Mets out-bombing Yankees ahead of Subway Series

“I can’t stand the Yankees since I was small”. Obviously that could change, but this is what it looks like right now.

By trying to think somewhat rationally here and having the Yanks win the series (1-2), the Braves and Phillies avoiding sweeps (4-2), and the Reds splitting a four game set (2-2), I’m putting the Mets at 7-6 over the next thirteen games.

It feels nearly abnormal thinking that both baseball clubs that hail from New York City could find themselves in the middle of the postseason. They have two significant contracts coming off the books after this season in Bartolo Colon ($11 million in 2015) and Daniel Murphy ($8 million in 2015).

One team makes the headlines every day.

Good news/bad news: Toronto has David Price lined up for the series opener, but knuckleballer R.A. Dickey – who’s occasionally given the Yankees fits – is not now on track to pitch in the series. Baseball fans witnessed the shear noise the Mets’ fanatics produced during the Washington Nationals series at the beginning of August in Flushing, and this Subway Series will be no different. Out of the 134 games that Rodriguez has played this season, he’s only started in the field in three of them. Centerfielder Juan Lagares has been a fine staple for the Mets in an otherwise-aging outfield, and has also beat up on the Yankees with a.500 BA.

But the Blue Jays won Thursday night, so they now lead the Bombers by three and a half games. Or that A-Rod would lose his season-long vanilla script and say something A-Rod-ish. This series would be a good time to continue that pattern. Since the games are taking place at Citi Field in Queens, the Yankees will be playing without a designated hitter. None of those three is still in the rotation.

The temperatures may be cooling down, but baseball season is in full swing in New York City (pun ABSOLUTELY intended). A-Rod would have been golden if he would have finished off a strong ALCS in 2004 and led the Yankees to a title in his first New York season.

What’s new: Dustin Pedroia is off the disabled list and Boston’s been a winning team since the end of July.

Albans/News Only months after beaning Mike Piazza in the head, Roger Clemens tosses a broken bat shard in Piazza’s direction during the 2000 World Series.

The Yankees have modified their roster construction over the last couple of seasons, refusing to part with their top prospects and melding them in with a crop of high-salaried experienced players. One interesting thing to watch will be the way the Yankees handle Tanaka this series.

The Yankees are in a tough spot right now, and they can not afford to drop too many games. Might depend entirely on how that Toronto series goes. Yankees fans seem bored. Of course, that means none of those three would be on turn for a potential wild card game two days later. Well… We don’t need to look back much farther than a week to see that it can. The Yankees have once again chose to build some of its foundation from their farm system and via trades for younger players, and surprisingly the major league club received a healthy injection of quality performances from their youth this season.