Funny, but... Remember how Met fans were complaining about how hard it was to hit at Citi Field, but the Yankees had no problem hitting there? Now, the fences have been moved in, and the Mets are going to win the National League East; while the Yankees didn't hit there.
Of course, the Yankees aren't hitting anywhere these days. Gee, maybe Kevin Long wasn't the problem.
The game started so well. Brett Gardner opened by drawing a walk on Stephen Matz, was singled to 3rd by Carlos Beltran, and came home on a sacrifice fly by Chris Young. 1-0 to the Good Guys. Greg Bird singled Beltran over to 2nd. It looked like the Yankees would break the game wide open before the blue & orange schmucks even got a chance to bat.
From that moment onward, the Yankees got 7 baserunners, and no runs. Masahiro Tanaka gave up a home run to Lucas Duda in the 2nd inning, and another to Daniel Murphy in the 6th. That made it 2-1 Mets, and pretty much ended it.
That would have been enough to end it, had Girardi not bollixed it all up further. To start the 7th, he pinch-hit for Tanaka. Interleague play, NL park, so we have this idiotic lack of a designated hitter. (Yet another reason Met fans are idiots: They hate the DH and love the National League.)
Pinch-hitting for Tanaka in this instance was a mistake, but understandable, because the Yankees needed runs and his spot in the batting order came up as the leadoff spot in the inning. Fine, I get that. I still wouldn't have pinch-hit for him.
Who did Girardi send up? Jacoby Ellsbury, who's in a monstrous slump. If Ellsbury was worth sending up as a pinch-hitter, why wasn't he worth starting? (Although it was his replacement in left field, Young, who drove in our only run.) And if he wasn't worth starting, why was he worth sending up as a pinch-hitter?
Ellsbury hit a lazy fly ball to left field. Tanaka -- or I, or you -- could have been sent up to bat, and, effectively, given the same result: A leadoff out when we desperately needed a run.
Girardi brought the pathetic Chasen Shreve in to pitch the bottom of the 7th, and pathetic Shreve was pathetic, allowing a single to Wilmer Flores and then a home run to Juan Uribe.
In the 8th, Girardi brought in the hopeless Branden Pinder, and hopeless Pinder was hopeless, giving up a triple by Murphy and a walk to David Wright. Then Girardi took out the hopeless Pinder, and brought in the awful James Pazos, and awful Pazos was awful, as his 1st pitch was a wild pitch, allowing Murphy to score and make it 5-1 Mets.
That was the final score. WP: Matz (4-0). No save. LP: Tanaka (12-7).
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To make matters worse, the Toronto Blue Jays won last night. Now the Yankees are 4 1/2 games back in the American League East, with 16 games to go. (Including 3 in Toronto, but how confident can we be about those games now?)
Essentially, the AL East race ended last night, and we lost. Our best hope now is the Wild Card, a race for which we currently have a 4-game cushion and home-field advantage.
Unfortunately, we still have the disadvantage of having Joe Girardi as manager. The thought of Joe Girardi having to manage a Wild Card play-in game, a win-or-go-home game -- possibly against the Houston Astros, who swept us not that long ago, or possibly against the Texas Rangers, a team he's blown it against in the Playoffs before (2010 AL Championship Series) -- sickens me.
Not "scares." Sickens.
I just hope my Pepto-Bismol lasts through October 3.
That Daily News headline was 20 years too soon: It's Girardi, not Torre, who is "CLUELESS JOE."
Then again, after their Wednesday Night Massacre (or, as Lisa Swan of Subway Squawkers called it, Fire-mageddon) this week, who can expect wit and good writing from the Snooze?
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A side note about Carlos Beltran: Met fans booed the hell out of him. Apparently, they're still sore about his having taken a called 3rd strike for the last out in their Pennant-losing game in 2006. These same idiots chose him as the center fielder on their 50th Anniversary Team in 2012.
Or maybe they were just booing the Yankee uniform. So why didn't they boo anybody else as vociferously?
Probably because Alex Rodriguez was rested. Except he was put in as a pinch-hitter, and didn't get booed as much as Beltran.
Like I said: Met fans are idiots.
But they sure are crowing about this game, and this season. They've come out of the closet, haven't they? Because you couldn't find a Met fan a year ago.
Yes, Met fans have come out of the closet. But this isn't something you're born with. Rooting for a baseball team is a choice, and being a Met fan is a deviant, repulsive lifestyle.
And yet, in all this, it's worth nothing that, for the year, the Mets are still only .500 against the Yankees (2-2).
Of course, we're only .500 against them. And that is unacceptable.
The series continues this afternoon, with Michael Pineda starting against Noah Syndergaard. The Yankees better win, and not just because I hate the fucking Mets and their inbred fans who, as they say in English soccer, only sing when they're winning.
And speaking of English soccer, don't even get me started on Arsenal's 2-0 loss to Chelsea this morning. Between Arsenal's own bad play, Chelsea's continued cheating, and getting screwed yet again by referee Mike Dean, whom I once described as the worst sports official on the planet (that was 6 years ago, and he's gotten no better)...
I don't want to talk about it.
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