, what with the regular season bean ball, and the broken bat being thrown at Piazza in the World Series. Since then, there have been some more memorable moments between the two clubs. There was the Louis Castillo dropped pop up at Yankee Staduim in June of 2009. A couple days after that, Mariano Rivera drove in his first career RBI and picked up career save #500 in a 4-2 Yankees win. Then there are also a few happy notes for Mets fans, like the day Carlos Delgado went off against the Yankees, driving in 9 runs in a 15-6 win at the Stadium in 2008.  Or how about the game winning hits off Mariano Rivera by first Matt Franco in 1999 and then David Wright in 2006.

Out of the twenty series that have been played between the two clubs, the Mets have three wins, the Yankees have nine wins, and the other eight series have been even splits at either two or three wins a piece. In total, there have been 104 games played between the two clubs, not including the 2000 World Series. The Yankees hold the advantage, with a 60-44 lifetime record against the boys from Queens. Each team holds a solid winning streak against the other one. The Mets won six straight, from May 27, 2013 through May 13, 2014. As for the Yankees, they've won 7 in a row, spanning from June 30, 2002 through June 29, 2003 (covering the length of two seasons). That's part of what makes things fun when you talk about this rivalry. I know that the Yankees have dominated it more over the past number of years, but there's still just something about it that draws out another level of emotion in you as a baseball fan when you play a crosstown rival.

So enough with the fluff, lets get right down to it. Here's the breakdown of the series.

Here's the pitching matchups for the four games in the series:

Monday, August 14th 7PM Louis Cessa (0-3) vs. Rarfael Montero (1-8)
Tuesday, August 15th 7PM Sonny Gray (6-7) vs. Jacob deGrom (13-5)
Wednesday, August 16th 7PM Jamie Garcia (5-8) vs. Seth Lugo (5-3)
Thursday, August 17th 7PM Luis Severino (9-5) Steven Matz (2-6)

The Mets head into this series ten games under .500 and are 17 games back in the division, 11 games back in the Wild Card race with five teams to try and jump. This is a baseball team that had very high expectations heading into this season, due to the injury bug, they have failed to live up to those lofty expectations. The kicker is, the Mets had been at least a .500 baseball team as of May 9th of this year (they sat at 16-16 at that time). Then, once the injuries started to really kick in, the wheels kind of just fell off the wagon with this team. With all the moves that the Mets have made, it almost looks like a shell of a team when you look at what they had on paper at the start of the year compared to what we've got right now. Its been rough for the Mets as of late, as they are 15-20 in their last 35 games, though they just won three of four at Philadelphia.

Things have gone the total opposite direction for the Yankees this year as a whole. They still sit a top the wild card standings at the moment, but are now five and a half games back of the Boston Red Sox in the American League East going into the start of this four game series. Even though he has slumped as of late, the fact that Aaron Judge has played as well as he has says a lot about how well this Yankees club has done for themselves this year. Judge's slump is kind of a depiction of the way things have gone for the Yankees as of late. They're still in contention but they are starting to lose a lot of that steam that they had earlier this year.

Looking at the two teams as they are constructed at the moment, things look pretty even: base running, fielding, players coming off the bench. It looks like it could be a good series. Sure the Mets may have the better pitching on paper, Monday's starter Rafael Montero not withstanding. But the Yankees have the better bullpen, its not even really close in that regards. They are better coached, I'm sorry as much as I kinda like Terry Collins, I think Joe Girardi has done a way better job at being able to manage his ball club. I know he hasn't had to deal with as many injuries to key players as Terry has, but still Joe has a better overall handle on his team.

All that being said, I still think its going to be an entertaining series. One of two things will happen, Either the Yankees take three out of four games, or it ends in a split. The only win I could realistically see the Mets getting is the Tuesday night game in the Bronx. As good as Sonny Gray is, Jacob deGrom has been that much better this year. Maybe the Mets can pull off another win with Seth Lugo on the Mound on Wednesday night.