It turned out to be a real good Game 1 Monday night, despite the lack of buzz and, consequently, the lack of actual people at Citi Field. Big win for the Mets, who have now won two straight by coming from behind late.
And that’s why Tuesday night looms so large for the Mets. It doesn’t get more ideal for this downtrodden group than to take a two-game winning streak into a game started by Matt Harvey.
It’ll be interesting to see how Harvey does in another high-profile game; in the last such start, as Mark Hale notes in his story, Harvey more than held his own against Washington and Stephen Strasburg. Harvey seems to be a guy who embraces this sort of moment, rather than blocking it out.
Of course, it’ll also help that Harvey will face a Yankees lineup that is so dissimilar to the sort of Yankees lineups that have tormented the Mets for so many years. The Yankees now rank 10th in the American League in runs scored. They haven’t ended a season so low since 1991, when they ranked 12th in the AL and posted a 71-91 record.
–We’ll keep just as close an eye on Harvey’s Yankees counterpart Hiroki Kuroda, who departed his last start (May 22 in Baltimore) with a bruised right calf.
With CC Sabathia’s alarming deceleration (meant in every sense of the word) so far this season, and with Andy Pettitte unsurprisingly spending some time on the disabled list, Kuroda has emerged as more important than ever in the Yankees’ world. It would be symbolic, and not in a good way, if Kuroda pitched poorly Tuesday night and the Yankees fell behind Boston in the loss column; the Red Sox (32-20) currently lead the AL East by virtue of their two more wins in two more games than the Yankees (30-20) have played.
–With the Mets having a decent chance of taking a lead into the ninth inning, would Terry Collins go to Bobby Parnell for a fourth straight game? I don’t see it. Collins’ bosses have too much respect for medicine and history. These aren’t the days of Jerry Manuel.
As Hale (him again), wrote, by the way, Parnell has actually been a gem in this generally dreadful Mets season. If the Mets are actually going to spend money this winter, it would bode well if they wouldn’t have to channel any of those resources toward a reliever.
–Joba Chamberlain could be activated tonight, and the question is, who goes on the Yankees roster to make room for him? George King mention Ivan Nova as a possibility, which would make some sense; why not let him start at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barres and work on getting his mojo back?
It won’t be a position player, as the Yankees already are going with 13 pitchers and 12 position players here. That imbalance surely contributed to Joe Girardi’s decision to let Phil Hughes stay in the game (and execute a successful sacrifice bunt) in the top of the seventh; Hughes than served up a leadoff homer to David Wright in the bottom of that inning.
You wouldn’t use Travis Hafner as a pinch hitter there, up by one in the game, and it’s not like Reid Brignac or Brennan Boesch (with Mets lefty Jon Niese on the mound) would bring much to the party. Using Austin Romine would’ve eliminated the safety net at catcher.
Hughes had a low pitch count at that juncture, too. But if the Yankees had a legitimate bat who would increase the probability of winning — while still saving Hafner for later — then that would’ve made some sense. But it’s something to keep in mind Tuesday night; Girardi’s pinch-hitting options are far from wonderful.
–Have a great day.