Highbridge News: Yanks Win Battle But Mets Could Win the War

Highbridge News: Yanks Win Battle But Mets Could Win the War: Yanks Win Battle But Mets Could Win the War More to Come in September for Subway Series By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK,...

Yanks Win Battle But Mets Could Win the War

Yanks Win Battle But Mets Could Win the War

More to Come in September for Subway Series

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 27- At the end of the evening Sunday the New York Mets left the Bronx with the best record in baseball and still a first place team. The Yankees took two out of three games from them in this first of two interleague series between the two teams with a 6-4 win.

So until they meet again in September at Citi Field, three more games in the Mets home ballpark, we may have more of a clear picture where either team will be in October. Because it is April, they say the games mean nothing. But losing games this month can come back to haunt a team that is in the thick of a pennant race in September.

The Mets feel they will be there in September, as do the Yankees. Fans for both teams also have those hopes for playing baseball in October. With that in mind, and with the anticipation and drama of these three games now in the books, there are no answers as to where they will be during that tough stretch of games in September.

it is simple: April is almost over and the Mets have accomplished something they have not done since their championship year of 1986 and left the Bronx with a 14-5 record, the second best for the franchise to start the season, and Monday night play three at Miami before heading home Thursday for four games with the Washington Nationals.

That’s seven with division opponents and before the series with the Yankees, they compiled and tied a club record 11-game winning streak by going 13-3 against the Nationals, Philadelphia and the Marlins of Miami.

Along the way the Mets realize they will have a few bumps on the road. They did Sunday night committing  a season-high four errors that prevented them from taking two of three games from the Yankees.

"In a game like this, you can't make those mistakes," their manager Terry Collins said. "Just a bad night for us. For the most part they’ve played pretty well.”

But they did not play well  Sunday night and it was a game that did not resemble their sparkling play in the month of April. Eric Campbell forgot how many outs there were on the base paths and got doubled up. The middle infield at short and second, Daniel Murphy and Wilmer Flores, each committed an error and are tied with the team lead with four.

Murphy botched a double play groundball in the fifth inning and Wilmer Flores at shortstop was charged with a throwing error to first that prevented the Mets from doubling up Alex Rodriguez. That got some attention despite Murphy going 2-for-3 and tying a career high with two doubles.

“We got this ugly one out of the way,” Michael Cuddyer said. “We’re going to go to Miami and play better.”

Cuddyer got a ball in left that got to second base late and that enabled  Chris Young to cross the plate in a four- run second Yankees second inning that increased their lead to 5-2.    

So there is every indication, and with five months and a long season ahead, that the Mets will be where they want to be in September. Playing the Yankees then will have more significance than these last three games in the Bronx.

“Mistakes are a part of the game,” Flores said. And for the most part, Flores has been handling the position well at shortstop, Collins made reference that Flores had two bad games in the first week.

Said the manager, “Until tonight, he hadn’t had an error since.”

But September is a month the Yankees want to make sure is significant to them. They feel they will be a part of the mix and return to the postseason after a two year absence. These games with their cross town rivals was just as important to them as it was to their fans.

And those three games in September with the Mets will be more important and have implications for the Yankees if they play like they have been, going 8-2 since April 17 after starting the season at 3-6. This series did not mean they have taken the town away from the Mets as much as Yankees fans would like to believe.

“We won the series and that gets you to October,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. Winning series has been a trend for his team that came off a 7-3 road trip before this first Subway Series in the Bronx. And if they continue to do that, then come September when they meet the Mets again, those games will be significant.  

  

However, again, that is a long time off. The Yankees have been hitting and overall getting the pitching, in particular out of the bullpen where they shutout the Mets after the fifth inning and did not give up a hit in 4-⅔ innings.

And with Alex Rodriguez hitting a solo home run in the first inning off Jonathon Niese, number 659 of his career, and one shy of tying Willie Mays, the Yankees are feeling more confident about their lineup. A-Rod has been an early season surprise and faces a possible battle of an incentive clause in the contract that the Yankees have said they will not pay him when he surpasses Mays, and if he passes the other all-time home run leaders.

One of those milestones will happen way before September. Perhaps the Mays’ milestone comes this week when the Yankees host Tampa Bay for three in the Bronx. All that matters now is that the Yankees have something to play for when they meet the Mets again in September.

The Mets feel they will be there. Hey, losing two out of three to the Yankees in the Bronx does not have the implications of three games in September. But when the time arrives, and if these two teams are playing for something then, an Alex Rodriguez milestone won’t matter if his 40-year old body is still producing runs, something more important. 

