Remembering Game Four of the 2000 Subway World Series

The 2000 World Series featured the New York Yankees and the New York Mets facing off in the World Series for the first time in their history. This was the first Subway Series since 1956 when the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees faced off. Let's take the time to remember Game 4 of the 2000 World Series.

The New York Yankees sent Denny Neagle to the mound to face off with the Mets Bobby Jones in Game 4 of the Subway World Series. Derek Jeter led off the game and blasted a home run over the left field fence giving the Yankees a lead that they would never relinquish in this game. This would extend Derek Jeter's World Series hitting streak to 13 games and would be only the 16th lead off home run in World Series history. The Yankees would win the game 3-2 to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the Subway World Series. Jeff Nelson would take the victory and Bobby Jones would take the loss with Mariano Rivera notching the save for the pinstripers.

So it Seems the Yankees Need a Closer

What the hell happened to Aroldis Chapman? I’m sorry but if you’re throwing 172 MPH you should be able to get MLB players out consistently, period. Chapman just can’t do that right now yet Joe Girardi keeps on running him out there in the 9^th inning like he can. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it and I likely never will. It makes me so mad I’m infuriated watching these Yankees games and highlights lately. So it seems the Yankees need a closer. Whether that close is Dellin Betances, Chad Green who has been a monster out of the bullpen, David Robertson or someone from outside the organization and team I don’t know but something needs to be done. Well, if the team wants to make the postseason in 2017 anyway.

Oh and HEY YOU. HEY YOU. You get two today because in just two more days I am all yours. I love you. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 8/17: Sori Goes 30/30

For the better part of a decade Alfonso Soriano was one of the premier hitters, stolen base threats, and home run hitters in all of Major League Baseball. Soriano entered the 30 home run and 30 stolen base club on this day in 2002 after hitting a home run in the seventh inning of the Seattle Mariners James Baldwin. Soriano was the first ever second baseman to join the 30/30 club joining Bobby Bonds as the only other Yankee to accomplish the feat. Bonds went 30/30 in 1975.

Also on this day in 1948 Tommy Henrich hits his fourth grand slam of the season tying one of Babe Ruth's major league records. This came just a day after the great Babe Ruth passed away. This came after an estimated 100,000 fans passed the body of the Bambino at Yankee Stadium while showing their respect for the great.

Finally on this day in 1933 Lou Gehrig quietly passed Everett Scott for the most consecutive games played by playing in his 1,309th consecutive game. Gehrig would end up playing in 2,130 consecutive games before benching himself and ending the iron man streak.




Also on this day in 2015 CC Sabathia had to be restrained from a Toronto street fight outside a club and Bryan Mitchell took a fastball to the face. Yeah I didn't want to remember those either. Sorry.

Game Thread: New York Yankees @ New York Mets 8/16

Citi Field and the New York Mets are just about ready to play host to the New York Yankees in the third game of this four-game Subway Series set. In the third game and the first game in Flushing, New York the Yankees will send Jaime Garcia to the mound to square off with Robert Gsellman of the Mets. The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Citi Field in Queens and can be seen on the YES Network, ESPN’s Wednesday Night Baseball and MLB TV. You can also follow along on the radio by tuning into WFAN with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman.

Since we are on the subject I was asked on twitter in a DM who I would rather be stuck in traffic with in a cab in Manhattan…. Jessica Mendoza of ESPN or John Sterling of WFAN. I feel like there is no right answer here because I feel like this was meant to be insulting in a way but my answer is this, John Sterling. While I would love to hear about the stories and triumphs for women that Mendoza has endured I just feel like Sterling would have a lot more Yankees-related material that would interest me more as a fan of the team. No disrespect intended to either.

Follow us on Twitter by following @GreedyStripes and apparently send us DM’s and get your answers read out loud on the blog. Also, enjoy the game. Go Yankees and to hell with the Mets!

Weekly MLB Power Rankings

Another week done in the 2017 MLB season and another set of weekly MLB power rankings released by the USA Today. Will the Boston Red Sox be able to chase down the Houston Astros and take the best record in the American League away from them? Will the Yankees be able to hang around in the American League East Division race? Can anyone catch the Dodgers? While these rankings don’t have the answers to any of those questions for sure you can bet that they can be used as an indicator of things going forward so let’s check them out.

