Sabathia hammered, comeback falls short in ninth 
FLUSHING – For as awful as the Yankees played for the first seven innings, it was almost amazing that they still had a chance to steal the game at the end.
However, there they were, trailing by five runs at the beginning of the ninth inning in what looked to be a ho-hum loss and suddenly having a chance with the go-ahead run at the plate.
It was Alex Rodriguez with a chance to give the Yankees the lead facing Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez in battle to see who would break first.
In the end, it was the Mets Rodriguez winning battle, striking out the Yankees Rodriguez with a curveball that he swung over to win the eight-pitch battle and giving the Mets a 6-4 victory in front a 41.422 at Citi Field to win the first round of the Subway Series.
Prior to the ninth inning, the Yankees string of bad play continued from the previous day. Unfortunately, for the second day in a row, they were unable to pull
off another miracle.
They were put in the hole early by their ace CC Sabathia, who in a battle with cross town ace Johan Santana, allowed the Mets offense to get started early and often.
After battling out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the first inning to escape without giving up a run, Sabathia was not so lucky in the next frame. Rod Barajas led off with a double, but then Jeff Francoeur and Santana struck out. Jose Reyes lifted a bloop single to left center, but Barajas could not score when Kevin Russo’s throw came to the plate. The ball skipped off catcher Francisco Cervelli’s glove, allowing Reyes to move to second.
After getting two strikes on Alex Cora, a close 1-2 pitch was called a ball. With the count now 2-2, Cora would single to right center to drive home two runs to give the Mets the lead.
Jason Bay would then follow with a two-run blast over the wall in left to increase the margin to 4-0. For Bay, it was his only his second homerun of the season and first since April 27.
Having that cushion was more than enough for Santana, who if you eliminate his 10-run outing against the Phillies, would sport a 2.25 ERA for the season. The Yankees early threat came in the third when after two singles by Sabathia and Derek Jeter, Brett Gardner (0-for-4 and 0-for-13 in the series) hit in to double play and Mark Teixeira fouled out to end the inning.
Bay continued his hot hitting by crushing another Sabathia pitch over the right center field wall to make it 5-0. It was Bay’s sixth hit in his last six plate appearances going back to Saturday when he went 4-for-4 in the Mets 5-3 win.
After an Ike Davis single, David Wright would double him home to make the lead a half-dozen, a lead Santana would take into the seventh before the Yankees finally got their first run of the game when Cervelli hit an RBI single off the top of the left field wall.
The ball hit the top of the orange line, which is to delineate between a ball in play, or out of the park. Umpires initially ruled it in play and Cervelli, thinking it was a homerun, trotted out of the batter’s box before pointing to the wall to alert that the ball should have been out. After review, the play on the field stood and only one run was on the board.
In the eighth, the Yankees threatened again. With Santana still in the game, he walked Marcus Thames to start the inning. Jeter reached on a fielder’s choice and Gardner lined out to Wright. Teixeira would then single to center and Rodriguez worked a walk to load the bases. That would signal the end of Santana’s night and Pedro Feliciano was brought into to put out the sudden fire, which he would do by getting Robinson Cano to pop out to end the inning.
The Yankees would stage their rally in the ninth with the help of another leadoff walk, this time to Nick Swisher. Cervelli would then single to right and after Russo reached on a fielder’s choice, pinch hitter Juan Miranda’s RBI single made it 6-2.
Francisco Rodriguez came in to clean up the mess, but Jeter (3-for-5) would take his hanging curveball and hit it off the wall for a double to trim the lead to 6-3. An RBI groundout by Gardner got the Yankees to within two. Teixeira would then reach on a high infield chop to give Rodriguez a chance to win the game with one swing before striking out.
It was the Yankees second straight series loss, and they have lost five of their last six overall as they fell to six games behind the Rays in the AL East.
FLUSHING – For as awful as the Yankees played for the first seven innings, it was almost amazing that they still had a chance to steal the game at the end.
However, there they were, trailing by five runs at the beginning of the ninth inning in what looked to be a ho-hum loss and suddenly having a chance with the go-ahead run at the plate.
It was Alex Rodriguez with a chance to give the Yankees the lead facing Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez in battle to see who would break first.
In the end, it was the Mets Rodriguez winning battle, striking out the Yankees Rodriguez with a curveball that he swung over to win the eight-pitch battle and giving the Mets a 6-4 victory in front a 41.422 at Citi Field to win the first round of the Subway Series.
Prior to the ninth inning, the Yankees string of bad play continued from the previous day. Unfortunately, for the second day in a row, they were unable to pull
off another miracle.
They were put in the hole early by their ace CC Sabathia, who in a battle with cross town ace Johan Santana, allowed the Mets offense to get started early and often.
After battling out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the first inning to escape without giving up a run, Sabathia was not so lucky in the next frame. Rod Barajas led off with a double, but then Jeff Francoeur and Santana struck out. Jose Reyes lifted a bloop single to left center, but Barajas could not score when Kevin Russo’s throw came to the plate. The ball skipped off catcher Francisco Cervelli’s glove, allowing Reyes to move to second.
After getting two strikes on Alex Cora, a close 1-2 pitch was called a ball. With the count now 2-2, Cora would single to right center to drive home two runs to give the Mets the lead.
Jason Bay would then follow with a two-run blast over the wall in left to increase the margin to 4-0. For Bay, it was his only his second homerun of the season and first since April 27.
Having that cushion was more than enough for Santana, who if you eliminate his 10-run outing against the Phillies, would sport a 2.25 ERA for the season. The Yankees early threat came in the third when after two singles by Sabathia and Derek Jeter, Brett Gardner (0-for-4 and 0-for-13 in the series) hit in to double play and Mark Teixeira fouled out to end the inning.
Bay continued his hot hitting by crushing another Sabathia pitch over the right center field wall to make it 5-0. It was Bay’s sixth hit in his last six plate appearances going back to Saturday when he went 4-for-4 in the Mets 5-3 win.
After an Ike Davis single, David Wright would double him home to make the lead a half-dozen, a lead Santana would take into the seventh before the Yankees finally got their first run of the game when Cervelli hit an RBI single off the top of the left field wall.
The ball hit the top of the orange line, which is to delineate between a ball in play, or out of the park. Umpires initially ruled it in play and Cervelli, thinking it was a homerun, trotted out of the batter’s box before pointing to the wall to alert that the ball should have been out. After review, the play on the field stood and only one run was on the board.
In the eighth, the Yankees threatened again. With Santana still in the game, he walked Marcus Thames to start the inning. Jeter reached on a fielder’s choice and Gardner lined out to Wright. Teixeira would then single to center and Rodriguez worked a walk to load the bases. That would signal the end of Santana’s night and Pedro Feliciano was brought into to put out the sudden fire, which he would do by getting Robinson Cano to pop out to end the inning.
The Yankees would stage their rally in the ninth with the help of another leadoff walk, this time to Nick Swisher. Cervelli would then single to right and after Russo reached on a fielder’s choice, pinch hitter Juan Miranda’s RBI single made it 6-2.
Francisco Rodriguez came in to clean up the mess, but Jeter (3-for-5) would take his hanging curveball and hit it off the wall for a double to trim the lead to 6-3. An RBI groundout by Gardner got the Yankees to within two. Teixeira would then reach on a high infield chop to give Rodriguez a chance to win the game with one swing before striking out.
It was the Yankees second straight series loss, and they have lost five of their last six overall as they fell to six games behind the Rays in the AL East.
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