To say there are no dull moments in New York sports right now would be an understatement. The Rangers are up 3-0 in their second round matchup with the Hurricanes. The Knicks are up 2-0 on Indiana in the face of extreme adversity. The Jets and Giants are coming off an important draft that will hopefully yield them plenty of talent. But of course, not to be left out, the Yankees and Mets are making noise of their own. So it’s time to board the Subway, and head to the outer boroughs. If you see something say something…and if you see Reggie Miller remind him that the Garden has a message for him.
Yankees
“This is 161st Street, Yankee Stadium” where the Bronx Bombers have all of a sudden been out in force. When we last talked about the Yankees, they were coming off an ugly series loss in Baltimore. The offense was really scuffling and they were wasting good pitching performances as a result of it. That continued into Friday night as the Tigers came to town…until the ninth inning. Trailing 1-0 in their final at bat, the Yanks strung together a single, a bunt and an RBI double to set up Anthony Rizzo.
Rizzo tapped a single through the drawn in infield to knock in the winning the run and to kick off the weekend set with Detroit. From there the Yankees would handle their business on the weekend and swept the series. The biggest development from that three game set was Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton really heating up and that was only the beginning for the tandem.
Judge is really becoming the story as with each passing game number 99 is getting on track. After a sluggish April, he’s batting .327 in his last 15 games with six home runs and 14 RBI’s. He’s now up to .236 and with nine bombs and 25 RBI’s for the season. If Judge can keep this going the lineup will only become deadlier, and credit for his hot streak is owed to Juan Soto who hits in front of him and a new cleanup batter behind him.
That new cleanup hitter is lefty Alex Verdugo, who is fully earning his pinstripes right now. The newest number 24 began his year by playing great defense in spite of his bat lagging behind. But in his last 15 games he’s hitting .291, with three home runs and 12 RBI’s. Soto, Judge, Verdugo, Stanton, and Rizzo (2-6 in the order) combined for tons of damage against Detroit and the rival Astros who came into town for a mid week tilt in the Bronx. While the lineup did some heavy lifting against the struggling Stros, the starting pitching was impressive in the two wins as Carlos Rodon and a young righty continued to excel.
That young righty is of course Luis Gil, who we have highlighted before in this series. While he had some nice moments early on this year, it’s his last two starts that should have everyone excited. Last week in Baltimore Gil got the shutout and the win, punching out five while only walking one over 6.1 innings pitched. He picked up where he left off as he struck out five more and allowed just one run in six impressive innings against the Astros in a 10-3 win. Gil has proven to be a godsend for this group in the absence of Gerrit Cole. He’s helped this staff to help carry the team, and done enough to stay on the roster when Cole comes back. Yankee pitching has been so good that they’re 23-7 in games when they score at least two runs. It’s been a pleasant surprise to say the least.
The good news keeps coming for the Bombers as Gerrit Cole is reportedly on track for a mid-June return. While his return to the team would provide an immeasurable impact, he’s not alone. Oswald Peraza and Jasson Dominguez are on the comeback trail as well, two players who will only make the Yankees deeper, and tougher to matchup against. Peraza in particular may see some added playing time when he returns given how poorly Gleyber Torres has played. Keep an eye on that situation and other roster decisions as guys return.
The Yanks are headed out on the road after this series, with a stop on Tampa before taking on the red hot Twins in Minnesota. It should be an intriguing trip, as the Yankees will look to stay hot and will play two tough AL rivals. Checkout the AL East standings below as the race with the Orioles is tight through a month. Now, with the Bronx in the books, let’s go over to Queens.
AL East Standings
Mets
“Now arriving at Mets Willets Point,” where the Mets are returning from a five game road trip (due to rainout) that was a mixed bag at best. They went 2-3 on the trip but enjoyed some really bright moments on it. It started last Friday in Tampa Bay, where a Met rally just fell short after trailing by six runs. It was a valiant effort that gave way to a breakout performance on Saturday night.
That breakout performance came from young righty Christian Scott, who was recently called up from triple-A. The new number 45 spun a gem going 6.2 innings, with six strikeouts and one walk, while only allowing five hits. The moment didn’t feel too big for Scott at all as he did all of this in front of a national tv audience. His stuff was absolutely electric and earned high praise from analyst and former star pitcher himself, Adam Wainwright. Unfortunately his brilliance wasn’t enough to get the win, but the outing was one the Mets could hang their hat on.
Unfortunately things didn’t get much better Sunday, as despite an impressive showing from the bats, the Mets would fall in extra innings. This loss was particularly disappointing because of a blown save by Edwin Diaz, who had a rare bad week, and a defensive mistake in extras. I can understand that Bader is trying to make a play to help win the game, but you have to keep that ball in front of you.
With the sweep in Tampa behind them, the Mets headed for the “Gateway City” to take on the scuffling Cardinals. St. Louis is struggling so far, making them a good team to victimize here as the Mets looked to get back to .500. They’d do exactly that with a pair of gritty wins. The first of which came Monday night courtesy of this go ahead blast by Brandon Nimmo.
Nimmo’s hot hitting carried over to the next game when he homered to tie the game at three, setting up a Mets outburst that led to an eventual 7-5 win. That outburst of runs was keyed by Pete Alonso, who has been in desperate need of a hot streak to get himself going. Over his previous 15 games Alonso was hitting just .140 with 13 strikeouts, which dropped his average to a career low of .206. It almost feels like his contract situation is leading to him pressing here early in the year. We’re seeing it across town with Gleyber Torres so it could very well be in Alonso’s head too. But the best way to get out of it is to have a night like he did on Wednesday going 2-5 with a homer and three RBI’s.
Wednesday nights rainout ended the trip abruptly but the Mets salvaging the last two games in St. Louis gets them home at 18-18. It’s been a fine start to the year, especially considering they started 0-5. They’ll kick off this home-stand with a battle of third place versus second place against the Braves, which always makes for an interesting matchup. The games with Atlanta are a prelude to more NL East matchups in a home and home with the Phillies and then a trip to Miami. Take a look at the standings below, a feature we’ll continue to include as the season goes on.
NL East Standings
NL Wild Card Standings
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