Friday night's opener was an ugly one for the Yanks, as they wasted a nice start from Freddy Gacia, falling 2-1 to their crosstown rival. The Yankees bats were shut down by R.A. Dickey and his knuckleball, and their late-game chance was snuffed out by a great play by the always annoying Jose Reyes. Mark Teixiera drove in the Yankees only run with a homer. Daniel Murphy went yard for the Mets, a solo shot off Garcia in the 6th that proved to be the game-winner. Luckily, things improved from there as they were able to take the next two to win take the series.
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Saturday they homered their way to a 7-3 win. Russell Martin, Curtis Granderson, A-Rod and Tex all went deep. A.J. Burnett went 6.1, allowing three runs on six hits for his 5th win of the year. The combination of Boone Logan, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, and Luis Ayala took care of the rest. Robertson's outing included another Houdini act, this time getting out of a 1st and 3rd jam with one out.
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Ivan Nova continued where Garcia and Burnett left off, following up their outings with a solid one of his own on Sunday. Although he allowed 11 hits, only three men crossed the plate and as they say, he kept the team in the game.
The Yankees trailed for most of of the game, failing time after time to drive in a run. Until the 7th they were 0-for-11 with runners on base for the game. Their only run up until that point came on another homer by Granderson, his 16th of the season. But in the 7th the Yankees finally got to Mets starter Mike Pelfrey and blew the game open with an eight run inning, and all without the use of a homer, and mostly without the use of a hard hit ball.After the Yankees loaded the bases, Jeter tied things up with a two-run 18-hopper up the middle. (Jeter is now 25 hits shy of 3000 after picking up 5 this series.) A couple batters later the Yankees once again had them loaded and took the lead on slow roller from A-Rod that turned into an infield single. Cano then singled in one, Gardner doubled in two, and Dickerson capped off the rally with an RBI single. Luis Ayala shut the Mets down from there.
In a sad turn of events, it appears that the 7th inning was just too much to take for this Mets fan:
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Overall, I'd say it was a good weekend for the Yanks. Three good outings from the starters, the bullpen didn't allow a run, and maybe, just maybe, the Yankees broke out of their home run spell with their rally in the 7th on Sunday.
At 25-20 the Yankees also finish the weekend in a tie for first with the Rays, who lost two of three to the Marlins. Boston, who dropped two of three to the Cubs, is a half-game out.
Toronto now comes into town for a three-game set. Game one is Monday night, with Bartolo Colon facing Carlos Villanueva.
