Time to Declare Independence from Cashman and Boone

After their 9th inning disaster against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night, The biggest thing the Yankees needed was what they got, a day off on Thursday, to calm down, regroup, collect their thoughts, see where they went wrong, and prepare adequately for their next series.

But the last thing they needed was a series against The Other Team. Unfortunately, that's what they got.

As so often happens when the Yankees play the Mets, there was a rainout, but that gave them an additional day, to think things through, and better prepare. It didn't work.

At 1st, it looked like this Saturday afternoon game wasn't going to be so bad. Jordan Montgomery and Tajuan Walker traded goose eggs for 4 innings. If you had told me before the game that the Yankees weren't going to allow any runs in the 1st 4 innings of this game, I would have gladly taken it, especially given their propensity this season for allowing runs in the 1st inning.

Then came the top of the 5th. Montgomery got the 1st out, then allowed 3 straight singles, and a run came home. Aaron Boone panicked, and took Montgomery out. Maybe that wasn't such a bad decision. What was a bad decision it was bringing in Lucas Luetge, the 2nd half of that 9th and a meltdown from Wednesday night. He allowed 2 more runs, and at 3-0, the game seemed over.

Boone brought Justin Wilson into pitch the 6th. He got nobody out: He allowed 3 straight singles, then a walk, then a double. Boone brought Michael King in, and, by comparison, he wasn't so bad, allowing just one more run.

Going into the bottom of the 6th inning, the Yankees had shown no hunger. Which makes sense, because the score was "ate nothing." And Walker was pitching a no-hitter. This was well on its way to becoming the greatest regular season game in Mets history. It could have been repeated as part of the series Mets Classics on SNY as soon as the postgame show was over.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 6th, Aaron Judge had a home run. It looked like it wouldn't matter at all. Giancarlo Stanton singled, Luke Voit was hit with a pitch, and Gleyber Torres walked to load the bases.  And Gio Urshela singled home 2 runs.

It was only 8-3, but now, there was a glimmer of hope. After all, one of the constants about the Mets over the years has been their lousy bullpen. Except that not materialize. Urshela's single would be the Yankee's last baserunner of the game. Mets 8, Yankees 3. WP: Walker (7-3). No save. LP: Montgomery (3-3).

It was the 81st game of the regular season, the exact midpoint. The Yankees were 41-40, 1 game over .500. Disgraceful.

*

So, due to the Friday rainout, Sunday was going to feature a separate-admission doubleheader. This inadvertently revived a baseball tradition: A doubleheader on the 4th of July. At least the Yankees had Gerrit Cole pitching the opener.

But things can always get worse. Three batters into the game, Cole gave up a home run to Dominic Smith. At 1-0 to the Flushing boys, the game already seemed lost.

Stanton led off the bottom of the 2nd with a single. Urshela reached on an error. Torres grounded into another. Brett Gardner was hit with a pitch. Then Kyle Higashioka doubled Stanton and Torres home. And the newly-acquired Tim Locastro hit a sacrifice fly to score Gardner. It was 3-1 Yankees, and there was hope. In the 3rd, Judge singled, Voit singled him over to 3rd, and a Stanton groundout got Judge home. It was 4-1 Yankees, and there was more hope.

Cliche Alert: Walks can kill you, especially the leadoff variety. Cole walked Michael Conforto to start the top of the 4th. Then he gave up a single to Jeff McNeill. Then he walked Billy McKinney to load the bases with nobody out. A single by Tomas Nido brought Conforto home. Cole struck out Luis Guillorme, but gave up a single to Brandon Nimmo that scored McNeil.

Then Boone panicked again. He brought in Jonathan Loaisiga, sooner than he usually comes in. He gave up a single to Francisco Lindor, scoring McKinney. It was 4-4.

With 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, LeMaheiu singled. Judge singled him over to 3rd. A wild pitch got LeMahieu home, and it was 5-4 Yankees. But Voit and Stanton both flew out, and that was a sign that the Yankees weren't going to score any more runs.

It was still 5-4 Yankees going to the top of the 7th, the last inning, since that's the new rule for doubleheaders. Boone brought Aroldis Chapman in to close. He badly needed to nail down the save, not just for the team, but for himself, as his last few games, especially his last, were atrocious.

He got a 1-2 count on Pete Alonso... and gave up a game-tying home run. Then he hit Conforto with a pitch, possibly intentionally. Then he walked McNeil, certainly not intentionally. Boone took him out, and we'll never know what percentage of the vociferous boos was for Chapman, and what percentage was for Boone.

Boone brought in Luetge. So it was a repeat performance of Wednesday against the Angels: Single, strikeout, double, single, single. Six runs in the inning. Naturally, the Yankees went down quietly in the bottom of the 9th.

Mets 10, Yankees 5. WP: Jeurys Familia (3-1). No save. LP: Aroldis Chapman (5-3).

The Yankees were now at .500, 41-41. The fact that this disaster was against the Mets was mostly irrelevant. The what mattered a lot more than the who.

*

So Nestor Cortes was sent out to salvage the series finale. Not usually a starter, but with the game being only 7 innings, it wouldn't have been a terrible thing if he could only go 4. And he did get into the 4th, before Boone took him out.

Voit led off the 2nd with a double. Rougned Odor bunted him over to 3rd, and beat it out. Looked like great "small ball" -- until Urshela hit a home run. That's what you gotta do: Get men on base, and then hit the home run. 3-0 Yankees.

Cortes allowed a Smith double with 1 out in the 4th, and Boone took him out, for Darren O'Day. O'Day gave up a home run to Alonso, making it 3-2. Cue Han Solo: "I've got a bad feeling about this!" Then O'Day walked the next 2 batters, and it looked like the rout was on. But he settled down, and got the next 2 out.

