Jonathon Niese was standing in the Mets clubhouse before last night’s game against the Braves wearing a T-shirt that bore a picture and the letters JV and the number 1.
The picture was of Jordany Valdespin about to stomp on home plate while his teammates waited to celebrate what looked like a game-winning home run.
But Niese was talking about the Subway Series against the Yankees that begins tonight when he’ll get the start against Phil Hughes. The “JV” across Niese’s chest could have stood for junior varsity, which is about how the Mets stack up against the Yankees going into the four-game set where the first two will be played at Citi Field before moving to Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
Normally, there’s a certain energy surrounding the Subways Series to see which team can prevail and make their fan base proud. But this year’s edition is truly the JV against the Varsity with the Mets mired in a dreadful season while the Yankees have overcome a series of injuries to stay in contention in the AL East.
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“When they have issues they find people to step up and they do step up,” manager Terry Collins said of the Yankees. There might have been a touch of envy in his voice.
The Mets are too focused on trying to solve their own internal problems to stare down the Yankees. Their priorities are to shake Ike Davis out of his horrific slump; and get more consistency out of the bats of Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda, who went 3-for-4 last night with a home run.
Davis had a two-run single in the eighth inning to lift the Mets to a 4-2 win over the Braves last night. But when you play as poorly as the Mets have for most of this season, one or two wins in a four-game series against the Yankees isn’t reason to start talking about taking over the city.
Yet, the notion was floated that playing the Yankees could jump-start the Mets, who might be inspired by the big crowds and added attention. Collins and his coaching staff even discussed such a possibility.
“When we’ve had to play the good teams, we’ve played good,” Collins said dismissing the fact the Mets are 6-16 against teams with records of .500 or better.
Yet, the case can be made this is the worst time for the Mets to play the Yankees. It will only magnify the solid job Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has done assembling a group of role players who have produced while Mets general manager Sandy Alderson has fielded a punch-less line-up that was already 12 games under .500 and loser of five straight before rallying for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to beat the Braves.
Lyle Overbay joined the Yankees and makes Mark Teixeira an after-thought. Vernon Wells and David Adams have also been productive. The Mets are still searching for help.
“They’ve gotten tremendous contributions from many of the players who they acquired late in spring training or early in the season,” Alderson said of the Yankees. “You have to admire that. It’s shone a different light on the Yankees and that franchise and what Brian Cashman’s been able to do there.”
The light shining on Alderson and the Mets isn’t nearly as bright, which takes away some of the excitement of the Subways Series. Only one team with a chance to make the playoffs will be in the ballpark.
David Wright said winning the Subway Series would be fun for “city bragging rights.”
It would likely be the only highlight of this season other than the progress of Matt Harvey.
But don’t count on that happening. This Subway Series will likely expose how the Yankees have done so much with so little and the Mets have done so little with not much.