It has been a season of contrasts between the Yankees and Mets this season.
For more than half the season, the Mets appeared to be the team destined for October baseball. They had the best pitcher in the game in Jacob deGrom. Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker were worthy number 2 and 3 starters behind deGrom. And oh, by the way, the Mets had Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard coming back soon enough.
While the Mets weren't a consistent offensive force, they fought back in games, and you never got the feeling they were ever out of a ballgame.
A true sign of a team playing for October.
They took four of seven from the Padres; took two of three from the Yankees and Brewers, and had outlasted both the Phillies and Braves in the first half. All was looking 'A-ok'.
The Yankees on the other hand were a mess. A lineup that was too right-handed heavy, and loaded with hitters struggling to hit over .220 let alone .250, the Yankees were a shell of the term "Bronx Bombers."
Giancarlo Stanton wasn't healthy.
Neither was Aaron Judge.
On the pitching front they couldn't keep guys away from COVID (and still can't as Jordan Montgomery, Gerrit Cole, and even catcher Gary Sanchez are battling the virus).
But a month ago the Yankees looked lost. Cole was struggling; adjusting to life without the "sticky-stuff" to help him on the mound. Corey Kluber hit the IL shortly after his no-hitter, and Jamison Tallion and Domingo German were proverbial batting practice. Oh, and least us not forget the struggles of Aroldis Chapman.
In early July the rumblings started that Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman were on the hot seat. Hal Steinbernner issued a missive pinning responsibility on the players for their lackluster efforts and worse results.
The fans wanted blood.
Then on the afternoon of July 4 when Mets first baseman Pete Alonso lifted a Chapman fastball into the seats in left that tied a game between the Yankees and Mets at five, en route to a six-run eighth inning for the Metropolitians, en route to a 10-5 Mets win, the Yankees were a .500 team.
41-41.
Since that time the Yankees are 19-8. The Mets, by contrast, are 13-17 since that game.
This team has been in third place practically all season, and they still are. They got a long way to go to catch the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox in the East; a better shot at the A's in the Wild Card. But the point is they got a chance.
It isn't fair to say the Yankees season turned around in the nightcap of the Mets-Yankees double-header on July 4; remember this team ended up losing three of four to the Red Sox in late July before the trade deadline, but since the deadline things have changed.
It all started with the Yankees sending prospects to the Texas Rangers for Joey Gallo and the Chicago Cubs for Anthony Rizzo.
For the first time all year, the Yankees feel like THE YANKEES again.
While Gallo is struggling to get his footing in New York. He is hitting at .161 with five hits in 31 trips to the plate, Rizzo has been amazing. Rizzo is hitting at .321 with three bombs and six RBI. And this is not a knock on Gallo who crushed a game-winning three-run bomb of his own against the Seattle Mariners on Thursday.
The point is both give the Yankees a complete look on both sides of the plate. There is no easy out anywhere in the lineup. From Gallo to Rizzo to Judge to Stanton, Gleyber Torres, Gio Ursehla and even Sanchez. Nobody is an easy out. Even the workman-like Brett Gardner is getting in on the fun with a game winning hit Friday night against Seattle.
On the pitching front, Tallion has been pitching better. Montgomery (before COVID) was solid. Cole had returned to his early season self in some respects. But the depth and quality of the Yankees starters in the minors are showing through.
Luis Gil who dominated earlier this year in Somerset was brilliant in his MLB debut.
Luis Severino and Clarke Schmidt both had successful rehab outings and are on their way back. Suddenly, the Yankees look like a team that has enough pitching for the stretch drive.
They look like a team destined for October.
The Mets? They have fallen out of first place. They can't hit the ball. deGrom is probably out for the season as the Mets keep misdiagnosing whatever ails the right hander's elbow. Stroman and Walker have both hit a wall. Syndergaard? Who knows if we will see him this year.
The front office failed to address a serious need for starting pitching and relief help at the deadline. The owner pops off with total nonsense on Twitter at the drop of a hat, and somehow Luis Rojas is going to end up getting blamed for all of it come the end of the season.
The Mets look like and feel like dead team walking.
The Mets look like they'll be watching the Yankees from their collective couches come October -- as usual.
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