That is runs for the Yankees in September. And for the Mets, with this promising pitching that was showcased these last three games, they can only hope that they play errorless baseball that will get them to September.

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso  Twitter@Ring786

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Highbridge News: CC near the end?

Highbridge News: CC near the end?: CC'ya Yanks! Is C.C. Sabathia’s Career Nearing its End? Tweet By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, ...

CC near the end?

CC'ya Yanks!

Is C.C. Sabathia’s Career Nearing its End?

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By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 26- C.C. Sabathia, now playing in his 15th major league season, has been one of the most effective hurlers during his career. In his first 14 years, 2001-2014, he was first in wins (208) and strikeouts (2,437) and second in complete games (37) and innings pitched (2,821.1).

His accomplishments during his first 13 seasons rank 

him as one of the greatest in history. He is one of three hurlers (Cy Young and Greg Maddox) to have a winning record and at least 180 innings pitched in 13 consecutive seasons. He is one of just four (Tom Seaver, Don Sutton and Eddie Plank) to have at least 11 wins in each of his first 13 seasons in the majors. He was the first pitcher since Maddox in 1999 to have won his 200th game by his 33rd birthday, July 21, 2013.

Did all that work have a deleterious effect upon his pitching? He has only won eight games since July of 2013. In the 2014 season, Sabathia’s record was 3-4 and his ERA was high 5.28. His final start of the season was on May 10th and he was on the disabled list for the rest of the season.

The veteran hurler lost his fourth decision in his fourth game of 2015 on Saturday. He left the game after two batters in the sixth frame. The first Kevin Plawecki, in his fourth game in the majors, led-off the inning with a home run. The final batter he faced, Juan Lagares, singled for his third hit of the game. Lagares finished the contest with four hits to tie his career high. Sabathia departed the game after yielding seven earned runs and nine hits in 5+ innings.

In three of the four starts, the lefty gave up at least four earned runs. The decision on Saturday was the sixth straight decision the starter lost. His winless streak extended to seven games, the longest in his career.

Although the following games were not part of this streak, the 34 year-old was 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA in three games during Spring Training in 2015.

Not every observer of these recent outings comes to the same conclusion. Yankee skipper Joe Girardi feels Saturday’s contest was an aberration, “He [Sabathia] threw pretty well this year. I think in three of them he threw the ball well. In this one, he struggled for whatever reason. We’ll get back to work and get him right.”

Whether or not Sabathia improves in his forthcoming starts this year will soon be seen.

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Highbridge News: Yanks Derail Mets Express

Highbridge News: Yanks Derail Mets Express: Yanks Derail Mets Express  Mets Played second Fiddle to the Yankees on this night By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 25-  On...

Yanks Derail Mets Express

Yanks Derail Mets Express 

Mets Played second Fiddle to the Yankees on this night

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By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 25- On this Friday night the Yankees sent a message to New York that they are not going away as the supreme baseball team in town.  

The Subway Series came early this year with  three games in the Bronx, in late April. Though the cross-town rival Mets owned the best record in baseball coming in, the Yankees also had a share of first place in their division.

And by all standards this was an anticipated start of six games between the two teams. The Mets off to this good start and their 11-game winning streak. The Yankees who are supposed to be on the decline returned home off a successful 7-3 ro

ad trip. Both teams playing good baseball, and the Mets with the best overall record in baseball made this an intriguing first three games of this annual interleague baseball rivalry.

They said the past few years that this series had no more steam. The Mets struggling and rebuilding were still a few steps behind the Yankees for baseball supremacy in the big city. The Yankees and their failures the past few years gave the Mets and their fans some momentum to take over that supremacy, 

But the Yankees, true to what they always do, would not allow the Mets to take over the town and not in their backyard. It was the Yankees dominating early and taking the first game 6-1. Their six runs in the first three innings quickly took away any buzz that was building with the fans before the game.

Mark Teixeira, an early candidate for player of the year hit two two-run home runs. The first inning and third inning shots went to right field, and his 7th home run and 17th run batted in did more than set the tone. It took out all the steam and momentum the Mets had built during their winning streak, and perfect 10-0 opening season homestand that concluded Thursday afternoon,

“It’s disappointing because we were on a nice roll,” Mets manager Terry Collins said, “and I know the Yankees have been playing very well, but we're surprised when Jake doesn't have his good stuff, and tonight he didn't have it."

Collins was referring to his starting pitcher, Jacob deGrom. The right-hander tied a career high, giving up the two home runs to Teixeira and one to Jacoby Ellsbury, and he also had his 18.1 inning scoreless streak come to an end.

