In case you missed Friday night’s wildly entertaining, exciting and ultimately infamous Mets-Yankees game, here are a few things you should know:
... Robinson Cano hit one over the ridiculously short porch in right center to open the scoring, but to be fair, it was a legit homer. More on this later ...
... Joba Chamberlain only allowed one hit and two runs. Unfortunately, he also walked five, hit two, and lasted a mere four innings. Before the game, a buddy of mine was furious over the previous night’s disaster in Boston, and sarcastically noted that at least the Yanks’ eighth inning guy was resting up to throw five mediocre innings the next night. One short pal ...
... Keith Hernandez was absolutely on fire, describing an ugly third inning by Joba as “like watching A ball.” Later, after Gary Sheffield questioned a called strike on the inside corner, Hernandez said “That’s the old Derek Jeter move, who never saw an inside fastball he didn’t think was a ball” ...
... Speaking of Sheff, he momentarily time-warped back to 2002, crushing a hanging curve from Brett Tomko for a three-run homer. It was one of those rising line drives hit so hard down the line it didn’t have a chance to go foul. And Sheff wasn’t even halfway to first by the time the camera cut back to him after it landed in the seats, clearly milking the moment ...
... That homer gave us a great trivia question: name the four players who hit homers for the Yankees against the Mets AND for the Mets against the Yankees. Answer: Sheffield, Robin Ventura, Tony Clark, and Miguel Cairo (!) ...
... Continuing a brutal week in the field, Nick Swisher Lupused a Carlos Beltran line drive that was the catalyst for a four-run rally ...
... Trailing 6-3, Jeter hit a fly ball to right-center that probably traveled about 360 feet. But since this was at The Cathedral They Call Yankee Stadium (man I despise Michael Kay), the ball landed four rows deep. REALLY glad we didn’t have to hear John Sterling give his “El Capitan!” ...
... So with the Mets leading 6-4 in the sixth, Livan Hernandez ran out of gas. And naturally, with the tying runs on base, Jerry Manuel brought in Jon Switzer, who had been called up from triple-A about three hours earlier and was now making his debut. What Manuel did was put this kid in the best possible situation to succeed, only the exact opposite. In the coming years, I’m sure Switzer will be able to laugh about giving up a go-ahead three-run homer to Hideki Matsui, the first major league batter he ever faced. Just not now ...
... Because their best setup guy had just thrown four mediocre innings a couple hours earlier, Joe Girardi brought in Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth to face Beltran. Incredibly, Rivera walked only his third batter of the year. Then, with Beltran running, David Wright ripped an opposite field double that put the Mets in front. See, Mike Francesa, he is clutch ...
... Now it’s the bottom of the ninth, Francisco Rodriguez is on the mound, and he has not blown a save yet this year. Of course, Mets fans are terrified and assume that number one is about to happen, because they’re getting flashbacks to all those closers who blew games against the Yanks: Armando Benitez (at least three, including Game 1 in the 2000 World Series), John Franco (just threw up in my mouth), Billy Wagner (four run lead in 2006!), and Braden Looper (I’m assuming) ...
... Brett Gardner popped up to lead off, and Omir Santos caught it. This seemed like a mundane feat at the time. Then Jeter singled up the middle, and Johnny Damon pinch hit for Swisher. On a 3-2 count, K-Rod threw a hellacious changeup that Damon swung through, but Jeter stole second on the play. K-Rod wisely unintentionally intentionally walked Mark Teixeira (who hit one in the third that probably still hasn’t landed yet) and now Alex Rodriguez is up. And I’m only worried because K-Rod likes to throws a ton of curveballs, and A-Rod probably has a better chance of hitting that than his fastball ...
... And A-Rod pops up a 94 mph fastball on a 3-1 count! Luis Castillo is under it! No, wait, he’s drifting. And drifting. And drifting. And just when he appears to be under it, he uses ONE HAND to try and catch it. The ball pops out. Castillo stumbles to the ground. Then, almost as egregiously as muffing the pop-up, HE THROWS TO SECOND BASE! WHY?? Teixeira, who clearly hustled the entire way, scored behind Jeter for the winning run. 9-8 Yanks. K-Rod gets credited with a blown save and a loss. Castillo really wishes he were somewhere else, and frankly, so do Mets fans. Like, for good ...
... Some beautiful replays: A-Rod, slamming the bat down, looking crushed as he jogs to first, then eyes bulging as he sees the drop and realizes he should start running hard, then shocked elation, probably more so because he won’t have to deal with everyone calling him a choker than the fact his team just won; Manuel, poker-faced as the ball is hit into the air, and Sandy Alomar slides into the shot next to him, ready for the postgame handshake, only to mouth a stunned “Oh s***" as he sees the disaster that unfolds; and poor K-Rod, who simply put his hands on his head in disbelief. Welcome to the Mets, Frankie! ...
... Strange as it sounds, the ending to the game was so absurd, I’m not as upset as you’d think a Mets fan might be (can’t speak for everyone, of course), and this one will probably sting a lot more when they’re a game out in September and you think back to all those ones that got away. But right now, for me, it’s like that Ron Burgundy line: “You pooped in the refrigerator? And you ate an entire wheel of cheese? How’d you do that? Heck, I’m not even mad. That’s amazing.”