Subway Series: Yankees Win First Go-Round Against Mets; Fred Wilpon Flaps His Gums

Sweet! Not only did the Yankees beat the Mets two games to one this weekend, but I woke up to the news that Mets owner Fred Wilpon has made Hank Steinbrenner look like Silent Cal Coolidge. The New York Times reports that this week's New Yorker has an interview with Frugal Freddy. In the piece, Wilpon criticizes his own players, including Jose Reyes, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran. Wilpon even does the "Beltran standing like a statue" bit I have been mocking Squawker Jon with for years.

Before I get to yakking about Sunday, I just want to point out some of the gems Wilpon unleashed on Jeffrey Toobin when they watched a game together last month. Wilpon's so-over-the-top insulting, he makes Brian Cashman's offseason quotes look subdued. A few examples:

* David Wright: "A really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar."

* Carlos Beltran: "'We had some dummy in New York, Wilpon says, referring to himself, “who paid him based on that one series. He’s 65 to 70 percent of what he was." He later mocks the Beltran called third strike in the 2006 NLCS with a pantomine of it.

* Jose Reyes:  "He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money. He’s had everything wrong with him. He won’t get it."

The Times' Tyler Kepner, who wrote the story about the New Yorker profile, thinks this piece is a good thing for Wilpon, saying:

"Such insights may bother the players, who will surely be asked about them before their next game on Tuesday in Chicago. But they humanize Wilpon, and for him, that is something. For fans, winning owners are easily the best kind. But owners who empathize with their feelings probably come in second."

Oh, please. At the risk of speaking out of turn as a Yankee fan, I think the only thing Fred Wilpon could do at this point to please Mets fans is to sell the whole team. As our blogging friend Metsradamus sez, "This is the family atmosphere that Tom Glavine once bragged about?  The Gosselins had less dysfunction." True.

I doubt any fan is going to say "Fred's one of us" after reading that story. He or she, in my view, is more likely thinking that Fred is trashing his own stars' abilities in order to have reasons to get rid of them. And it's not like these players are at the end of their careers, but demanding huge paydays from the Mets (like a certain Yankee shortstop) that he's objecting to. No, Wilpon just wants to not have to pay anybody.

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As for the Yankees, that was a nice little home-run free rally Sunday, eh? Eight runs in one inning, and none of them homers! Squawker Jon did totally call it -- he was telling me that the wheels were about to come off with Mike Pelfrey, and thought that Terry Collins should have removed him earlier than he did.

One thing Joe Girardi did that made me second-guess him was batting Jorge Posada sixth. Yes, that's the perfect place for .183 hitters who haven't even hit a home run in a month. Good grief.

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Subway Series: Mets Win; Yankee Fans Grumble

Squawker Jon was doing the Snoopy Dance over last night's Mets' 2-1 victory over the Yankees. The YES Network's Jack Curry compared the win to a 15 seed knocking off a 2 seed. And to top it off, as a Red Sox fan friend pointed out, Boston now has a better record than the Yankees, so if the world ends at 6 p.m. tonight, the Sox will have one-upped New York for all eternity this year. Oh, great.

But hey, as Squawker Jon always tells me when I grumble over something, look on the bright side. Soon, Jose Reyes will be making those sparkling, game-saving plays in pinstripes, right?  Dare to dream!

Like I noted yesterday, if the Mets somehow sweep this series, they will have a better record than the Yankees this season. Squawker Jon will be putting on his dancing shoes again if that happens!

* * * 

Joe Girardi was asked this by the New York Post's Kevin Kernan after last night's loss:

When Girardi was asked if he had any thoughts about shaking up his lineup, he offered this with a smile: "The last time I did something, everyone was in an uproar."

 Well, one guy was. That was the move that sent Posada to the nine-spot.

That's wonderful. Joe finally does what needed to be done, in moving the .165 hitter to the nine spot, and now he's so gun-shy by Posada's hissy fit, he's keeping back at seventh, due to worries that Posada will have another sit-down strike. Meanwhile, Brett Gardner, who is hitting .345 in May, is also hitting ninth. How does that work?