Chad Green pitched a 1-2-3 top of the 5th. With 1 out in the bottom of the 5th, Gardner and LeMahieu drew walks. Judge moved them over with a groundout. With Gary Sanchez up, Miguel Castro threw a wild pitch that got Gardner home. But Sanchez struck out to end the threat.

Fortunately, Green pitched a 1-2-3 6th, and struck out the side in the 7th. Finally. Yankees 4, Mets 2. WP: Green (3-4, he got the win because the starting pitcher didn't go 5 innings). No save. LP: Corey Oswalt (1-1).

*

So we've passed the halfway mark of the regular season, and we've passed the 4th of July. The Yankees are 42-41. They are 10 games behind the hated Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division, 9 in the loss column. They are 5 1/2 games, 4 in the loss column, out of the 2nd AL Wild Card berth.

They have no ace: Ever since that crackdown on "Spider Tack," Cole has been good, but not great. Corey Kluber and Luis Severino are still injured. Montgomery and Domingo German have been inconsistent. Jameson Taillon has been a bust.

The bullpen is a mess: Ever since that crackdown on Spider Tack, Chapman has gone from absolutely unhittable to absolutely crushable. Luetge has also fallen apart. Loaisiga has been inconsistent. Zack Britton has been hurt. O'Day is awful. King is worse.

This team simply isn't hitting enough. It's making mistakes on the basepaths. There seems to be no sense of urgency.

And, as the late, great Yogi Berra would have said, It's getting late early out there.

And now, they fly to the Pacific Coast, where they have historically had trouble.

Explain to me why Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman still have jobs. Hal Steinbrenner should declare independence from them.t game ork Met

The Citi Series: The Record

Note: The following article was written before Brian Cashman started giving away the store for a bunch of kids who may never reach the major leagues. In other words, the Yankees still had a shot at the Playoffs. Now, they may not have one for the next 10 years.

As for the Mets, well, we all know they're going to blow it. The only questions are when and how.

*

Well, it's that time again: The City Series. Or, should I say, the Citi Series.

Of course, it's not a "Subway Series." That name is only to be used when two teams in the same metropolitan area meet in the World Series. (It is possible for all 4 metro areas with 2 teams, although in Chicago it's more of an "El Series," and in Los Angeles it's a "MetroLink Series.")

When Interleague play began in 1997, the only 3 games between the Yankees and the Mets were played at the original Yankee Stadium. In 1998, they were played at Shea Stadium. In 1999, they began alternating, with 3 at each park, moving on in 2009 to the replacements, Yankee Stadium II and Citi Field. Then, last year, they tried something new, which has carried over into this season: A single 4-day, 4-game series, 2 at one park, then 2 at the other.

Here's how it's come out:

1997 2-1 Yankees
1998 2-1 Yankees
1999 3-3 Tie
2000 4-2 Yankees
2001 4-2 Yankees
2002 3-3 Tie
2003 6-0 Yankees
2004 4-2 Mets
2005 3-3 Tie
2006 3-3 Tie
2007 3-3 Tie
2008 4-2 Mets
2009 5-1 Yankees
2010 3-3 Tie
2011 4-2 Yankees
2012 5-1 Yankees
2013 4-0 Mets
2014 2-2 Tie
2015 4-2 Yankees

Total: 60-44 Yankees. The Yankees have won the season series 9 times, the Mets 3, and they've split 7.

When you count the 2000 World Series, the totals in the games that count -- not counting spring training and all those "Mayor's Trophy Games," which Met fans only seemed to talk about and consider to have "mattered" when they won -- is 64-45 Yankees.

Extend those 109 games to a full 162-game season, and that .587 winning percentage for the Yankees comes to 95 wins for the Bronx Bombers (nearly always enough to finish first), and just 67 for the Queens Princesses (nearly always finishing last). Even if you only count the 60-44 of the regular season, the Yankees' percentage is still .577 -- good for 93 wins (usually enough to at least make the Playoffs), to the Mets' 69 (still usually enough to finish last).

In Spring Training, the Yankees lead 45-32. (Those figures are likely to remain, as they usually don't play each other in Spring Training anymore.) In the Mayor's Trophy Games, once the highlight of the Mets' season (well, that and Banner Day) but now defunct, the Yankees lead 14-11-1. All told, the Yankees lead 123-88-1, for a percentage of .583, good (over 162 games) for 94-68 (usually good enough to at least make the Playoffs).

And, of course, the Yankees won the 2000 World Series, 4 games to 1, clinching at Shea. Met fans waited 39 years to play the Yankees in the World Series. You wanted it. You wanted it. You wanted it! Well, you got it, baby! Boy, did you get it! And now, until another actual Subway Series is played (which would require the Mets to hold up their end of the bargain and win a Pennant, ha ha), there is nothing that Met fans can say: We own your sorry asses.

What's that? You say the Yankees cheated with steroids in 2000? Please, you had Mike "Bacne" Piazza. Who lost his cool and went into "roid rage" in that Series: Piazza, or Roger Clemens?

So, no, the Flushing Heathen have nothing to say. The Yankees have the edge over them in everything: Overall record, total titles, titles since the Mets debuted in 1962, titles since the Mets really arrived in 1969, titles since 1979, titles since 1986, better attendance, better ballpark.

Okay, maybe the Mets have better broadcasters and better food. But that's about it.

Makes you wonder why the Mets even bother with Interleague play. Well, it's about the money: MLB makes money off Interleague play; and, for the Mets, every home game against the Yankees, the team Met fans hate more than all the others combined, is a guaranteed sellout. And the Yankee organization doesn't seem to mind getting the home sellouts either. (After all, they can afford to have YS2 fumigated afterward.)