This is a Yankees blog so we’ll start there. Last week the Yankees were 9^th overall on the rankings and falling fast and that is exactly where the team remained this week after another lackluster week. The team is hovering around the .500 mark over the last three months of the season and a Top 10 finish for the team seems pretty suitable for the team. I wish it were higher but what can you do? Brian Cashman did all he could and all that Hal Steinbrenner would allow, now it is up to manager Joe Girardi and the players to collectively get it done. So do it.

The Top 5 on the list are the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Washington Nationals who rose one spot, the Boston Red Sox who rose two spots, the Houston Astros who dropped two spots and the Arizona Diamondbacks who fell one spot. It’s crazy to think that the Dodgers haven’t lost a series in almost three months and may clinch the division this month, the Astros were once being compared to the 1927 Yankees before losing nine of their first twelve games to start the month of August and the Diamondbacks may have the NL MVP in Paul Goldschmidt and somehow still no one is noticing outside of Arizona. You can’t predict baseball.

Don’t look now but the St. Louis Cardinals are back in the Top 10, the Kansas City Royals were once completely written off and are now 12^th overall according to the list and the Tampa Bay Rays, who many publications said would win the AL East this season, have fallen off back to the #13 position. But hey, think of all those click baits they benefited from when the Rays went on their little run. It’s okay though, at least they aren’t the Phillies.

Game Preview: New York Yankees @ New York Mets 8/16

The New York Yankees and the New York Mets are taking the subway, well probably not but this is the Subway Series so go with it, across town to Queens to continue the Subway Series inside Citi Field, home of the Metropolitans. In the third game of the series and the first inside Citi Field the Yankees will send Jaime Garcia to the mound to make his third start for the Bombers, all three coming on the road FYI, while the Mets will counter with Seth Lugo  Robert Gsellman. Will the pitching hold up tonight or will it continue to be Home Run Derby for these two clubs? Stay tuned to find out.

Garcia was much better in his second start with the Yankees than he was in the first start despite taking a no decision. Garcia allowed three runs in 5.2 innings in his last start narrowly missing a quality start. Garcia hasn’t had much luck against the Mets this season losing to them twice, although his last start against them was with the Atlanta Braves where the lefty gave up just two runs in seven innings in a loss.

Lugo has not been sharp in his last four starts and will face a tough task ahead of him tonight against the potentially explosive New York Yankees offense. In Lugo’s last four starts he has a 6.55 ERA and .329 batting average against which is not what you want if you’re a fan of the New York Mets. Lugo was added to the disabled list and Robert Gsellman will make the start in his place.

The game will be played at 7:10 pm ET inside Citi Field in Flushing, New York and can be seen on the YES Network, ESPN and MLB TV. You can also follow along in your cars and on the radio by tuning into WFAN with John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. Go Yankees and to hell with the Mets!!!

Sonny Wins Despite Gray Skies...

Credit:  Elsa-Getty Images

Yankees 5, Mets 4...

Sonny Gray finally won his first game as a Yankee, blanking the Mets until rookie first baseman Dominic Smith blasted his first Major League home run.  All was good up until the 9th when Aroldis Chapman gave up a two-run homer to Amed Rosario, showing he is not over whatever this funk is, to bring the Mets within a run.  Fortunately, the Yanks prevailed but it was a disappointing end to what should have been an exciting win.

The Yankees scored first with a run in the bottom of the 3rd.  Ronald Torreyes led off with a double to left off Mets starter Jacob DeGrom.  The third baseman, Wilmer Flores, was playing in and was unable to reach the ball which went past third base.  Toe fell down at first base but was able to get up and slide into second ahead of the throw. It was a nice recovery by Toe who had alertly slapped first base with his hand as he got up to run.  Brett Gardner executed a sacrifice bunt to move Toe to third.  Aaron Hicks rapped a fly ball to right that dropped in ahead of Curtis Granderson to score Toe and the Yankees led 1-0.

They added two more runs in the bottom of the 4th.  Chase Headley worked a two-out walk.  He was followed by Jacoby Ellsbury who parked one in the right center stands on a line drive to increase the score to 3-0.  As the Mets announcers said, "It's a double in every other park except this one".  

