Even the Babe couldn’t help the Yankees Tuesday night in the Subway Series against the suddenly Mighty Mets.
Babe Ruth’s Hall of Fame plaque was displayed at Yankee Stadium, placed on a pedestal behind home plate during batting practice, the first time the plaque has left Cooperstown.
The Mets then came out and hit like the Babe, crushing the Yankees, 12-7 to win their sixth straight Subway Series game while getting two three-run home runs from Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy.
The Mets have swept the Yankees at Yankee Stadium two straight seasons now and will be looking for their second straight overall Subway sweep as the scene shifts to cavernous Citi Field for the next two nights.
Both teams are 19-19 but things are looking up for the Mets while the injury-plagued Yankees just may have hit the iceberg for the second straight season.
Manager Terry Collins has given his hitters a bit more freedom and it is paying off.
“A lot has to do with the ballpark,’’ Collins said of the Yankee Stadium hit parade. “I’ve changed a few of things we’ve been trying to do only to get them to be somewhat more aggressive. In deep counts we’ve been kind of turning them loose a little bit. For sure we’ve swung the bats much better here.’’
The Mets scored 21 runs in the two games.
As for the Yankees, it’s likely Carlos Beltran is facing surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow. Ichiro Suzuki has a sore lower back and also could not play.
Then there is the putrid state of Yankees pitching. Vidal Nuno was terrible Tuesday night, putting the Yankees in a 4-0 hole in the first inning, three of those runs coming on Granderson’s drive into the right-field seats, his second home run in two games since coming “home’’ to Yankee Stadium.
Murphy’s blast came in the fifth, a shot high off the right-field foul pole off Alfredo Aceves.
The Yankees have their ace Masahiro Tanaka (5-0) going Wednesday night against call-up Rafael Montero, who will be making his major league debut. By calling up Montero, who is nicknamed Little Pedro, and Jacob deGrom and shifting Jenrry Mejia to the bullpen, Mets management has sent a message to the players that they are trying to win at the major league level and are not trying to save money down the road by keeping young pitchers in the minors.
That is a welcome change.
“We’ve been ridiculed at times because we’re worried about Super 2s and worried about things down the road,’’ Collins said. “We’re worried about winning.’’
That is music to a Mets’ fans ears.
There are no certainties with young pitchers, though. Young Zack Wheeler was presented with a huge lead Tuesday night but could not make it through the fifth inning and was replaced by Daisuke Matsuzaka, who got the win.
Wheeler went 4¹/₃ innings, surrendered seven hits, five runs, all earned, walked six, and struck out two. He gave up one home run and threw a wild pitch as he threw a career-high 118 pitches, but only 64 strikes.
But this was a night Wheeler could afford to stumble.
The Mets are mashing the ball against the dreadful Yankees pitchers. Hiroki Kuroda’s command was brutal Monday night. Nuno was overmatched from the start Tuesday night.
Ivan Nova (elbow) is lost for the season. CC Sabathia is hobbled by a knee problem, it’s only getting worse for the Yankees. It’s time to sound the alarm. Reliever Shawn Kelley was put on the DL with a sore lower back, too.
Manager Joe Girardi’s frustration is showing and he was ejected by home plate umpire Jerry Layne after the fifth inning for arguing balls and strikes. As he left the dugout the manager took his trusty clipboard and tossed a towel on the field in disgust.
With this pitching staff, throwing in the towel is understandable.
The Mets are calling up pitching help from the minors and as Collins said, that energizes a team. The Yankees don’t have the same kind of young pitching depth and that is going to set them back unless they pull off a trade somehow.
Most of the 45,958 left the ballpark by the seventh inning.
The Yankees defense has been shaky this series as well. Poor defense and poor pitching are a terrible combination for an aging team.
Girardi tried to put up a good front, saying of the injuries: “It’s not like we’re buried, there is no one who has taken off in our division. There are other people that are dealing with things, but we have to right the ship. We have to start playing better and start pitching better and doing everything more consistently. We have to go out and win a game [Wednesday].’’
It’s Tanaka Time Wednesday night, that should get it done, but maybe the Mets’ approach will strike gold against Tanaka, too.
Collins, who managed against Tanaka in Japan, said the key is not to let the right-hander get ahead of the hitters.
“I saw a power arm with a power breaking ball with a power split,’’ he explained. “We have our work cut out for us. There are some things we are going try to do. But with that kind of stuff, if you let him get ahead in the count he is like [Hideo] Nomo. If you let Hideo get ahead of you, you were out, so you better be ready, if you get a strike, you better put some bat on it.’’
Just like the Mets did here the last two Subway Series games and Tuesday night, the Babe was watching.