As much as the Yankees organization dreads it, they had to pack the equipment and head over to Queens for the next installment of the 'no-win' situation against the Mets in their updated CitiField. If the Yanks win, well, they're supposed to beat the Mets, they're the Yankees. If they ever lose, how could you lose to your weaker hometown rival? With CitiField an absolute failure of a designed ballpark, during the off-season the fences were brought in to pull more homeruns from the weak-hitting Mets' teeth. These shorter dimensions could also serve to benefit visiting ball clubs who like to whack them out, and that's exactly happened with the Yankees.
Things got interesting before a pitch was even thrown when Mets (unreliable) closer Frank Francisco stated that the Yankee hitters were a bunch of chickens and he couldn't wait to strike them out. Then when asked to clarify his statements, he changed his tune to say the Yankees are a bunch of crybabies, as if going from chickens to crybabies softens the blow.
The Yankees played it down, of course, and focused to getting to business with Andy Pettitte on the mound against Jonathan Niese. If there was any anger to make Francisco eat his words, the Yanks didn't show it in the first inning. After failing to get a hit with two runners on in the top of the 1st, the Mets pounced on Pettitte and gave him perhaps one of the worst starts in his career. A clutch two-out hit by Justin Turner with bases loaded followed by a 3-run homer by Ike Davis which barely went over the right-field wall and dodged Swisher's glove, put the Mets up 5-0. Pettitte was able to settle down and give the team 6 innings as a way to not tax the bullpen. The Yanks chipped away with solo shots from Alex Rodriguez and Andrew Jones, and when the Mets added a run to make it 6-2, Robinson Cano added a 2-run homer in the 8th to put the score at 6-4. With the save situation for the Mets and the drama too good to be true, Francisco went out in the 9th to shut the door on the team he earlier referred to as chickens.
Russell Martin lead off the inning with a booming shot to center that would've easily been a double, had not for a great running catch by Andres Torres. Pinch hitter Jayson Nix drew a walk, Derek Jeter then hit a single, and the Yankees were set up to make Francisco eat his words with two on, one out, and the heart of the order coming up. As rain started to drip from the skies, Francisco collected himself and punched-out Curtis Granderson looking at a called strike three fastball right down the plate, and then then got Teixeira to hit an infield pop-up. Frank Francisco had escaped the danger of putting his foot in his mouth and lowered his commanding ERA to 4.97.
Maybe things weren't that great for Francisco because the next day he had to take himself out of being available when he complained on a pulled muscle on his side. Perhaps over extending himself the night before in order to backup his 'chicken' comment had cost him and the Mets in the long run. The Yanks sent Ivan Nova to even the series and up against him was Mets starter Chris Young. Kirk Nieuwenhuis got things started off for the Mets in the 3rd with an opposite field homerun which dunked over the wall in left. An error by Alex Rodriguez and Nova serving up an RBI single to the opposing pitcher of all people increased the Mets lead to 3-0. Although solid enough, Nova was only able to go 5.2 innings and needed Rapada to finish the 6th. The Yankees finally got to work in the 7th with a borderline called walk to Mark Teixeira, then a hit by Swisher which rightfielder Lucas Duda misplayed which put two Yankees on. Raul Ibanez, who has been very quiet lately, came up roses and slapped a Chris Young pitch into a line drive homerun that scooted over the right field wall and just like that the game was tied 3-3. In the same inning, with Jon Rauch in to pitch and pinch-hitter Eric Chavez up at the plate, Chavez hit a solo homer to the opposite field as well, nearly where Nieuwenhuis hit his previously in the game, and the Yanks took the 4-3 advantage. The Yankees bullpen held down the fort and Rafael Soriano closed it out to even the series and put and end to the Yankees 3-game skid.
The Mets had some news about their mouthy closer Frank Francisco before the rubber game, apparently the injury he had was serious enough to put him on the 15-day DL. The game itself was to be a pitcher's duel between Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia and R.A. Dickey, who is off to a Cy Young caliber type of season with a 11-1 record and had just come off of throwing back-to-back complete game 1-hitters. Unfortunately for Dickey, that streak would end as the knuckleballer was erratic with his control and served up a massive 3-run homer to Nick Swisher towards right-center which gave the Yanks a 4-0 lead by the 3rd inning. A credit to the Mets, they battled back against Sabathia, who wasn't sharp and didn't have good velocity on his fastball. With the help of some sloppy Yanks defense and the Mets propensity to hit singles, the Mets knocked Sabathia out before the 6th ended and tied the game against reliever Cory Wade. R.A. Dickey was taken off the loss hanger and it was now a new game.
A managerial decision by Mets skipper Terry Collins helped give the Yankees the lead when Robinson Cano lead off the 8th inning. Miguel Batista was on his second inning of relief and had given up a homerun to Cano just two nights before, but Collins left him in to pitch instead of going to his left-handed reliever Tim Byrdak, and Cano launched a bomb deep over the centerfield wall, nearly missing the Mets Apple, which gave the Yankees a lead again at 6-5. Rain started to come down in the 9th inning with Rafael Soriano on the mound to try to close it out for the Yankees. Soriano gave up a single and Ike Davis came to pinch-hit with two outs in which one big swing could win it for the Mets, but Davis flied out to Swisher to preserve the win and Soriano's 15th save of the season. The win had given the Yankees a 5-1 series against the Mets in 2012 in a true display of chickendom.