Not to mention that reports of Derek Jeter getting out of his year-long funk were greatly exaggerated. He has the worst OPS on the team, and the second-worst on-base percentage, which is kind of not what you want your leadoff hitter to do.

Yes, yes, I know the Yankees hit the Orioles pretty good last night. But they are 6-0 against that team this year, and pretty much destroy them year after year. On the other hand, the Yanks are 1-5 against Boston, 3-4 against Detroit, 2-2 against the White Sox, and 1-2 against Kansas City. The Bombers need to start stepping it up, and soon.

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I watched some of the SNY broadcast to see how the other half lives. They noted that Freddy Garcia, who pitched very well last night, has the nickname "The Chief," due to his resemblance to the character in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." I see him as more of The Rock, but that's me.

Then, I polled Facebook friends as to who which celebrity Russell Martin looks like. People came up with Rick Shroeder, Jon Favreau, and David Denman (Roy from "The Office")!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Subway Series and the End of the World

Apparently, the world will end just before the second game of the Subway Series. This would mark the second straight Saturday night Yankee game preceded by an apocalyptic event, following last week's Posada Adventure.

As Squawker Lisa never fails to remind me, the Mets experienced their own form of doomsday during the Subway Series two years ago courtesy of Luis Castillo. That dismal year also included Francisco Rodriguez walking Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded. Unfortunately for me, Lisa and I were at both of those games.

Last year, we were lucky enough to get to sit in Legends seats for a Subway Series game at Yankee Stadium. Here's how long ago that game seems - Mike Pelfrey and Phil Hughes were both 9-1. Pelfrey's loss that day sent him into a weeks-long tailspin. Hughes went into a tailspin in the second half and still hasn't come out of it. And now he's on the DL.

At least Jose Reyes hit two homers that day. But it'll really be doomsday if Reyes is hitting homers next year at Yankee Stadium in a Yankee uniform.

This will be the first Subway Series in years without Castillo and Oliver Perez on the roster. Castillo's time with the Mets wasn't all bad, but in 365 games, his overall OPS was just .691. It's hard to win with that kind of OPS in your lineup.

But Lisa, the Yankees sure seem willing to try, with Derek Jeter (2011 OPS .636) and Jorge Posada (2011 OPS .672) holding down two lineup spots.

And Jeter and Posada are making a total of $28 million this season, which is a lot more than the $18 million the Mets are paying Castillo and Perez for 2011.

Prediction: Mets take one of three. Bleacher Creatures do roll call for potential future Yankees Carlos Beltran and Reyes. Mets GM Sandy Alderson tries to lead them in a chant for K-Rod. Beltran homers and John Sterling has a home run call ready to go: "A belt for Beltran!"

Lost Weekend for Yankees, and this Squawk Monster is peeved!

Squawker Jon may have something to celebrate - not only did his Mets win two of three in the Subway Series, but he wasn't disappointed with the "Lost" finale. Can't say I can say the same. I'm not happy at all with this weekend. Call me Offfically Concerned about the state of the Yankees.


When the highlight of the Yankees' weekend is Javier Vazquez's pitching, and even that was bittersweet (thanks to him banging up his finger on a bunt), you know it wasn't a good series.

Grrrrrrr. As one of our Red Sox fan/Squawker readers pointed out to me on Facebook last night, the Yanks are now just 2.5 games ahead of the Red Sox in the standings. And the Bombers have lost 10 of their last 15 games, and six of their last eight games. Not good.

So, call me the Squawk Monster, as I make some fire-breathing observations:

* Doesn't look like Joe Girardi was happy with Francisco Cervelli not running when he hit the ball that hit the foul pole last night. (The one the umps ruled was a single, not a homer.)

* A Met fan wrote me this on Facebook last night, regarding Francisco Rodriguez's postgame celebrations: "You can't really pick on K-Rod though - at least he only celebrates when the game is over. That Cervelli guy celebrates every time his pitcher throws a strike or he gets a hit. Let him get more than about 30 hits in his career before he starts acting like that." Uh-oh!

