Last year’s Yankees-Mets series marked the 16th time the two teams faced off in the egular season. With the 2013 edition getting started tomorrow, The Post wants you to pick your most memorable moments in the series. We have put together a bracket of our 16 best moments. From shocking (Roger Clemens plunking Mike Piazza) to bizarre (Little Jerry Seinfeld), the Subway Series has had it all.
AMAZIN’ REGION
June 16, 1997
Mlicki’s shutout in first game
Dave Mlicki threw a complete-game shutout to open Mets-Yankees interleague play, a 6-0 Mets triumph in The Bronx. In the first Mets-Yankees matchup ever to count, Mlicki — a non-descript righty — was the star. He surrendered nine hits but struck out eight, outdueling Andy Pettitte to beat the World Series champions. The Yankees’ catcher for the Subway opener: current manager Joe Girardi.
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May 19, 2006
Wright’s walkoff vs. Rivera
David Wright smacked a walk-off single off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the ninth at Shea to give the Mets a 7-6 win. In a back-and-forth game, Wright came to the plate with two outs and two on in the bottom of the ninth, the game tied 6-6. In a battle of stars, the Mets third baseman drove a shot over Johnny Damon’s head in center, bringing in Paul Lo Duca to win it.
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July 10, 1999
Piazza’s blast
Mike Piazza slammed a three-run blast onto the picnic table tent at Shea, a memorable 482-foot bomb off Ramiro Mendoza, to put the Mets up 7-6. They ultimately won 9-8 on Matt Franco’s walk-off two-run single (also in the bracket). It’s hard to remember a Piazza blast that went farther.
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June 27, 2008
Delgado drives in nine
Carlos Delgado hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in The Bronx, on his way to a Mets-record nine RBIs — all in just three at-bats. Delgado began his slugfest in the fifth inning, drilling a two-run double off Edwar Ramirez. An inning later, he cracked a grand slam against Ross Ohlendorf. In the eighth, he capped it with a three-run homer off LaTroy Hawkins.
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VOTE: WHAT WAS THE BEST SUBWAY SERIES MOMENT?
June 6, 1999
Phillips drops the axe
GM Steve Phillips fired manger Bobby Valentine’s three best friends on the coaching staff (Bob Apodaca, Randy Niemann and Tom Robson), leading to Phillips and Valentine having perhaps the most awkward pregame news conference ever. The Mets entered the day with a 27-28 record, having dropped eight straight games (including the first two against the Yanks) to prompt the shake-up. Starter Al Leiter, though, was terrific and the Mets hammered Roger Clemens. It launched a 40-15 jaunt for the Mets, allowing them to win the wild card and save Valentine’s job.
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June 22, 2012
Yanks are “chickens”
Before the season’s second series kicked off, Mets closer Frank Francisco told The Post’s Mike Puma, “I can’t wait to face those chickens.” A day — and a “Cluck you!” Post front page — later, Francisco was summoned in the ninth with the Mets up 6-4. He put two on with one out but struck out Curtis Granderson and got Mark Teixeira to pop out to end it. The highlight, however, was Mets reliever Tim Byrdak buying an $8 hen in Chinatown and bringing it to Citi Field, naming him “Little Jerry Seinfeld.”
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June 12, 2009
Castillo drops the ball
Second baseman Luis Castillo dropped Alex Rodriguez’s pop-up in the ninth inning, and instead of clinching a Mets victory, he allows two runs to score and the Yanks win. Few events better sum up the two teams — with the Mets leading 8-7 in the ninth thanks to David Wright’s RBI double off Mariano Rivera, the Yankees put men on first and second with two outs. Francisco Rodriguez got A-Rod to pop up to Castillo in shallow right, which should have ended things. Well …
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June 14, 2002
Ventura strikes back
Former Met Robin Ventura hit a game-winning, two-run homer for the Yankees in the 10th inning to beat the Mets at Shea. After Derek Jeter’s RBI single off Armando Benitez in the ninth tied the game at 2-2, Ventura came up in the 10th with a man on and nobody out against Satoru Komiyama. Ventura, who had spent the previous three seasons with the Mets, then parked a go-ahead two-run shot against his old team.
