As we hit the middle of the week, it’s time to board the Subway again. This week’s Subway Beat will have a positive tone for both teams as the Yanks and Mets have played well since our last release. It’s a lot more fun for us to talk about the good stuff over here at the Breakdown so hopefully it continues. Now please stand clear of the closing doors and be advised these are express trains and won’t make all stops on the line. All aboard!
Mets
“Now arriving at Mets Willets Point,” where things are looking up after an ugly start. As Gary Cohen so aptly put it, last Thursdays double dip against the Tigers felt like rock bottom. The Mets dropped the first game in ugly fashion and then were staring down being no hit in game two until Pete Alonso saved the day. His game tying blast set up Tyrone Taylor’s walk off winner and got the Mets into the win column. While it was only their first win, it proved to be important as it’s launched some better play for the team.
That better play went on the road with the team where they had a solid weekend in Cincinnati against a pretty good Reds ball club. Friday nights win was led by an all around team pitching performance. Jose Quintana, Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz combined to give up just two runs and nailed down the win. It was also good to see Jeff McNeil homer in the game as he works his way out of some early struggles. He’ll be critical going forward so it’s an important sign to say the least.
While Saturday’s game was an ugly 9-6 loss (more on that in a moment), the Mets bounced back well on Sunday to win the series. Quite similarly to Friday’s win, Sunday was all about quality pitching and one of the Mets big bats finally waking up. Lefty Sean Manaea turned in his second straight quality outing, allowing one run over five and punching out six, before turning it over to the pen. Jorge Lopez combined with Raley, Ottavino and Diaz to pitch four shutout innings and slam the door. The strong pitching served as the backdrop to Francisco Lindor homering for the first time this year. Number 12 has to find his stroke right away so the offense can get on track.
While the two wins in Ohio were good to get, the highlight of the early schedule came Monday night in Atlanta. In the first meeting of the season with the hated Braves the Mets rallied for a thrilling victory. Former “Bravos” starter Julio Teheran got the nod and was mostly ineffective allowing four runs over two and two thirds’ innings of work. After trailing 4-0, the Mets bats came to life thanks to Brandon Nimmo. Nimmo’s pair of homers was joined by a long homer off the bat of DJ Stewart to take the lead. There were a few close calls in the 9th, but Jorge Lopez got the save and the Mets got the win. It was a clutch W against a rival, and it saw some new faces step up, like Stewart (who looked more like his 2023 self) and Lopez in the 9th.
While the dramatic win was followed by a loss, at least the Mets are showing signs of life and have a chance to keep things on the rails here. While they await reinforcements Kodai Senga and JD Martinez, they need to keep grinding it out and finding ways to win. The lineup has been particularly lively of late and will need to stay hot for them to keep winning games. They have a special weekend ahead of them when they return home and honor “Doctor K” himself, Dwight Gooden at Citi Field Saturday. In the meantime, keep hitting and keep Omar Narvaez on the bench…in the words of Mike Francesa, you’d be upset if you saw this in a little league game. With all that said, it’s all aboard the four train, uptown to the Bronx we go!
Yankees
“Now arriving at 161st Street/River Ave Yankee Stadium,” the home of one of baseballs hottest teams. The Yankees arrived back in the “boogie down” to open the home schedule and maintained their winning ways. After dropping the home opener in a frustrating shutout last Friday, the Bombers bounced back with a big offensive weekend to take the set from Toronto. The outburst began Saturday night with yours truly in attendance as the Yanks got nine runs against Jays pitching, highlighted by a big night from Aaron Judge. They had to hang on for dear life in what was once a blow out (more on that later), but it was certainly a fun night for those in attendance.
The real story of the weekend series was Giancarlo Stanton. Through the home opener, number 27 had struggled mightily to begin the year, striking out in 13 of his first 22 at bats. But he woke up with a three hit game Saturday night, which included a home run the other way. He saved his best though for Sunday as he came up with the game tied in the fourth. After working the count even, big G uncorked one to left. In the immortal words of Crash Davis, “anything hit that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it.”
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Juan Soto, who hit his first home run in the Bronx on Monday night. Alex Verdugo followed suit with a dinger of his own on Tuesday night to further endear himself to Yankee fans everywhere, which is probably a wise move considering he arrived here from Boston in the offseason. These two have gone a long way towards building the new and much more fun Yankee culture we have seen so far this season. From the barking in the dugout to the excitement when their teammates come through, the collective attitude change in this group is extremely evident.
Speaking of renewed spirit, let’s talk about lefty Carlos Rodon who looks revitalized so far this season. To say number 55’s first season in pinstripes didn’t go as planned would be an understatement, and all eyes were on him in this rotation, especially in the absence of Gerrit Cole. As mentioned last week Rodon pitched well in Houston in a no-decision but since then he has performed even better. The lefty put together a strong outing in Arizona against a talented offense before making his home debut for the season on Tuesday night, a start he left to the tune of a well-earned ovation from Yankee faithful.
While Rodon and most of his rotation mates have performed well, there is one glaring issue in the pitching department. That issue is length, or a lack thereof coming from the Yankee starters as this group seems to struggle to go past the sixth inning in most games. While the starters have done their job in terms of limiting the opposition, it’s just not a winning formula for the Yankees to have to overuse this bullpen on a nightly basis. In 2019 the Yankees overused their bullpen to the point that several over their marquee arms were burned out when the playoffs arrived, which hurt their chances at getting past the Astros. Box scores like the one below cannot happen in games you lead by seven runs…not when you’re trying to avoid burning guys out.
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