Subway Series: Yankees Take Two Out of Three

Game One:
After losing two out of three to the Mets at Citi Field, the Yankees looked to win the season series by sweeping the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Well, that didn’t happen the first game had Javier Vazquez going for the Yankees against the Mets new, young, Japanese sensation, Hisanori Takahashi.
Takahashi has been a godsend for the Mets. He pitched six scoreless innings, only allowing four hits. The Yankees were lifeless in this game. The only chance the Yankees had of winning came in the ninth inning against the Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez. Down 4-0 the Yankees had their first threat of the game with one out and the bases loaded for Derek Jeter.
Jeter came into the game in a slump and he wasn’t his normal self in the ninth inning. Jeter is known to be one of the best clutch hitters in the game, but he easily went down against Rodriguez with a strikeout. The Yankees last chance came down to Nick Swisher who already had two hits in the game and has been hot all year. Out of character again, Swisher who usually likes to work the count, swung at the first pitch popping the ball up in foul territory past third for David Wright to easily catch and end the game.
Vazquez again has had terrible luck when he pitches. He has put together five straight good starts now, but he never gets much run support. Vazquez pitched seven innings of one-run ball and had to be taken out because of his high pitch count.
Takahashi is now 6-2 on the season with a 3.13 ERA. Takahashi has proven that he is capable of being a number two starter for the Mets, just what they need if they want to make it to the playoffs.

Game Two:
This was definitly the most exciting game of the series. The Yankees had Cy Young Award candidate Phil Hughes against the Mets Cy Young Award candidate Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey and Hughes had the same record of 9-1 going into Saturday’s game. These two pitchers are proving to their teams that they are the aces this year.
This game was the only game of the series that was close throughout. In the first inning the Mets started quick, scoring one run on the re-born Jose Reyes’s home run to lead off the game. The Yankees came right back in the bottom of the first with Brett Gardner leading off with a single followed by Nick Swisher who also hit a single which allowed Gardner to make it to third. With Mark Teixeira coming up the Yankees had a good chance to score a lot of runs quickly, but the struggling Teixeira grounded into a double play, which allowed Gardner to score and tie the game.
In the third inning for the Mets, Reyes hit another home run, this time a two run shot that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Once again the Yankees didn’t let the Mets keep that lead for long. In the bottom of the third the Yankees also hit a two-run homerun by Mark Teixeira to tie the game back up at three.
From the fourth inning on Hughes turned things up a notch pitching brilliantly not allowing any more runs. On the Mets side Pelfrey couldn’t keep things together. In the bottom of the fourth the Yankees broke out the long ball again with another two-run homerun from Curtis Granderson this time making the score 5-3 Yankees.
The Yankees bullpen held the score at 5-3 with Joba Chamberlin coming in to pitch the eight to set thing up for Mariano Rivera’s 16th save in the ninth.

Game Three:
This is the game everyone was waiting to see, C.C. Sabathia against Johan Santana. Both pitchers, who are supposed to be their teams aces, have struggles somewhat this year. Sabathia really showed up yesterday though, in a game the Yankees had to win if they wanted to tie the overall subway series.
Both pitchers pitched well actually, the only blemish came in the bottom of the third when with the bases loaded Teixeira hit a grand slam. Even though Teixeira’s average is much lower than usual, his home run numbers are still up. If it wasn’t for that grand slam, the game would have been tied 0-0 into extra innings. That was the only mistake Santana let up in the game.
The Yankees got their revenge this time blanking the Mets 4-0 behind Sabathia’s stellar eight scoreless innings. The Yankees tied up this year’s subway series when it looked like the Mets had it in the bag.
The Yankees continue their inter-league schedule in Arizona against the Diamondbacks tonight. The Yankees, who now stand alone in first place and have the best record in baseball, should expect nothing less than a sweep against the last place and fourth worst record in baseball Diamondbacks. (Yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network