Mets-Yankees 5/16: An Army of Boos

 

They call this the Subway Series...but yesterday it was a better idea to avoid the subways altogether. NJ Transit went on strike literally the day I had Yankee tickets, which was the kind of cosmic irony that just tends to happen these days. My dad and I figured it'd just be easier to get parking across the street and just drive in, and barring the obligatory traffic at the GW, it worked out. Just funny that I didn't ride the 4 to get there, as is custom. 

Going into this Mets-Yankees game, the tickets to which were handed to us just days in advance, I was very cautious. Subway series games are the exact kinds of games that the Yankees tend to misplay. Last year we bobbled a lot of games to the Mets, and it's been a couple years of the Mets just figuring out how to get past us. Especially now with Juan Soto on the team, which added an extra dimension to the rivalry. As much as something called 'Rivalry Weekend' should have consisted of a Yanks-Sox matchup, Yanks-Mets is just as important. It's far from tenuous. 

The game itself looked to be a pretty even one, judging from the fact that the majority of both teams' starters were in play tonight [barring Jeff McNeil and Ben Rice], and both teams were starting solid pitchers, the Mets with Tylor Megill, and the Yankees with staff workhorse Carlos Rodon. I was relatively optimistic going in.

So, uh...a word about the response to Juan Soto. You see...Yankee fans aren't particularly happy that Soto took the 10-year mega-deal to join the Mets. Not at all. And literally any chance they got, they let Soto hear it. The boos for this man...were tremendous. Lots of chants of 'f--k Juan Soto'. One guy a few seats over from me who kept bringing shit up about Soto's sister, which, dude, that is personal. You do not bring that to a game. I, and this should be relatively obvious, did not partake in the boos. I'm a little miffed at Soto, to be honest, but the Yanks' management screwed things up and Soto got a better deal from Cohen, so he had a right to call our bluff. I think the boos are gonna go down on a yearly basis, as the wound is gonna be less fresh going forward. But last night they were angry. And I think the Yanks were onto this, as Soto was walked three times but never got a hit. He did steal a base in the first, but his average didn't exactly go up this game. So I guess the Yankee fans won there.

Something to note, as you'll see from the picture, taken from my dad's friend's seats which I really don't like drawing attention to on the basis of my own humility, is that both teams wore white caps for the 'rivalry weekend' thing. I'm not sure if I love that. Like, I get having pink trim for mother's day or camo for Memorial Day or stuff like that, but this is just a flagrant excuse to sell shit. And it's not even something that looks good. Just kinda off-putting. 

[EDIT: I’ve been told this is for Armed Forces weekend. Don’t I come off well from that..]

Also, completely unrelated, my main observation from Yankee Stadium last night was that, more than usual, the concourse smelled incredible. More than ever there was this wafting current of sausages and barbecue that persisted throughout the game. The food still isn't as good as CitiField, but there are worse-smelling ballparks out there. Also, I did not know Goose Island was doing the 'official beer of the Yankees'. Tasted damn good.

The game itself, yes, I should probably explain what happened. So...Carlos Rodon, as he was paid to, pitched 5 strong innings. He struck out 5, he walked 4 [two of which being Juan Soto], and he allowed one run thanks to a Brandon Nimmo RBI single. Rodon cooked himself way earlier than I'd thought, getting to 102 pitches by the fifth. It was still a great start, and a low-scoring one, but it was tinged with a little suspense. Still, the majority of the Mets' lineup couldn't get anything done against him. Even Luisangel Acuna, who's had a nice start this year, was listless at the plate last night. 

As for the Yankees? Well, if I tell you nobody hit any home runs, you might get worried. Because that's one of the things this lineup does best. And I will give Tylor Megill and the Mets' bullpen credit for keeping Aaron Judge at bay, limiting him to a single on the night. But...the bases were loaded a bunch of times. And when you have contact guys like Paul Goldschmidt and Jasson Dominguez on your team...you're gonna score some runs. The third inning is where things really sparked, as with the bases loaded, Goldy smoked a single, and the throw from Lindor to first was overdone, meaning two runs scored. Lindor looked really smooth all night, so a rare error from him was astounding. Then Anthony Volpe hit a sac-fly that scored another run. Then Megill loaded the bases again and walked Oswald Peraza.  Tyler Megill's day ended at 2 and 2/3rds, which was wild. The guy's capable of great things, but he did not have his stuff yesterday, walked 5 people and gave up 4 runs. 

Then, an inning later, Max Kranick got into even more trouble, with Goldschmidt again singling in Judge after a Bellinger double got him to second. This was the moment I officially fell in love with Goldy as a Yankee- he'd infuriated me as a Cardinal, but his contact game is truly excellent this year, and he's hitting .350 at the moment. It's a privilege that he gets to play for my team, and be responsible for big contact runs like this. 

After another RBI from Dominguez, it was now 6-1. From there, the Yankee bullpen went to work, including the long-awaited return of Jonathan Loiasiga, and a truly incredible 3-K setup performance by Devin 'the Airbender' Williams, who may be finding his mojo after all. The rest of the game, needless to say, flew. The atmosphere continued to be pretty even-keel for a near-sellout teaming with royal blue. Two fans that sat in front of us kept reporting the Knicks score every 20 minutes, which was very helpful. At one point they even put it on the Jumbotron, which the fans, Yanks and Mets alike, enjoyed. 

Yerry de los Santos let a Lindor RBI go by as we were heading to the car, but Luke Weaver notched the save, getting Soto to fly out to center to end the game. Honestly, it couldn't have ended any other way, it had to be Soto. 

It was a fantastic night for baseball, and a really nice game. The Yanks can be a contact team this year, which is very nice. Paul Goldschmidt might be a Yankee favorite yet, as I was worried he'd be a Donaldson-esque past-his-prime waste of a contract. And the Soto response...is gonna be like this for a while.