With interleague play in the rearview mirror for the Yankees at 43-28, the Yankees make the long journey back from Queens to the Bronx to host old friend Johnny Damon and the Cleveland Indians....
Things got interesting before a pitch was even thrown when Mets (unreliable) closer Frank Francisco stated that the Yankee hitters were a bunch of chickens and he couldn't wait to strike them out. Then when asked to clarify his statements, he changed his tune to say the Yankees are a bunch of crybabies, as if going from chickens to crybabies softens the blow.
The Yankees played it down, of course, and focused to getting to business with Andy Pettitte on the mound against Jonathan Niese. If there was any anger to make Francisco eat his words, the Yanks didn't show it in the first inning. After failing to get a hit with two runners on in the top of the 1st, the Mets pounced on Pettitte and gave him perhaps one of the worst starts in his career. A clutch two-out hit by Justin Turner with bases loaded followed by a 3-run homer by Ike Davis which barely went over the right-field wall and dodged Swisher's glove, put the Mets up 5-0. Pettitte was able to settle down and give the team 6 innings as a way to not tax the bullpen. The Yanks chipped away with solo shots from Alex Rodriguez and Andrew Jones, and when the Mets added a run to make it 6-2, Robinson Cano added a 2-run homer in the 8th to put the score at 6-4. With the save situation for the Mets and the drama too good to be true, Francisco went out in the 9th to shut the door on the team he earlier referred to as chickens.
Russell Martin lead off the inning with a booming shot to center that would've easily been a double, had not for a great running catch by Andres Torres. Pinch hitter Jayson Nix drew a walk, Derek Jeter then hit a single, and the Yankees were set up to make Francisco eat his words with two on, one out, and the heart of the order coming up. As rain started to drip from the skies, Francisco collected himself and punched-out Curtis Granderson looking at a called strike three fastball right down the plate, and then then got Teixeira to hit an infield pop-up. Frank Francisco had escaped the danger of putting his foot in his mouth and lowered his commanding ERA to 4.97.
Maybe things weren't that great for Francisco because the next day he had to take himself out of being available when he complained on a pulled muscle on his side. Perhaps over extending himself the night before in order to backup his 'chicken' comment had cost him and the Mets in the long run. The Yanks sent Ivan Nova to even the series and up against him was Mets starter Chris Young. Kirk Nieuwenhuis got things started off for the Mets in the 3rd with an opposite field homerun which dunked over the wall in left. An error by Alex Rodriguez and Nova serving up an RBI single to the opposing pitcher of all people increased the Mets lead to 3-0. Although solid enough, Nova was only able to go 5.2 innings and needed Rapada to finish the 6th. The Yankees finally got to work in the 7th with a borderline called walk to Mark Teixeira, then a hit by Swisher which rightfielder Lucas Duda misplayed which put two Yankees on. Raul Ibanez, who has been very quiet lately, came up roses and slapped a Chris Young pitch into a line drive homerun that scooted over the right field wall and just like that the game was tied 3-3. In the same inning, with Jon Rauch in to pitch and pinch-hitter Eric Chavez up at the plate, Chavez hit a solo homer to the opposite field as well, nearly where Nieuwenhuis hit his previously in the game, and the Yanks took the 4-3 advantage. The Yankees bullpen held down the fort and Rafael Soriano closed it out to even the series and put and end to the Yankees 3-game skid.
The Mets had some news about their mouthy closer Frank Francisco before the rubber game, apparently the injury he had was serious enough to put him on the 15-day DL. The game itself was to be a pitcher's duel between Yankees ace C.C. Sabathia and R.A. Dickey, who is off to a Cy Young caliber type of season with a 11-1 record and had just come off of throwing back-to-back complete game 1-hitters. Unfortunately for Dickey, that streak would end as the knuckleballer was erratic with his control and served up a massive 3-run homer to Nick Swisher towards right-center which gave the Yanks a 4-0 lead by the 3rd inning. A credit to the Mets, they battled back against Sabathia, who wasn't sharp and didn't have good velocity on his fastball. With the help of some sloppy Yanks defense and the Mets propensity to hit singles, the Mets knocked Sabathia out before the 6th ended and tied the game against reliever Cory Wade. R.A. Dickey was taken off the loss hanger and it was now a new game.
A managerial decision by Mets skipper Terry Collins helped give the Yankees the lead when Robinson Cano lead off the 8th inning. Miguel Batista was on his second inning of relief and had given up a homerun to Cano just two nights before, but Collins left him in to pitch instead of going to his left-handed reliever Tim Byrdak, and Cano launched a bomb deep over the centerfield wall, nearly missing the Mets Apple, which gave the Yankees a lead again at 6-5. Rain started to come down in the 9th inning with Rafael Soriano on the mound to try to close it out for the Yankees. Soriano gave up a single and Ike Davis came to pinch-hit with two outs in which one big swing could win it for the Mets, but Davis flied out to Swisher to preserve the win and Soriano's 15th save of the season. The win had given the Yankees a 5-1 series against the Mets in 2012 in a true display of chickendom.
With interleague play in the rearview mirror for the Yankees at 43-28, the Yankees make the long journey back from Queens to the Bronx to host old friend Johnny Damon and the Cleveland Indians....
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