“I was throwing the ball nice in the bullpen,” deGrom (2-2) explained, “and when I went in the game I don’t know if it was a little adrenaline or something but I was leaving the ball a little up.” But these are the games that will tell if the Mets are a resilient bunch and that can only be answered the next game,

That next game comes Saturday afternoon in the Bronx. And the Mets have their ace, Matt Harvey on the mound to try and get back on the winning track. Both teams will still have first place in their respective divisions and bragging rights to the city won’t be determined after the finale Sunday evening.

it will be “Harvy Day” in the Bronx Saturday but there will be three more games between them in mid September and those games could have implications across town at Citi Field in Queens, By then, if both teams are fighting for postseason spots, three crucial games in this interleague rivalry will be more significant than the ones played this weekend in the Bronx.

So for this night the Yankees got bragging rights. Michael Pineda has developed into the pitcher the Yankees expected.. He had the fastball and changeup, and the Mets could do nothing. They knew it was going to be a rough night in the Bronx from the beginning when Pineda struck out the first two he faced as Curtis Granderson and Juan Lagares set the tone for Pineda.

Pineda allowed five hits and a run in 7/2-3 innings. “He matured,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. On this night, not the best for baseball with a game time temperature of 47 degrees, Pineda had control and the Mets could do nothing. And deGrom will continue to mature and learn from the mistakes of throwing the wrong pitch to an opposing Yankee in the Bronx, 

For the moment the Yankees have not surrendered bragging rights to the Mets. They are still the team to surpass as kings of baseball in town event if the records read the 13-4 Mets and the 10-7 Yankees.  

NOTES:  Right-hander Hansel Robles of the Mets made his Major League debut and retired three of his four batters. He stranded the bases loaded in the seventh and the first hitter he faced was fellow Dominican Alex Rodriguez.

Through an interpreter, the 24-year old Robles said “I am really happy about it,” about his debut. And about facing fellow Dominican Rodriguez, Robles said, “it was interesting and I really happy facing a player like Alex Rodriguez” 

Mets also snapped a four-game winning streak at Yankee Stadium….. Ellsbury had his first home run of the season….  

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com  Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso  Twitter @Ring786

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Bye Bye Bernie

Bye Bye Bernie

Williams Officially Retires from Baseball

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, APRIL 25- Eight years and seven months after he played his final major league game, Bernie Williams signed his official retirement papers. 

At a press conference on April 24 at Yankee Stadium, Williams explained the delay, "I didn't think it was so important at the time. It was a process mentally wrestling with [breaking away from baseball] the first two-three years. It was a grieving process like losing your best friend."

Williams played all 16 years (1991-2006) of his career in the majors with the Yankees. He was the first of the Yankee greats since 1990 who was developed in the minor league system of the Yankee. The Puerto Rican native later became one of the most popular and productive players on the team in the past quarter-century.

The Yankees qualified for the post-season playoffs in each of the final 12 years of Williams’ career. In four of the years (1996, 1998-2000) the Yankees were World Series champions. Not surprisingly to those who recognize the importance of Williams to the organization, those were some of his best seasons. He was chosen as an American League All-Star for each season between 1997-2001; he won the Gold Glove for his fielding excellence in each year between 1997-2000; his .339 batting average won him the American League batting title in 1998. 

Despite his importance to the success of the organization in the past 25 years, he was never named as part of the celebrated group of Yankee greats called the Core Four. Williams commented, “I was part of a team that had a great run. We were all part of that run. I’m very proud to have been part of that team.”

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman referred to Williams with high praise, “Bernie is part of the Fab Five. He is one of the building blocks and foundation of the success [in the 1990’s and 2000’s].”

The statistics compiled by the legendary center fielder rank him as one of the all-time greats in the history of the iconic Yankees. He ended his career with a lifetime .297 batting avaerage. e ranks third in doubles, fifth in hits, sixth in games, sixth in runs and seventh in runs batted in. His post-season numbers are even more impressive. He still leads all Yankees in home runs (22) and runs batted in (80). He is second in runs scored, hits and doubles.

One month after Friday’s retirement ceremony, (May 24), Williams’ #51 will join 17 other uniform numbers that will never be worn by a Yankee player again. He will be the 19th Yankee (Berra and Dickey both had #8 retired by the club) to have his number retired.On that date there will also be a plaque in his honor added to the 30 plaques in the crowded Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.

As a prelude to the cheers he will hear on May 24, Williams was roundly cheered after throwing the ceremonial first pitch before the game. 

Williams, who has finally come to terms with his retirement from baseball, told the reporters he was a full-time student at the Manhattan School of Music majoring in Jazz Performing. 

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