PINSTRIPE REGION
June 17, 2001
Mets’ five-run comeback
Trailing 7-2 in the eighth, the Mets pounded out six runs, capped by Mike Piazza’s two-run homer off Carlos Almanzar, for an 8-7 comeback win. The rally at Shea began against Randy Choate and featured RBIs that inning from — how about this trio — Desi Relaford, Benny Agbayani and Tsuyoshi Shinjo. With the deficit trimmed to 7-6, Piazza swatted his two-run shot to left-center.
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July 10, 1999
Franco caps classic
Matt Franco’s two-strike, two-out, walk-off single against Mariano Rivera in the ninth inning won it for the Mets, 9-8. With Rickey Henderson on third and Edgardo Alfonzo on second, Rivera intentionally walked Mike Piazza. Pinch hitting for Melvin Mora, Franco pulled his two-run single to right for the victory.
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June 14, 2009
Bruney vs. K-Rod
Brian Bruney and Francisco Rodriguez nearly brawled before the game after Bruney ripped K-Rod a day earlier by calling him a “tired act.” Angry about Bruney’s comments, Rodriguez screamed at the reliever in the Yankee Stadium outfield before the game. Met Mike Pelfrey and Yankee Jose Veras prevented any fisticuffs.
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May 21, 2005
Koo slides in safe
Mets reliever Dae-Sung Koo, of all people, doubled off Randy Johnson, then scored from second on Jose Reyes’ sacrifice bunt. Koo, a 35-year-old rookie from South Korea, led off the bottom of the seventh by smacking a double to center against the Big Unit. Koo then surprisingly scampered home on Reyes’ bunt because Jorge Posada wasn’t back at the plate yet, sliding in headfirst to complete the surreal sequence.
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July 8, 2000
Doc returns to Shea
Doc Gooden beat the Mets at Shea Stadium as a Yankee (of course he does), allowing two runs in five innings to open the first of three two-stadium Subway Series doubleheaders. The former Mets star came back to Shea in his first Yankees appearance of the season after pitching for the Astros and Devil Rays earlier in the year and posting a 6.86 ERA in nine starts. The 35-year-old Gooden made just four more starts in his career after this victory.
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June 28, 2009
RBI and a record
Mariano Rivera walked with the bases loaded to bring in a run (his first career RBI), then earned his 500th career save. In the top of the ninth, Francisco Rodriguez intentionally walked Derek Jeter to load the bases for Rivera, but Mo worked a seven-pitch walk to bring home a run and give himself a 4-2 lead. He then closed it out to make history.
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June 15, 2002
Estes gets “revenge”
Finally exacting some measure of revenge (albeit poorly), Shawn Estes exaggeratedly threw a pitch behind Roger Clemens, then later drilled a two-run homer off the Rocket. In the top of the third inning at Shea, Clemens finally batted against the Mets, giving them a chance at payback for the Mike Piazza beaning and World Series bat toss. Oddly, Estes fired a first-pitch 87-mph fastball behind Clemens’ legs — missing him completely. Two innings later, Estes took Clemens deep. “I’ve never doubted Shawn is a good teammate,” Piazza said afterward. “You can read into that what you want.”
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July 8, 2000
The Beaning
In the nightcap of the first two-stadium doubleheader, Roger Clemens’ fastball smacked Mike Piazza in the head. Having owned Clemens previously (7-for-12 with three homers), Piazza led off the second inning at Yankee Stadium, and on an 0-1 pitch, was clocked by a heater. Piazza was done for the game, and in his autobiography he wrote that when Clemens called the Mets dugout to apologize, “I grabbed [the phone], threw it and said, ‘Tell him to go [expletive] himself.’ ”