* Squawker Jon and I were at the Citi Field finale of the Subway Series last year, where a shaky K-Rod walked Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded. I think I liked last year better!

* CC Sabathia hasn't looked right since that game at Fenway Park where he was one strike away from getting the win, before the rain delay. (Yes, I know he had pretty good numbers against the Sox at Yankee Stadium last week, but he looked like he was battling and struggling the whole time.

* How long before we hear the "A-Rod always strikes out in a big spot" idiots again?

Anyhow, I'm sure I've missed a ton of other things to complain about. But I'm sure Squawker Jon and our Met fan/Yankee hater readers will remind me of them!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Big Pelf and the Mets beat Yankees in Game 2 of Subway Series

Finally. The Mets won a Subway Series game in Citi Field. And I'm not very happy about it.

It's not just that Squawker Jon is doing the Snoopy Dance over the win. It was that we had such awful announcing to sit through. You thought FOX broadcasts were bad enough, but they just made them even more odious by the introduction of Kevin Millar to the pre- and post-game show. Somebody on Facebook suggested that we Yankee fans should "let it go" about Millar. Tell you what - I'll "let it go" when the players' union does!

Oh, and Tim McCarver was his usual pompous yet unprepared self. It's unbelievable how unknowledgable he is on what's going on in baseball. Is it too much to expect a guy whose entire job consists of one three-hour baseball broadcast a week to actually know what's going on with the teams? Especially when he knows what teams he will be covering months in advance? He couldn't even get the Millar "Cowboy Up" reference right - that's about 2003, not 2004.

As for the game itself, the memory that sticks out the most in my mind was Francisco Rodriguez's double-fisted salute up to the heavens when he won the game. He practically had jazz hands, he was gyrating so much!

Wasn't crazy about A-Rod not getting a hit when the Yankees had that rally going. Also wasn't crazy about Alex Cora being interviewed for an inning when the Yanks were at bat. Geez, FOX, you have the Yankees No. 3, 4, and 5 hitters up, and you take that time to talk to Cora? What?

Of course David Wright would have a good night. It's that he read me comparing him to the Ghost of Bernie Williams, and decided to prove me wrong!

Watching Randy Winn in the outfield makes me want to make a get-well-soon card for Curtis Granderson!


What do you think? Tell us about it!

What a strange time to honor the 2000 Mets

When I was on Kenrick Thomas' radio show the other day, he asked me what I thought of the Mets honoring the 2000 NL Champs team this weekend. I said I thought it was okay to honor that team - after all, they did make it to the World Series. Heck, if the San Francisco Giants could honor their 2000 team last month, a team that the Mets beat in the first round of the playoffs, then why couldn't the Mets honor their own team that year?

Besdes, at least it's something different than the incessant 1986 talk on SNY (if you had a bottle of an adult beverage while watching a Mets broadcast, and took a sip every time 1986 was mentioned, you'd be soused by the third inning!)

But I do think the timing of the 2000 celebration - during last night's Subway Series game - was just plain bizarre. Leave it to the Mets organziation to give Yankee fans something to laugh about. And for a team struggling with attendance, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for the Mets not to do this on a separate occasion.

How about that first pitch, thrown by John Franco to Mike Piazza? And no, my problem isn't with Piazza (for once!); it's with Franco throwing out the first pitch. You have Al Leiter in the house, and you don't have him do it? Leiter may now be a Yankee broadcaster, but he was the ace of that team. Franco wasn't even the closer in 2000; Armando Benitez took over that role. So why Franco? Heck, why not Mike Hampton, who was actually in the stadium - and was also a big part of that 2000 team? I was snickering on Facebook last night that Roger Clemens should have thrown out the first pitch! Heh.

There were eight 2000 Mets in Citi Field last night: Piazza, Franco, Leiter, Benny Agbayani, Turk Wendell, Rick Reed, Edgardo Alfonzo, and Turk Wendell. Of course, the Yankees had four members of their own 2000 World Series team in the house - Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, and Jorge Posada!

