Please understand that when I say “win” I don’t mean on a game-to-game basis.  The reality of the Subway Series is that it means far more to the fans than it does to the players.  At the end of the season, these most recent three games against the Yankees are equally as important as any other three games set the teams will play this year.  However, from a fan’s standpoint these games are for bragging rights, for pride and for respect.

The issue remains that no matter the outcome of the Subway Series each year, Mets fans will always struggle to earn the respect of their Yankee counterparts regardless of whether that’s right or wrong.  The three game sweep appears to be the Yankees beating down on their baby brother, but if the series had played out differently, Yankee fans would still rest their head on a history of championships.  Its the lack of the same from a Met fan’s point of view that makes these games so important, but places the fan base and the team in a position where either nothing good will happen, such as this weekend, or a position where any good that does happen will be slighted.

The worst thing to come out of this weekend, in a series that shouldn’t really matter anymore than the next, is that Mets fans now view their team as being on the brink of collapse.  Following the game, several fans took to twitter declaring this the “low point of the season”.  Is it?  Maybe.  However, would it be had the sweep come at the hands of the Braves, the Giants, or even the Phillies?  The Subway Series is the prime example of why interleague play remains in Major League Baseball.  Fans flock to the ballpark to watch their team do battle for much more than wins in the standings.  In our case, the Mets fan fights for a level of respect that they’ll simply never get from the opposition.  For us, the Subway Series appears to be another opportunity to earn that shred of recognition, but unfortunately remains a no-win situation.

Jose Reyes smacked two homers, but it wasn't enough to beat the Yankees on Saturday.

The Mets eight game winning streaked was snapped this afternoon as the Yankees beat up on Mike Pelfrey and handed the Mets a 5-3 loss in game two of the Subway series.

Game Summary

Mike Pelfrey did not continue his streak of great starts as he struggled early and often against the Yankees. He gave up five runs on seven hits and two homeruns in just the first four innings. Not the Pelfrey we are used to this season. However, he did turn it around after that and didn’t give up a hit for the next three innings. Pelfrey ends the day with seven innings pitched, five earned runs on seven hits, and two home runs in the Yankees bandbox of a stadium. Pelfrey also walked three and struck out two batters. I’m liking that Mets pitchers now can at least get into the sixth and seventh inning and keep their team in the game even when losing. Pelfrey receives his second lose of the season.

Ryota Igarashi has seemed to get back into his groove before he went onto the DL in this game. Iggy had an inning pitched, giving up one hit, one walk, and with the help and guidance of Rod Barajas, able to get the clutch strikeout to end the inning. Also, Igarashi’s last two pitches to get the strikeout were 96 and 95 MPH. Glad to see he’s got the high speed when he needs it.

The Mets together only got six hits against three Yankee pitchers and were only able to score three runs in the game. The biggest contributors were the tag team of Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan. Pagan went 2-3 including his thirteenth double of the season.

Jose Reyes had his biggest game, I think, of the season. He continues his hot streak going 2-4 with two big homeruns, three runs-batted in, and three runs scored. I guess the “Mets win when Reyes scores” quote was not in use today as they Mets lost 5-3.

David Wright’s hot streak cooled off going 0-4 with three, count ‘em, three strikeouts. Davis, Carter, Francoeur, and Blanco all had 0-fers in the game as well.

Turning Point

Curtis Granderson’s two-run homer off of Mike Pelfrey in the fourth inning put the Yankees over the Mets and the Mets were never able to come back.

Game Ball

Jose Reyes had a great offensive night, with help from the smallish Yankee Stadium.

Next Game

Mets finish up their Subway series against the Yanks with another matchup of lefty aces with Johan Santana going up against CC Sabathia. Important rubber match for the Mets. Game time is 1:15. Let’s Go Mets! Beat Those Yankees!

Opening Day: April 5 at home vs. Florida Marlins

April 30-May 2: First Mets-Phillies series in Philadelphia

May 21-23: Subway Series at Citi Field

May 25-27: First Mets-Phillies series at home

June 11-13: Interleague series in Baltimore

June 15-17: Interleague series in Cleveland

June 18-20: Subway Series in the Bronx

June 22-24: Interleague series at home vs. Detroit

June 25-27: Interleague Series at home vs. Minnesota (Santana vs. Twins)

July 13: All-Star Game in Anaheim

July 15-25: Perilous 11 game West Coast road trip, including 4 in San Francisco, and 4 in Los Angeles

September 24-26: Final Mets-Phillies Series of season, in Philadelphia

October 3: Last game of the season at home vs. Washington

Other Notes: We play three series’ against Central Division teams in September, including two four-game-series’ at home vs. Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.

