The New York Mets (39-34) showed a ton of heart and spunk, but were unable to defeat their crosstown rival the Yankees (43-28) in a tough 6-5 loss on Sunday night baseball action. The Bombers have now won their fifth straight individual series against the Mets.
Ruben Tejada. Photo by: Stacy Podelski
Amazin’s starter R.A. Dickey had one bad inning, which resulted in the Yankees getting a lead in the top of the third inning. For R.A. the righty had his quality start streak snapped, as the Bombers were able to record five runs, earned in the six innings in which he pitched.
“Tonight he didn’t have the command that he has had all year long,” said Mets manager Terry Collins on the performance he had from R.A. “He was behind on the count and that is something he hasn’t done in a long time.”
The earned run streak for the knuckleballer also came to an end in the third inning, as the Yankees’ bats continue to find the power necessary to win games. Four of the six runs for the Bombers came on the long ball, while 12 of the 14 runs scored in the series also came on the homer.
Connecting for the first big blast was Nick Swisher (11), who hit a blast to right field in the third inning to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead.
The Queens Kids mounted a comeback in the bottom of the fifth inning, as an RBI single by David Wright cut the lead to 5-2. In a scary moment for Mets fans R.A. Dickey looked as if he was wacked hard in the jaw sliding home to score that ever-so-important run-thankfully the starter was okay.
Andres Torres cut the Bombers lead to one run, on a two-run single to right field. Returning Ruben Tejada had a fine day at the dish, contributing the game-tying run by placing a perfect hit to left field.
Tejada went 2-for-3 with two RBI’s in his first game since going to the 15-Day Disabled List on May 7. Sadly all that work was washed away on a Robinson Cano homer in the top of the eighth inning.
“We are glad to have him back,” said Collins on the return of Tejada to 1495 Sports. “We missed him, the guys have done a tremendous job while he was gone-it was good to have him back in the line-up.”
Cano, who has now homered in five of his last seven games, also now hast 160 career bombs, which ties him with Roy White for 25th in Yankee’s history.
“That at-bat by Cano was very important for us,” said Yankees’ skipper Joe Girardi after the game. “It was important because we had the lead and we gave up some runs.” The manager continued by saying, “These are important games, your division is very important this year and every win matters and that was just a huge home run for him.”
The Yankees pen took the game the rest of the way, as the Mets during the course of the game left 10 men on base. After being able to find the magic touch with men on base early on, the Kids from Queens left a total of 27 runners in the three-game series with the Yankees.
It will be back to regularly scheduled National League play on Monday, as the Mets head to Chicago to take on the Cubs for a three-game set. Slated to open is lefty-ace Johan Santana (5-3, 3.00 ERA) who will take on fellow lefty Travis Wood (1-3, 3.44 ERA).
In his last start Santana earned the victory in the Mets 5-0 decision over the Baltimore Orioles on June 19 at Citi Field. Versus the Cubs Johan was a part of the Orange and Blue’s 5-2 victory at home on April 22, 2010. In that game the lefty tossed 6.1 innings, allowed one run, earned, gave up eight hits, while recording five strikeouts.
Game One of the Mets/Cubs series is set to air on the SNY Network, with first pitch slated for 8:05 p.m.
Examiner.com fans are encouraged to check out the video portion of the site for most post game thoughts from Mets manager Terry Collins and Yankees’ skipper Joe Girardi.
1495 Sports Photo Gallery:
http://1495sports.com/2012/06/25/1495-sports-photo-gallery-from-the-subway-series-finale/
1496 Sports TV:
http://1495sports.com/2012/06/25/1495-sports-tv-with-the-post-game-managers-thoughts/
Also seen on Examiner.com below:
http://www.examiner.com/article/spunky-mets-can-t-complete-subway-series-comeback-6-5-loss-to-yanks