But eight seems kind of low. You would think the Mets could have had more people from 2000 in the house - where was Robin Ventura? Or Bobby Valentine? And what, Todd Zeile has something better to do?

Anyhow, I do have a vested interest in celebrating the 2000 World Series - it gives me something to mock Squawker Jon with! And that's priceless.


What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Squawker Lisa's Subway Series Predictions

Squawker Jon has conceded that his Mets will be on the losing side of the Subway Series this weekend. He's predicting that the Yankees will sweep!

I think he's trying to do one of those reverse jinx thingies. Your weird sci-fi trick isn't going to work, Jon!

Speaking of sci-fi, Squawker Jon will be watching the series finale of "Lost" on Sunday. I quit watching that show after they finished the second season with that ridiculous Penelope-Desmond storyline (why should I care about their stupid love story? I watched this show for the plane crash on a remote island, not for silly melodrama!) But I digress.

Anyhow, here are my predictions for this weekend:

* The Yankees will win two of three, with Javy Vazquez having a good outing Friday. My guess is that the Yankees will lose Saturday, but I agree with Jon that the bullpen will decide at least one game.

* Citi Field a pitchers' park? Not with the Yankees in the house. I'm predicting homers from Jeter, A-Rod, Cano, and Cervelli!

* Met fans are going to continue to gripe about that "Jeter's got an Edge" commercial airing on SNY. Yankee fans are going to continue to gripe about hearing that commercial twenty times a night. (It's right up there with the My Mohegan for annoyances!)

* If the Yankees lose two of three (heaven forbid!), there will be panic in the tabloids!

* Number of times we'll see the Luis Castillo dropped play again - at least 100!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Squawker Jon's Subway Series Predictions

(from Squawker Jon)

Ike Davis will have a good series, and reader Uncle Mike will say it's because of his Yankee heritage.

Javier Vazquez will pitch well, serving as an audition for him eventually to be traded back to the National League.

Oliver Perez will be used in relief, and will leave the field to cheers - from Yankee fans.

The annoying "Jeter's got an edge" commercial will air even more frequently than usual.

The Mets will get good starting pitching and will have leads in the sixth inning or later in two games, but the Yankees will rally late against the Mets bullpen to complete a sweep of the three-game series.

Remember when the media said Jose Reyes and David Wright were better than Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez?

Today's Joel Sherman column in the New York Post reminds me of two of the dopiest ideas pushed by the New York sportswriters over the past few years - that David Wright is better than Alex Rodriguez, and Jose Reyes is better than Derek Jeter.

And this wasn't pushed by one writer or two - this idea was pretty common in the New York papers from about 2006 on. You would have thought that Jeter and A-Rod were as worn out as Emmitt Smith in the Just For Men commerical, the way certain writers in this town insisted that the Mets stars were on the rise. As Doctor Phil would say, how's that working out for you?

Sherman writes:

Wright was going to be the Mets’ Jeter; the homegrown kid who mixed skill, intangibles and charisma to become prince of the city. Instead, he has finally passed Rodriguez in the worst of all categories: Wright is now the most dissected athlete in New York. We break down his swing and psychoanalyze his mind. What is up with the wild arm, the lack of clutch play and, yes, all of those strikeouts?

You see, this is why you don't make somebody an "untouchable" before they've really proven themselves. Jeter got that type of treatment after four rings. Wright got it before the Mets even won a playoff series. Now that Wright is finally getting scrutinized, and it's got to hurt, after the years of the media telling him how great he is.

On the other hand, A-Rod has a much thicker skin after all these years of criticism than you would think. (If you want to see the flip side of that, look at how poorly David Ortiz has handled getting criticism this season. But I digress.)

As for Wright, I don't know whether he is afraid of getting plunked again, or he doesn't feel comfortable in Citi Field, or something, but he's not quite the third baseman he was projected to be. And he's certainly not better than A-Rod. I remember one A-Rod hating Yankee beat writer suggesting a trade of Wright for A-Rod straight up to "get rid of the headache" of Rodriguez, only for the writer to then say that the Mets would never want to do such a trade. Another writer wrote earlier this year that he would prefer Wright to Rodriguez. Please.