No game times have been announced, but you may find the full schedule here.

Till Next Time

In what turned out to be the one and only opportunity for the Mets to breakthrough and rough up C.C. Sabathia, the Mets blew a golden opportunity. Actually, let me clarify that and say Jerry Manuel blew a golden opportunity. In the fifth inning, after Gary Sheffield broke up Sabathia’s perfect game with a lead-off solo homerun, Sabathia was rattled and after singles by Fernando Tatis (who is finally hot again) and Nick Evans (will Murphy ever play again?), the Mets had runners on first and second with just one out.

Omir Santos was next up and after a great at-bat that saw Omir foul off three straight fastballs, he went down swinging after chasing a slider. It’s now two outs and Pelfrey is due up. Manuel still has Daniel Murphy on the bench, as well as Jeremy Reed, but he opts to send Argenis Reyes to the plate who strikes out to end the inning.

Argenis Reyes in that big spot? He and his .167 average against lefties!!!

Daniel Murphy has hit well against lefthanders in his career, and this season he is actually hitting better against lefthanders (.276) than he is against right-handers (.247). Does Manuel even know these facts?

Jeremy Reed is 4-4 and batting 1.000 against lefthanders this year! Plus he has thrived as a pinch hitter for the Mets this season with a half dozen big hits already in his pocket!

How can you make a mistake like that and send Reyes up in what ends up being the most critical at-bat of the game?

What is it with this team that transforms them to a bunch of bush leaguers whenever they face the New York Yankees lately. Don’t they know how much we hate losing to them? They don’t seem to be caught up in the drama that is before them like former Mets Al Leiter and Mike Piazza did.

Fundamentally, it seems that the Mets are at their worst when they play the Yankees. I believe they have outscored us 24-1 according to my colleague Big Wes. That’s is as lopsided as you can get.

The one thing I noticed during this year’s Subway Series, is how well the Yankees are at doing the little things, like running hard on every ball, always throwing to the right base defensively, making the routine plays, making the not so routine plays, running the bases smart as in knowing when to steal…

It’s almost embarrassing how much more refined they are than the Mets. In that regard, it’s like a David versus Goliath matchup when it comes to heads-up baseball.

Nobody capitalizes on mistakes more than the Yankees. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it’s my perception from what I’ve seen so far in the first four games they have played.

This Mets team which was supposed to be so much more fundamentally sound according to Jerry Manuel, is just as bad or maybe even worse than last year’s model.

Three errors in one inning… Really?

Last year, the Mets committed 83 errors which was second best in the league. This year, the Mets are on a pace to surpass 100 errors. Are you kidding me???

This team needs to get their act together and real fast too…

On a side note regarding this site…

I have received a few emails asking why we haven’t been posting as much this week. We have made the decision to focus more on our content and the quality of that content. Fear not, as we will still rant and rave like we always do, and our posts will still carry that raw passion and emotion after every win and loss. What we’ve decided to eliminate are those posts that are mostly blurbs. Instead we’ll gather them up and post them all together in one daily post (sort of like this one) which will be more entertaining. You probably won’t see 15-20 posts per day again, except for maybe the hot stove season when it is warranted, but the 8-10 posts you will get now, will be more content rich, opinionated, informative and sometimes even objective (yeah, right!). It’s not really a change in philosophy, just a more efficient way to deliver our opinions to you. Thanks for all your support.

Imagine if Alex Cora had continued his anemic ways against A.J. Burnett (where did he get that shirt, from Greg Anthony?) and not snapped an 0-21 lifetime with a slap single?

We would have been lamenting about getting no-hit by the former Met, a feat no Mets pitcher has ever accomplished. Nevertheless, the “hits cupboard” is barren right now, as the team stubbles toward the all-star break. Problem is, there are two weeks to go, and the Nationals might be propping up the Mets from the basement floor of the NL East before the mid-summer classic July 14th..

Especially if the Phillies, who scored 10 yesterday, right their ship. Alas, what to do?

First of all, maybe Jerry Manuel can insert Fernando Martinez into the lineup. What justification does he have playing Jeremy Reed, as punch less as a player there is, over Martinez? Play the 20-year old, or send him down for everyday duty.

