Subway Series. Round Two.

"Ding. Ding." - Apollo Creed

It’s time. Round 2 of the Subway Series begins today with the hated “Rocket” starting game one. While no Met players remain from the last time Clemens pitched against the Mets in the 2000 World Series, Met fans remember all too clearly how Clemens beaned Mike Piazza multiple times during that season. The teams have had a role reversal as of late. The Yankees come in riding the crest of a 9 game winning streak. The Mets meanwhile come into the series having lost 9 in a row. The last time these two teams met, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Yankees, but now the tables have turned.

The Mets seemed poised to begin running away with their division, until this recent stretch of bad play. The Yankees were the pre-season pick by many to win their division, which would be their tenth division championship in a row. There were questions with each teams pitching, but the expectations were that each teams’ lineup and bullpen would be able to carry them through the regular season to the playoffs.

Then, the injuries struck. The Yankees were afflicted before the season began by losing their ace, Chien-Ming Wang, with a pulled hamstring. One by one, 4 out of their 5 starting pitchers missed time due to injury throughout the season. Carl Pavano was lost for the year, but no surprise there. Mariano looked old. His trademark cutter was moving along at a snails pace of 87 mph. He was used sporadically during the first third of the season, which most likely contributed to his ineffectiveness, due to the fact that the Yankees weren’t playing well enough to protect a lead during the late innings of games. The team looked awful. Noone was predicting that the Yankees would rebound from this malaise. However, the pitching has come around and the lineup has finally awoken: Cano and especially Abreu, who holds the lineup together, have started to produce as expected. This run has been highlighted by the Yankees romp through two National League teams, further illustrating the disparity in play between the leagues. The Diamondbacks had a 24-12 record since May 12^th, the best record in the NL over that time period. If this was the best the National League had to offer, does this mean that the gap between the two leagues has possibly widened?

“I really have no words” – Ron Darling

The Mets have taken their turn at experiencing injuries now over these last few weeks, they’ve taken hits to their entire starting outfield. All their starters have missed time and even Endy Chavez and Lastings Milledge are currently out with injuries. In the case of Milledge, this is a wasted opportunity for Lastings to gain valuable experience and seasoning with the outfield in shambles. Paul LoDuca for one refuses to use the injuries as an excuse for the losses. He believes that the reason for the Mets losing streak can be chalked up to the lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. However, it appears that the problems run deeper than just clutch hitting. Like the Yankees during their run of horrible play, the Mets look listless and don’t seem to care that they are losing their once comfortable lead in the NL East. During last nights game, Ron Darling stated, “I really have no words”, this was followed by 10 seconds of silence. This was after one of the Mets pitchers failed the basic execution of covering first base on a grounder toward first. It’s gotten that bad for the Mets, at least in the eyes of their Championship winning former starting pitcher.

Truthfully, this series may be just the elixir the Mets need to right their ship. This series should inspire the Mets to play harder and most assuredly better, which would come as a relief to Mets fans. Mets players hate playing second fiddle to the Yankees in New York. Furthermore, no matter how well they play against the Yankees, it will remain that way until they win a Championship of their own. If a World Series win comes at the expense of the Yankees, as the Yankees did to the Mets in 2000, it would be all the sweeter. The Mets have two lefties starting in this series which should be an advantage for them since the Yankees have historically struggled against lefties with their predominantly left-handed hitting lineup. On top of that, the Yankees are starting Clemens tonight who, to temper the excitement of Yankee fans, he did well in his last start, but it was against the Pirates. A bad team in a bad league.

Floowing Clemens in teh rotation is rookie Tyler Clippard who, while he pitched well and earned the win against the Mets the last time these two teams met, too much can't be expected from him this time out. Either way, this should be an entertaining weekend for New York baseball, but most likely, a bit of a letdown for Met fans.