YANKEES 9
For some odd reason, the New York Mets forget how to play baseball whenever they see the pin strips of the New York Yankees in the opposing dugout. Like their tussle in the Bronx, the Mets bobbled, balked and stumbled through a 9-1 spanking at the hands of the crosstown Yankees.
The Bombers didn't have to blast the ball out of the park to win this one, instead blooping balls all over the Mets outfield, and playing small ball from post to post.
The Yankees got the party started in the second, after Melky Cabrera singled off of Mike Pelfrey to start the inning. Cabrera advanced to second thanks in part to David Wright's throwing error to first base which got away from first baseman, Nick Evans.
Two batters later, Ramiro Pena, subbing for an ill Derek Jeter, lined a double down the left field line to drive in Melky to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Pitcher C.C. Sabathia followed that up with a soft single up the middle that got by a diving Alex Cora driving in Pena to make it 2-0.
Later, Cora made a horrendous throwing error to first base on a Johnny Damon hit, allowing Sabathia to score to make it 3-0 Yankees. The comedy of errors continued when Mark Tiexeria reached first base on a bobble by Nick Evans, who never had control of the ground ball at first base. As a result, Brett Gardner came in to score to make it 4-0 Bombers.
In total, the Mets had three errors in one inning. It didn't help that Pelfery was inconsistent for the third straight outing. Pelfrey stumbled through five innings, gave up four runs, three earned, walked two and struck out only three. Pelfrey is now 5-3 on the season.
As for Sabathia, he was brilliant. C.C. dominated the Mets for seven innings giving up only three hits and a Gary Sheffield home run. Before the Sheffield homer in the fifth, Sabathia had four perfect innings on the Metropolitans, and it looked conceivable that the first ever no-hitter was to be thrown in Citi Field history and Subway Series history. Sabathia was on his A game all night.
The Yankees did tack on in the eighth, as Gardner drilled a solo shot to the right field corner to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead. Two batters later, Alex Rodriguez blasted a two run shot to the deepest part of the park, the 415 fence in right center field. It was A-Rod's 11th on the year, and second in as many days. Rodriguez has nine RBIs in the last three games to the delight of Yankee fans and his new gal pal, actress Kate Hudson, who was in attendance.
Box Score.
The only saving grace for the Mets is the fact that the Phillies, Marlins and Braves all lost tonight. That means the Mets remain a half a game out of first place in the NL East! It looks like the East is starting to turn into this year's version of the 2006 NL Central, which saw an 83 win St. Louis Cardinals team win the World Series. Don't give up hope Met fans, better yet don't dream too big either because, chances are, the Mets won't be so lucky.
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