If he’s overmatched by Burnett’s sharp breaking balls, so be it. At least he get his feet wet and the Mets get to evaluate their prized product.

Finally, I have never seen worse swings put on the ball than Ryan Church displayed yesterday. How many times did he unload his pop gun with check swings? Or excuse me hacks? Sometimes this guy looks like he has no clue about the science of hitting.

Then again, he has had plenty of company the last two games.

I can’t believe what I just saw…

I find it so hard to remain optimistic after watching the Mets lose in gut-wrenching fashion once again.

With a huge victory only one out away, Luis Castillo drops the game-ending third out, allowing two Yankees runs to score and give them a walk-off victory in front of a packed house at the new Yankee Stadium.

It was a god-awful way to go down and saying that they choked would be to mild a description for this abomination of a game.

The Mets seemingly create new and inventive ways to rip the hearts out of their fan’s chest.

How can we ever win anything when this team is so fundamentally flawed that even the 1962 Mets would be shaking their heads in disgust.

Every loss only magnifies how easily the pressure just eats them up on the field.

Today it happened to be Luis Castillo who dropped the ball, yesterday it was David Wright and Carlos Beltran, these losses had little to do with half of the team being on the disabled list and were more indicative of how easily this team can implode at any given time.

Were their positives in this game?

Yes there were plenty, especially when you consider that the Mets came back against the Yankees three times in this game, but none of that hardly matters when the game ends like an Alfred Hitchcock horror movie.

The Mets went into the bottom of the ninth up by one run with the score 8-7, and Frankie Rodriguez on the mound. K-Rod’s control was not sharp tonight, and after a hit by Derek Jeter and an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez came up to the plate with the Yankees down to their last out.

K-Rod induces A-Rod to lift a popup between second and first that Luis Castillo one-handed and dropped allowing the tying and winning runs to score.

Frankie Rodriguez is the undeserved loser and his perfect saves streak comes to an end. His expression of disgust on the mound tells the story.

For the Yankees it was pure ecstasy and an electrifying win.

For the Mets it was a loss that burned a hole in the pit of your stomach that won’t be easily shaken off for the rest of this series.

It was mind-jarring and stunning defeat…

That’s all I can say for now…

The Subway Series.

Whether you are a Yankee fan or a Mets fan, you’re a proud New Yorker. But why is it that in this sport, unlike any of the other major sports, you just can’t root for the other New York team?

It’s not about the players. In fairness to the Yankees, they are only trying to achieve the same results that the Mets are – to win a Championship and be crowned leaders of the baseball world. If you really stop and think about it, are the Yankees really that bad? So A-Rod did steroids. Every team has dealt with that issue at one time or another, including the Mets. So Roger Clemens threw at Mike Piazza’s head. Not the first time we’ve seen that, won’t be the last.

It is the fans who turn the two organizations against each other, not the players. New Yorkers want nothing but the best, and that’s what we have. So then to beat the “best of the best” is the ultimate accomplishment. Bragging rights in this town are far more significant than in smaller towns. And to wipe the floor with your cross-town rivals is a huge accomplishment.

The swagger and conceit of one New York baseball team’s fans is enough on it’s own. Double that arrogance, and you’re looking at a major battle.

I do believe Yankee fans are meaner than Mets fans. For example, I received a comment on my Facebook page from a friend who is a Yankee fan. The comment stated, “Mets fans are gay.” Yankee fans like to not only attack the Mets, but their fans as well. Is that all you got? That’s something you rarely see from a Mets fan – an attack on Yankee fans. We’ll say what we have to about the Yanks themselves, but not their fans.

I once had a discussion with a co-worker, a Yankee fan, who said that Mets fans ‘settle’ for mediocrity, and that’s why Yankee fans come off as being more arrogant. Now wait just a minute. It’s perfectly normal and acceptable expect, even demand the best and to get frustrated when your team is struggling to put up wins. And in that respect, I think Mets fans and Yankee fans are alike. But that ‘holier than thou’ attitude that Yankee fans have is simply not justified by frustration and high expectations.

Now I’ll give you my opinion. It’s not that Mets fans accept mediocrity. It’s that Yankee fans are spoiled, sore-losers. We haven’t seen as many Championships in Flushing as they have in the Bronx, so we know how to handle losing better. And therefore, we’ve learned to appreciate winning better as well.