Radio Show: A-Rod, Yankees & Mets discussion

So after Alex Rodriguez made his surprise appearance in Tampa on Monday, my good friend Jeremy Schilling invited me on his weekly online radio show. Topics covered include:

• A-Rod's impact on the Yankees
• Who's better in 2015: Yankees or Mets?
• How the NL can avoid being so pitching-heavy
• Who's the new leader of the Yankees clubhouse?

Check Out Sports Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with JSchil1 on BlogTalkRadio

Storify: PITCH Talks: Yankees, Mets & Hall of Fame

Last night, I watched live as some of the best baseball writers in the country fielded questions from former Boston Globe coworker Pete Abraham and an audience of 300 other crazed baseball fans like me.

And yes, as I said I would, I tweeted my brains out. See below for some of the highlights of the 2-hour panel discussion.

Mike Francesa has epic outburst over Mets struggles [Audio]

This 10-minute tirade by the one and only Mike Francesa of WFAN was too good not to post. It might be a good idea first to check out today's Mets-Rockies box score so you know why he's pissed. Check after the jump for my favorite quotes.

Two righties: CC Sabathia & Billy Wagner

No typo in that headline; just fact.

Besides pitching, CC Sabathia does everything with his right hand, the Daily News reports. Sabathia said he couldn’t catch while playing T-ball right-handed so his dad let him try going lefty — and that turned it OK for him.

Billy Wagner, the retired lefty closer, also was born right-handed. His story is a bit different than CC’s. I’m sure there are others like these two, but Wagner was the first that came to mind. Former Yankee hurler Jim Abbott would be next in my mind, but his story is even more bizarre than CC’s and Billy’s.

To culminate the Subway Series, Fred Wilpon bashes the Mets in The New Yorker

Mets owner Fred Wilpon made some comments a The New Yorker piece that sound like they were supposed to be off the record. Here’s the link in case you haven’t read them.

• If you just want to skip to the good stuff in the article, take a look at what he said about the Mets’ top three stars.
• But if you want a different outlook on Wilpon’s comments, read why Mets fans might be overreacting.

Oh by the way: the Yankees won the Subway Series, 2-1, as predicted. They begin a three-game set with the Blue Jays tonight. I’ll have the series preview up later today.

Mets-Yankees Subway Series Preview: Interleague play begins tonight

A couple of great series open interleague play tonight, starting with the Mets and Yankees at Yankee Stadium. Check out the rest of the interleague matchups here.

On the Hill:
Friday: R.A. Dickey (1-5, 5.08) vs. Freddy Garcia (2-3, 3.22)
Saturday: Chris Capuano (3-4, 4.78) vs. A.J. Burnett (4-3, 3.99)
Sunday: Mike Pelfrey (3-3, 5.11) vs. Ivan Nova (4-3, 4.33)

Delta Dugout weekend is coming up

With the Subway Series set to get underway next weekend, Delta Airlines is inviting Yankees fans to come out to the second annual Delta Dugout at Madison Square Park, May 20-22, to celebrate the iconic interleague series. The three-day fan experience includes player appearances by current and former Yankees players, live game viewing, a special music performance from Yankees legend Bernie Williams and silent auctions featuring signed Yankees memorabilia benefitting Harlem RBI, in association with Mark Teixeira.

It will also offer an array of games for baseball enthusiasts, including batting cages and fast pitch competitions, as well as a photo booth, special Delta games and Yankees ticket package giveaways throughout the weekend.  Fans will also enjoy ballpark-style concessions and specialty food and beverages, including a special “Delta Dugout hotdog” featured at the Shake Shack throughout the weekend.

Best Mike Francesa segment I’ve ever heard

Rich in Hackensack is a Mets lover and he had a problem with Mike Francesa. This is how it went down. See below for my two favorite excerpts transcribed.

Only 327 views at time of posting. What a shame.

‘Cute’ Nick Swisher chosen for Thurman Munson Award

Nick Swisher, Angel Pagan and Mike Piazza were selected for this year’s Thurman Munson Award. Thurman’s widow Diana Munson had some nice — and interesting — things to say about Swisher (my emphasis).