Credit:  Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

With Sonny Gray still going strong, Gary Sanchez led off the bottom of the 6th inning and unloaded on a DeGrom pitch for a tremendous home run to left center.  The homer, Gary's 21st of the year, increased the lead to 4-0.

Credit:  Rich Schultz-The Associated Press

Wilmer Flores led off the 7th and he battled Gray for 8 pitches before walking to reach first.  He didn't stay there long as Dominic Smith followed with a home run to center.  End of day for Gray, but it was a great performance despite the two-run homer.  Manager Joe Girardi brought in Tommy Kahnle who retired the next three Mets to halt the Mets' momentum.  

Dellin Betances pitched the 8th.  He did walk a batter (Yoenis Cespedes) with two outs.  Cespedes moved into a scoring position after a wild pitch off Gary Sanchez's glove but was left stranded when Betances struck out Michael Conforto.

The Yankees added an insurance run (which would prove to be huge) in the bottom of the 8th.  Aaron Judge led off with a double to the left field corner wall, sliding into second with his left hand just under the perfect throw from Yoenis Cespedes.  Didi Gregorius singled on a fly to shallow left that fell just beyond Wilmer Flores, the third baseman, to put runners on the corners.  A sacrifice fly to center by Gary Sanchez was deep enough (warning track) to score Judge to give the Yankees a 5-2 advantage.  The Mets replaced DeGrom with lefty Jerry Blevins.  Chase Headley singled to left, moving Gregorius to second.  Blevins then struck out Jacoby Ellsbury.  The Mets pulled Blevins and replaced him with reliever Chasen Bradford (there's another reliever in MLB from Las Vegas, Nevada named Chasen besides Shreve? Was it something in the Clark County water 27-28 years ago?).  Bradford got Todd Frazier to pop out to first to end the inning.  In retrospect, we could have used those additional runs to help prevent an agonizing 9th.

I started to get nervous when I saw Aroldis Chapman warming up.  I was thankful the Yankees weren't nursing a one-run lead.  Wilmer Flores was first up.  He worked the count full which had me fearing that Chapman would walk the lead-off batter.  Fortunately, he struck out Flores on a foul tip to get the first out.  The Mets then inserted Jose Reyes as a pinch-hitter for Dominic Smith which seemed odd given that Smith had homered in his last at-bat and Chapman had been beaten by a young slugger the night before.  Nevertheless, Reyes hit a grounder to first that Chase Headley could not corral.  Reyes was awarded a single but Headley could have cleanly handled the play for an out.  Rookie Amed Rosario came to the plate and hit a long fly ball to center that Aaron Judge and Jacoby Ellsbury could only watch as it sailed over the fence.  The Yankees' lead had been cut to 5-4 and there was still only one out.  

Credit:  Elsa-Getty Images

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild made a visit to the mound. Maybe he told Chapman to stop trying to be cute with the flat sliders.  Whatever he told Chapman, it must have worked.  Travis d'Arnaud grounded out to short on a great stop and throw to first by Didi Gregorius (despite losing his footing).  Chapman had Juan Lagares down to two strikes but he hit a grounder to first that Chase Headley successfully handled.  Chapman was moving toward first and took the toss from Headley just ahead of Lagares, but he must have pulled something in his leg as he was running toward first.  Chapman got the save, his 16th, but it was far from an exciting win.  I'll take the win, don't get me wrong.  But Chapman's struggles took away some of the euphoria that normally accompanies the excitement of victory.  

The Yankees (63-55) still trail the Boston Red Sox by 4 1/2 games.  The Red Sox pounded the St Louis Cardinals, 10-4, in a game that saw the Sox turn an easy triple play to go with an eight-run inning.  The Toronto Blue Jays moved back into third place with their 6-4 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.  They trail the Yankees by 4 1/2 games.  The Baltimore Orioles, sliding back to fourth place, lost to the Seattle Mariners, 3-1.  They are 5 games behind the Yanks.  The Yankees increased their lead in the Wild Card standings by 3 games over the Los Angeles Angels.  It's amazing to think that 8 AL teams are within 5 games of each other.  In the National League, the two WC leaders (Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks) hold a five-game cushion.  