And I do think the Mets rushed Jose Reyes back before he was healthy enough to play. I still contend they're not taking his thyroid issue seriously enough.

Sherman continues:

Reyes and Wright have dwindled from cornerstones to puzzles. The Mets went all in during the 2006 season, signing both to multi-year contracts, believing they had erected a long-term foundation. Now the Mets will have to decide on Reyes’ $11 million option for 2011 and whether a champion really can be built around the left side of their infield.

As a new Subway Series begins, the question now is not whether Reyes and Wright have passed Jeter and Rodriguez, but if the best days for Reyes and Wright already have passed and, if so, how do the Mets survive that?

I see Sherman's point, but I think he is going a bit too far in the other direction for my tastes. I don't think Reyes and Wright are washed up. But I do think that the Yankee-haters in the media pumped them up to be bigger than they were. Somewhere in between are the real players. It would be nice if the press had kept some perspective on them in the first place.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

My first gratuitous Mets-bashing post of the week

Since I pretty much have nothing positive to say about last night's debacle (the Yankees are looking very overmatched against the Rays), I'll get into the Subway Series spirit and bash the Mets!

Unless the Ticket Fairy or StubHub Santa hooks us up with some ducats, it looks like Squawker Jon and I will not be going to any games this weekend. We both tried the morning that tickets went on sale. The first tickets I saw were $49 each, which is mostly out of our price range. But we still considered getting them, since it is the Subway Series. Unfortunately, we saw a disclaimer that said the tickets could be obstructed view. You know, Yankee Stadium has obstructed view seats as well. They charge $5 for them, not $49!

Anyhow, we let those tix go, and tried again, but the ticket prices were in the hundreds. Just checked this morning to see what was left, and saw that I could get into the game for "only" $98 each, plus service charge. Please. No thanks.

If any of our readers are going, or have an extra ticket or two, please let know! Otherwise, the Subway Squawkers have been derailed from this weekend!

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Are Mets willing to fill Citi Field with Yankee fans?

Citi Field - featuring Dodgers history, Giants colors and Yankee fans?

From SI's Jon Heyman:

[Mets] attendance is down 17 percent, which is the third biggest drop in baseball (behind only Toronto and Cleveland), and it's to the point where they are handing over Subway Series tickets to the Yankees to fill the stands for games that are normally sold out immediately.

It was bad enough when I was at the Luis Castillo game amid Squawker Lisa and tens of thousands of celebrating Yankee fans. But that was at the other team's stadium.

It was bad enough when Yankee fans' cheers filled Citi Field when Francisco Rodriguez walked Mariano Rivera with the bases loaded and Mariano then got his 500th save, but it was the end of the game and many Met fans had gone home in disgust.

Having a big Yankee presence at Citi Field is part of the fun of the Subway Series, just as it's fun to walk around Yankee Stadium in Met gear and see thousands of others Met fans. But a big presence is something like 20%. Not 50%. Or more.

Thanks to outlets like StubHub, the marketplace can determine who ends up going to the game. It certainly wouldn't be surprising for Yankee fans to have more interest in these games than Met fans. But Met management shouldn't be helping them along.

On Opening Day in Washington, the ballpark was filled with fans of the visiting Phillies. Nationals' management, eager to sell seats, apparently reached out to the opposition. From the Washington Post:

The Nationals did not discourage Phillies fans from coming in droves. If anything, the team may have encouraged them.

Phillies fans in the ballpark said it felt like a "home game," while Nationals fans felt that Opening Day had been "completely ruined."

When this story broke in April, the Nationals looked like a pathetic last-place franchise desperate to fill seats.

Now the Nationals have beaten the Mets five out of seven and are looking down on them in the standings. And Stephen Strasburg is on the way.

Meanwhile, the listless Mets are in last place and increasingly desperate to move tickets.

Next week, the Phillies come to town. Will Met management sink to the level of the Nationals and start promoting the games to Phillies fans?