“I love the way he plays, I love his enthusiasm,” said Diana Munson of Swisher. “Most importantly, he respects the history of baseball and the Yankees. On Old Timers Day, he was out there getting autographs and taking pictures. He’s not embarrassed by his love of the game, and respects the players. Plus, he’s cute.”

Diana can and will say whatever she wants. After what she went through in 1979, I’m not saying a word.

My 2nd Citi Field experience (with pics): Deja vu all over again

When I saw the Mets play at Citi Field last year for the first time, I didn’t expect Bronson Arroyo to toss a shutout — but he did. When I was at the game last night, I expected Phillies ace Roy Halladay to do the same thing — and he nearly did.

Doc threw eight beautiful innings, holding the Mets to four hits without walking a batter and ousted Mets spot starter Pat Misch in a 4-0 win.

The Mets would’ve had a legitimate shot to win this game if it weren’t for their three ugly errors which cost Misch three unearned runs. Ruben Tejada’s attempted double play turn sailed into left field, Misch fielded a bunt and threw it into right field, and David Wright let a grounder go through his wickets.

Despite the errors, the most comical part of the night was listening to the boos from fans as Francisco Rodriguez trotted out from the bullpen. It was his first game of eligibility after assaulting his father-in-law.

Now for some pics:

Look at all of that red! In left field, there were more Phillies fans than Mets fans.

The only time we saw the new home run apple was during the seventh inning stretch.
Here’s a picture of the original home run apple, now located in front of the stadium.
Here was the view from our seats ($20 face value).
And here were the bozos sitting in front of us. The guy on the right’s shirt says, “Don’t mess wit da Mets, Aaight!”

You can check out more photos from the game on my Facebook page!

A-Rod breaks out in Royal dismantling

While I was at Citi Field watching the Mets get embarrassed by rabid Phillies fans, the Yankees were at work in Kansas City. Alex Rodriguez powered the charge with his fourth career three-home run game and five RBIs in an 8-3 blasting of the Royals.

Best of All: It was A-Rod’s best game all season, and he put it all together in his last three at-bats. Even better news: A-Rod is saying Kevin Long found something in his swing that made the difference tonight.

Long has also made a big impact on Curtis Granderson, who slugged his 11th homer and hit two balls to the warning track tonight. I’m starting to think the new Yankees team MVP is K-Long.

Jorge Posada also homered and reached base in three out of five chances. Every Yankee hitter had at least one hit tonight.

Worst of All: Phil Hughes pitched a quality start, but didn’t strike out a single better.

Coming Up: The Yankees look for the series victory Sunday afternoon. Be sure to join the conversation with me on Twitter!

Teixeira slams Yankees past Mets

Mark Teixeira’s third-inning grand slam was the only run-producing play of the day to lead the Yankees to a 4-0 win and earn them a season series split with the Mets.

Best of All: That’s two straight days with a homer for Tex — his 12th of the year. Gotta love that.

CC Sabathia tossed eight scoreless innings. Vintage CC style.

Derek Jeter had two hits in his return to the lineup. No concerns there after he sat out yesterday with a heel injury.

Worst of All: Alex Rodriguez had another 0-for day, dropping his season batting average to .277. Ramiro Pena took over at third for A-Rod in the ninth. Pena’s a good defender, but not as capable as A-Rod when he’s healthy. Clearly, he is not 100 percent.

Coming Up: The Yankees hit the road for the week after completing their homestand with a 6-3 record. They start with the D’Backs on Monday and head out to L.A. to collide with Joe Torre this weekend.

Granderson lifts Yankees to even series

The Yankees offense finally came to life Saturday, as Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson each launched two-run homers to right to propel the Yankees to a 5-3 victory.

Best of All: Both of the home run boys were really struggling before today and needed a game like today to break out of the slump. Teixeira’s homer tied the game at 3 in the third, and Granderson smacked his in the next inning.

Once Phil Hughes had a lead to work with, he didn’t lose it. He tossed a strong seven innings to advance to 10-1 on the year.

The bullpen got it done, too. Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera worked fairly quickly eighth and ninth innings to secure the win.

Worst of All: Derek Jeter didn’t play today with a sore heel injury. It seems to be a pretty minor injury since he isn’t getting any tests.

Alex Rodriguez went hitless in three at-bats, as did Jorge Posada.

Coming Up: The decisive Game 3 is Sunday. Same time, same place.

Yankees’ slide continues against Mets

The Yankees’ offense was shut down for the third night in a row, as Hisanori Takahashi and the Mets defeated the Yankees 4-0.

Best of All: Javier Vazquez pitched well enough to win, but that’s impossible when his team doesn’t score any runs.

Worst of All: The bullpen was bad again. Chan Ho Park and Boone Logan toughed out two innings allowing only three runs.

Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez combined to go 1-for-8. Not pretty.

Coming Up: If the Yankees aren’t careful, they’ll lose their second series in a row with a loss over the weekend. Luckily, that’s NOT what I predicted in the series preview.

Mets-Yankees Subway Series preview

This weekend is the final Subway Series of the season and it’s the Yankees’ turn to host. There won’t be a Sunday night game like last time around, but there will be the same exact pitching matchups.

The Mets are on a roll heading into the series, winning their last seven games (six on the road). This won’t really be a road series for the Mets, but they had been awful as the visiting team prior to this recent streak.

Can I just take a second to say, WOAH! This is the Mets we are talking about here. I thought this team had no chance to compete in 2010 and now they are a half game out of first place and already ahead of the Phillies! Even Mets fans didn’t think they had a chance this year.

The Yankees just lost a series to to the Phillies but still share a lead for first place in the division and have won seven of their last 10 games. Last time, both teams weren’t playing well heading into the series. This time it’s the opposite.

Head to Head:
In the first series of the year, the Yankees took the first game, 2-1, but lost the next two 5-3 and 6-4. They’ll be looking for revenge as they try and defend their home turf.

Pitching Matchups:

Date:	Mets starters	Yankees starters
Fri., 7:05 p.m.	H. Takahashi (5-2, 3.48)	J. Vazquez (6-5, 5.43)
Sat., 1:05 p.m.	Mike Pelfrey (9-1, 2.39)	Phil Hughes (9-1, 3.11)
Sun., 1:05 p.m.	Johan Santana (5-3, 3.13)	CC Sabathia (7-3, 4.00)

Players to Watch:
Yankees: Robinson Cano. This season is just getting silly for Cano. He’s one of the most exciting players to watch in baseball. He can’t stop collecting hits! 

Mets: Jose Reyes. He wasn’t much of a factor in the first series, but now he’s hot. He’s hitting .345/.395/.527 in the last 30 days and is running on catchers left and right (that will include Jorge Posada and Francisco Cervelli after the weekend’s end).

Prediction:
I’ll say the Yankees even the season-series by winning on both days beginning with the letter S.

Santana shows up CC at Citi in Subway Series showdown

CC Sabathia didn’t have close to his best stuff tonight and Johan Santana was absolutely dealing through seven innings en route to a 6-4 win.

Jason Bay hit two homers off Sabathia, one to left and one to right, tripling his season total in the process.

Francisco Rodriguez and the Mets bullpen made it exciting at the end, allowing the Yankees to send the winning run to the plate, but K-Rod struck out A-Rod to seal the series win.

Best of all: Derek Jeter notched three hits, including a two-run double in the ninth. He lived up to his great history against the cross-town rivals.

Worst of all: Sabathia looked lost on the mound today, rarely hitting Francisco Cervelli’s glove. His final line: L, 5 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 6 K.

Coming up: The Yanks get a much needed day off Monday before heading out to Minnesota for a three-game series and then will return home to close out May against the Indians.

Pelfrey outduels Hughes to tie series

The Mets evened the series with a 5-3 win on a strong pitching performance from Mike Pelfrey, while Phil Hughes was hit with his first loss of the year.

Jason Bay led the charge for the cross-town rivals with four hits and Yankees Nos. 4-8 hitters combined to go 10-for-21 but with no RBIs.

Best of all: They didn’t go quietly. Trailing 5-1 in the eighth, the Yanks loaded the bases with nobody out. They only plated two in the frame, but threatened again in the ninth with two men on base against closer Francisco Rodriguez.

Worst of all: Hughes got knocked around. He wasn’t completely ineffective, as shown by his seven strikeouts, but eight hits and three walks won’t suffice in a tough pitching matchup. Plus, the Mets didn’t miss their chances to score (except for the fifth).