Aaron Judge struck out in the first inning against Jacob DeGrom to extend his consecutive game streak with a strikeout to 32 games.  He tied Adam Dunn's 2012 record for non-pitchers.  If he strikes out tonight, he'll hold the dubious record by himself.  

As great as the Yankees bullpen has been this year, it seems like there is an ugly stick that is passed from reliever to reliever.  Former Yankee reliever Tyler Clippard was awful for a stretch prior to his trade to the Chicago White Sox.  By the time he was traded to the Houston Astros, he was once again being touted as a two-time All-Star.  He passed his awfulness before his departure to Dellin Betances, who rebounded, but must have given the baton to Chapman.  The Yankees were downplaying Chapman's hamstring tightness after the game but there's reason for concern (in my opinion).  If it were my decision, I'd pull Chapman from the closer's role until he can right the ship.  My choice for closer would be David Robertson.  Betances tends to have more problems with base runners and I'd prefer to keep him in his effective set-up role.  

Credit:  Frank Franklin II-The Associated Press

For Sonny Gray (7-7), it was great to see him get the win in his Yankee Stadium debut.  Pitching six innings, he held the Mets to 5 hits and only gave  up the 2 runs on the Dominic Smith homer in the 7th.  He walked two batters and struck out 5.  This is why Gray was worth the cost of Jorge Mateo, Dustin Fowler and James Kaprielian.

Odds & Ends...

The latest Subway Series moves to Citi Field tonight.  Jaime Garcia gets to pitch in familiar National League digs.  Have Bat--Will Travel.  Hopefully the Yankees will back Garcia with a few runs this time or maybe he just takes matters into his own hands...

Credit:  FOX Sports

The New York Mets have made a pitching change for tonight's game.  The scheduled starter, Seth Lugo, has been placed on the DL with an impingement in his right shoulder. Robert Gsellman, a 24-year-old righty, will start in his place.  Gsellman is 5-5 with 6.16 ERA for the Mets this season. 

Credit:  Kathy Willens-The Associated Press

It's hard for me to get overly excited about Greg Bird after a series of disappointments this year since Spring Training.  Nevertheless, he is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre today.  Bird is hoping to join the Yankees next week but for me, he needs to show that he can hit again before Garrett Cooper loses his spot as the backup first baseman for the big league club.  I am very skeptical that we'll have any significant productivity from Bird in 2017.  I hope he proves me wrong.

As expected, the Yankees placed RHP Luis Cessa on the 10-day DL with his ribcage injury. LHP Caleb Smith, demoted yesterday, was recalled to take Cessa's place.  The lovely Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Shuttle...

Have a great Wednesday!  Let's show Queens how Bronxites like to party!  Go Yankees!

Remembering Game Three of the 2000 Subway World Series

The 2000 World Series featured the New York Yankees and the New York Mets facing off in the World Series for the first time in their history. This was the first Subway Series since 1956 when the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees faced off. Let's take the time to remember Game 3 of the 2000 World Series.

The Yankees would send Orlando Hernandez to the mound to face off with the Mets Rick Reed in Game 3 of the Subway World Series. The game would go into the 8th inning tied at 2-2 when Orlando Hernandez gave up two runs to break the game open and give the Mets a 4-2 lead. The Mets would win the game by that same score breaking Orlando Hernandez's perfect playoff record of 6-0 and ending the Yankees 14 consecutive World Series victories dating back to the 1996 World Series. John Franco would take the victory and Orlando Hernandez would take the loss with Armando Benitez notching the save to make the Subway World Series 2-1 in the Yankees favor.

So it Seems There's At Least Three Words That Need to be Said

On a day like today there's only THREE words that matter. I, love and you.

Three more days!!!! HEY YOU. I love you to the mailbox and back. 

This Day In New York Yankees History 8/16: Jeter Passes Aparicio

Derek Jeter's name is littered all over the Major League Baseball history books and the history books of the New York Yankees and etched another record for the books on this day in 2009. Jeter went 3-4 on this day and passed Luis Aparicio for the most hits ever compiled by a major league shortstop. Jeter's 2,674th hit passed Aparicio for the record in a 10-3 loss in Seattle.