Fading into the fog of history are a couple of decades’ worth of spring training games, inevitably beamed back to New York, the Mets and the Yankees sharing a field in St. Petersburg or Fort Lauderdale, the folks back home eating it all up because, let’s face it, seeing the Mets and the Yankees on the same field — even a field in Florida — was enough of a novelty to sustain on a cold winter’s night.
Folded into the same miasma are the 19 times the Mets and the Yankees met in a forgotten annual exhibition series called the Mayor’s Trophy Game. The Yankees won 10 of those games, the Mets eight, and once, in 1979, the game ended in a rain-shortened, 1-1 tie. For meaningless games, they usually produced something memorable: Graig Nettles’ “intentional error” (according to Sparky Lyle) in 1978; Joe Pepitone’s homer in 1966 that Ralph Kiner declared the longest in Shea history; Casey Stengel’s all-out (and successful) attempt to win the inaugural 1963 game to avenge the Yankees’ firing him.
Still, none of it counted. Not until 1997, anyway. Next weekend, the 15th renewal of the Subway Series will take place at Yankee Stadium (and, yes, we are discounting the Big One that took place in October 2000). The Yankees have dominated this series that has yet to be played in front of an empty seat at four different ballparks, winning 45 of the 78 regular-season games, but they have played more than a few memorable ones. Here is one man’s pick of the elite eight, the eight greatest games in the rivalry so far:
1. The Drop, June 12, 2009. As iconic a snippet of video as we’ve ever had from the Subway Series, Luis Castillo fumbling Alex Rodriguez’s pop-up, Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira roaring home for the 9-8 win, K-Rod with his hands on his head. Will be very hard to topple the modern Mickey Owen Game.
2. The Streak Ender, July 10, 1999. The Yankees hit six home runs, and enter the ninth inning with a streak of 125 straight wins while leading after eight. But Matt Franco scratches a hit off Mariano Rivera and the Mets rally for a 9-8 win and their first series victory over the Yankees.
3. Mr. Koo’s Slide, May 21, 2005. Not only does Mets reliever Dae-Sung Koo improbably double off Randy Johnson, he more improbably scores all the way from second on a sacrifice bunt in the Mets’ 7-1 win.
4. The Comeback,
Part I, May 19, 2006: The Mets fall behind 4-0 in the first inning, and also trail 5-3 and 6-5, but tied in the ninth, David Wright hits a long drive off Rivera that barely eludes Johnny Damon for a 7-6 Mets win.
5. The Comeback, Part II, May 20, 2006: The Yankees barely have to wait
18 hours for payback. Pedro Martinez shuts them down on four hits in seven innings, but trailing 4-0 in the ninth, the Yankees score four off Billy Wagner and win 5-4 in 11.
6. The Beaning, July 8, 2000: Forgotten thanks to the frightening Roger Clemens fastball that nearly cracked Mike Piazza’s batting helmet (in a 4-2 Yankees win) in two is that in part one of an historic day/night doubleheader Dwight Gooden had returned to Shea and pitched splendidly in another 4-2 Yankees win.
7. The Lid-Lifter, June 16, 1997: In the first game that counts between the teams, Dave Mlicki, of all people, throws a 6-0 shutout at the Yankees.
8. Robin’s revenge, June 14, 2002: After Derek Jeter ties the game in the ninth with a two-out RBI off Armando Benitez, Robin Ventura pays his old team back with a game-winning homer in a 4-2 Yankees win.
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WHACK BACK AT VAC
Todd Abramson: As a proud San Francisco Giants fan, I must take issue with your comment baseball business is booming only at Fenway and in Philly. Every Giants home game this season has been a sellout to date. Yes, of course it is a byproduct of last year’s World Series victory, but it counts nevertheless!
Vac: Duly noted. Plus, that park is so beautiful it should sell out for cricket and lawn darts tournaments, too.
Eric Schwartz: Doesn’t Jason Pridie remind you a little bit of Lenny Dykstra? There is a future to this team . . . if it is not killed in the present.
Vac: And let’s hope Pridie stays away from offering up stock tips and other interesting business ventures . . .
Diane Friel: Is there any way the fans can stop a Jose Reyes trade from happening — people to write, phone calls to be made? I will never forget the Tom Seaver trade. Please lets find a way to not let this happen again.
Vac: You know the best way to keep him a Met? An old-fashioned ploy: Hope the Mets somehow find a way to keep themselves in the pennant race.
Joan Mettler: The fans bailed out Citibank, chipped in for Citi Field and should be given the opportunity to own part of the Mets. All Bud Selig has to do give the OK for a Mets IPO and two of his problems will be solved: Shareholders will comprise a good percentage of their attendance and keep their eyes on their investment; and the Wilpons can use the cash inflow to re-sign Jose Reyes.
Vac: Can you imagine those shareholders meetings? It’d make open phone lines on WFAN sound like a prayer meeting.
VAC’S WHACKS
* This sums up a lot about the Mets and the people who love them: three different people texted me variations of the same theme within minutes of Carlos Beltran’s third home run the other day: “Sure. NOW he swings the bat.”
* Here’s the thing about Seattle for me: I a) had a heart attack there; and b) nearly got snowed in for Christmas there one year. But the most depressing thing of all, to me, might be just how relentlessly it rains there every week on “The Killing.” We get it. You need an umbrella. On with it. I want to like the show more than I actually like it so far.
* I wonder if Mark Teixeira looked at Eric Hosmer this week the way that Jane Pauley once looked at Deborah Norville.
* He didn’t leave here covered in grace or glory. But Jason Kidd did bring genuine basketball genius to our backyard when he played for the Nets, and I am rooting for him, hard, to get the ring he never quite secured when he was doing his thing in Jersey.