Coming up: The series finale should be a good one. Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN with two southpaws: CC Sabathia and Johan Santana.

Vazquez exits early, earns win vs. Mets

Nobody guessed in the beginning of the week that Javier Vazquez would earn the only two victories so far, but that’s what happened.

Vazquez threw one-hit, shutout ball against the Mets for six innings before leaving with a bruised index finger while trying to bunt in the seventh inning leading 2-0. The bullpen, backed by Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera, closed out the game for a 2-1 win.

Best of all: Vazquez was really a pleasant surprise looking at the box score from my phone at a Broadway show. Even against the struggling Mets offense, six strikeouts and three base runners allowed for six innings is great work.

Utility player and recent call-up Kevin Russo drove in both of the Yankees’ runs on a double to right field. He also had a single and played left field. Good to see from a promising player.

Worst of all: Mark Teixeira. He has two hits in his last 20 at-bats. Yikes.

It sounds like Vazquez will be able to make his next start (see link above).

Coming up: Saturday’s game is one of the few all season played at night. It begins at 7:10 on FOX.

Yankees-Mets Subway Series preview

The Subway Series currently stands at 42-30 in favor of the Yankees since interleague play began in 1997, according to Yankeeist.com. Interleague play in 2010 begins tonight with the Subway Series starting out at Citi Field.

After this weekend, the rest of interleague play wraps up in the middle of June with the Mets heading to The Bronx June 18-20.

Neither of New York’s teams have been playing particularly well heading into the friendly rivalry. (It wasn’t what it used to be; admit it.)

The Mets have dive-bombed to last place in the NL East after beginning May in first place. The Yankees have lost eight of their last 12, but still remain in second place five games behind the Rays.

The Mets have averaged just 4.2 runs per game in May, while the Yankees have averaged two runs better in the month and still hold the highest team batting average and on-base percentage in the majors.

However, I expect this series to be low-scoring due to the quality of starting pitchers, the loss of the DH and both teams’ slumping core hitters.

Pitching Matchups:

Date:	Yankees starters	Mets starters
Fri., 7:10 p.m.	J. Vazquez (2-4, 8.01)	H. Takahashi (3-1, 3.12)
Sat., 7:10 p.m.	Phil Hughes (5-0, 2.25)	Mike Pelfrey (5-1, 3.02)
Sun., 8:05 p.m.	CC Sabathia (4-2, 3.43)	Johan Santana (3-2, 3.72)

Players to Watch:
Yankees: Derek Jeter. He’s always the guy to watch in interleague play. Against the Mets, he’s hitting .386/.441/.596 in 317 career plate appearances. He leads many statistical categories in interleague play and just picked up three hits yesterday to warm up. 

Mets: David Wright. He’s always had great success against the Yankees (.336/.402/.593), but is in a major slump. He just snapped a 15-game streak of striking out at least once and is hitting a meager .262 this year.

Prediction:
Even though both teams haven’t been playing well, they know this weekend is a time to rise to the occasion and create instant classics. Yankees sweep this series, starting with an extra-innings win tonight.

**Luis Castillo is not in the lineup tonight.**

Yankees schedule analysis

My roommate did some research on the Yankees schedule this season, and he came up with some very interesting data. Here’s the breakdown of the schedule by month.

Month	Home	Away	Total
April	7	15	22
May	16	13	29
June	14	12	26
July	13	13	26
August	16	13	29
September	15	12	27
October	0	3	3
First Half	41	47	88
Second Half	40	34	74
Total	81	81	162

I guess the biggest noteworthy thing about the schedule is the Yankees are getting more road games out of the way in the first half, which gives them more home games down the home stretch.

Below are the dates of the series against the Red Sox and Mets, plus some notable games.

April 13 vs. Angels — home opener (ring ceremony)
April 4-7 at Red Sox
May 7-9 at Red Sox
May 17-18 vs. Red Sox
May 21-23 at Mets
June 15-17 vs. Phillies
June 18-20 vs. Mets
June 25-27 at Dodgers
Aug. 6-9 vs. Red Sox
Sept. 24-26 vs. Red Sox
Oct. 1-3 at Red Sox