Last night, August 1st 2016 I was lucky enough to be able to attend the first game of this years Subway series at Citi Field. Let me just start it off with this, it was one of the greatest games I have ever been to live.
The Yankees entered this game by finishing of their selling spree by trading Chapman to the Cubs, Miller to the Indians, Beltran to the Rangers, and Nova to the Pirates. While the Mets entered this game going in a totally opposite direction by buying at the deadline and trading for RBI leader Jay Bruce and former Met Jon Niese. The Yankees entered this game at a .500 record while the Mets entered with a record of 54-50 which isn't much better then the Yanks but it keeps them in the NL playoff hunt.
Now let's get to the game, I have never been to a Yankee-Met game before so it was a very new experience to me despite all of the previous games I have been to including last years AL Wild Card game. It was also my first time at Citi Field and let me say it is a really nice stadium, ton of options for food, and the bullpen gate is something really cool that all fans who go there should check out. I also like how as I entered the stadium they had a separate express lane for people who didn't have bags that needed to be checked which made my process going into the stadium go much quicker. I still don't believe it is better then Yankee Stadium but it was definitley up there.
I sat in the 500 level where I thought that it would be tough to see the field but it was actually a great view for being that high up. As the game started I saw Brett Gardner come up to bat... Next thing I know is that he hit a deep fly ball to center field and Ruggiano had a tough time playing it so Gardner is speeding around the bases and gets thrown out at the plate going for the inside the park HR. It was devastating because I had Mets fans sitting all around me and they were all going nuts while I was just sitting there with my hat down very dissapointment.
The game was then very quiet until the bottom of the 2nd when Mets 3B Wilmer Flores launched a solo home run off of C.C. Sabathia and the only thing that I thought in my head was "This is when Sabathia is going to collapse" and oh boy was I right. Then in the top of the 3rd Refsnyder was on first base and Sabathia dropped one of the worst bunts I have ever seen right back to the pitcher and it winds up becoming a double play.
Then in the top of the 5th the Yankees got things going again, with two outs Gardner doubled to right field with Refsnyder on 2nd which gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Then the next batter Jacoby Ellsbury singled to center which allowed Gardner to score therefore making the score 3-1 Yankees. I was very confident in this lead until I remembered that Sabathia was pitching....Which made me not surprised that in the bottom of the 5th Conforto doubled to deep right field and scored Nimmo making the score 3-2 which involved a Yankees lead that would not last very long.
The very next inning in the bottom of the 6th Sabathia gives up 2 singles and then allows Matt Reynolds launch a 3-run homer off of him to give the Mets a 5-3 lead, at this point I am just dissapointment in the Yankees thinking that they have no shot to come back because this is how the entire season has gone.
Little did I know that they were going to spark a rally in the 8th inning. The inning started with a Gardner walk and then a strikeout from Ellsbury and then another Strikeout from Tex (which should not be a suprise to anybody) Then McCann comes up and singles to right which allows Gardner to move to third. This is where things get interesting... Girardi puts in Torreyes for McCann and he quickly takes 2nd after a ball in the dirt from Addison Reed. And now Didi comes up, our best hitter all season might be able to have his shining moment as a Yankee. After practically a 10 pitch at bat that had me biting my fingernails and the crowd going nuts, Didi bloops it into left field scoring both Gardner and Torreyes. I WAS GOING CRAZY!!!!
Now this is the moment that I wished we still had Miller and Chapman to pitch in this game but we don't so then we have to put in Adam Warren to pitch the bottom of 8th and 9th.
This is when we can move to the top of the 10th inning when it all goes down. It starts with an Ellsbury walk, a Tex single, and then a bunt by Gamel which was perfectly placed so that everybody was able to be safe which led them to bases loaded nobody out for Didi! He struck out swinging.... Then I started losing all faith thinking that they would not score but then Castro hit a deep fly ball to right center and I thought it was gone but Granderson was able to catch it and the Yankees were able to score that one run that inning and I was hoping that it was going to be enough to hold down the Mets.
Betances comes in to close the game and put it to rest... First batter was James Loney and he doubles to deep right field and at this point I was just praying that Betances would not blow this game. Next batter was Reynolds and he bunted back to Betances which brought Loney to third with only one out. Betances then hits De Aza with a pitch which brings up Rivera and all he does is ground out to Betances. This leaves 2nd and 3rd two outs with Granderson up... Everyone at the stadium is on the edge of their seats waiting to see what is going to happen... After a long at bat Betances throws Grandy a nasty curveball and THE YANKEES WIN!!! Part of the crowd was going crazy and the other part looked like they were going to cry.
Bottom line, out of the countless number of games I have been to in my life including playoff games, this was DEFINITLEY the most exciting and most fun I have ever had at a baseball game!
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Great article, Patrick! Really enjoyed the read… And the game
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot! It was a VERY enjoyable experience! A Subway Series game going into extra innings is a classic
DeletePatrick, I concur with Benny, also a very good writer in his own right!
ReplyDeleteI hope you will stick around and write many more articles for this site, you do have a very nice writing style.
Thanks for the perspective of one in the stands, watching a tight game!
Thanks a lot! I haven't had much writing experience before so I'm glad you think my work is good
DeleteGreat article Patrick, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete