For the first two games of the Queens edition of the Subway Series, the Mets’ Stadium Ops crew has acted as if it wants to ensure the invading Yankees fans have a good time (and, of course, return).
There have been singalongs to Francisco Lindor’s “My Girl”; entreaties for peace between the fan bases between innings while “Why Can’t We Be Friends” plays; extended, elongated sketches involving the “Bronx Giraffe,” who is on the lam, or something; a bit involving a “Yankees fan” deciding the less-traditional environment at Citi Field is more fun than Yankee Stadium and thus trading his allegiances.
As Mets marketing executives tried to outdo their counterparts, the on-field product has reflected that the home team is doing just about everything better.
The Yankees are playing sloppy baseball, and the Mets already have slugged their way to a Subway Series victory before Sunday’s finale. The Mets thoroughly outplayed the Yankees again in a 12-6 dusting in front of 41,401 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in which the sun appropriately shined longer on the Mets’ dugout.
The Mets (52-38) seem to have brushed off their June swoon and have won four straight behind just enough pitching and an offensive awakening. Brandon Nimmo smacked his second grand slam in four days to get the party going, and Pete Alonso added two more homers — up to 246 for his career, six shy of Darryl Strawberry for the franchise record — to gain more than enough separation.
The Yankees (48-41) have dropped six straight in what sure feels like a rock bottom. This freefall often has seen them hurt themselves, which in one case, involving Aaron Judge and Anthony Volpe on Saturday, became literal.
An all-around miserable day for the Yankees included:
After shots from Jazz Chisholm Jr., Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe, the Yankees have smacked seven homers in two games and lost both because their pitching and defense have been regrettable.
The statements from the two clubs — one that kept making mistakes and another that looked to take advantage — arrived immediately.
In the bottom of the first, Starling Marte doubled on what should have been a single, Jasson Domínguez taking a poor route at the gapper. After a Francisco Lindor walk, Juan Soto stunningly laid down the third sacrifice bunt of his career, which prompted Carlos Rodón to pitch around Pete Alonso — who took first base on ball four as Wells tried a snap throw to third, a base that Chisholm was not near.
With the bases loaded, Rodón, too, made a mistake in hanging a 1-2 slider in the middle of the plate, Nimmo launching a shot to right for his third grand slam of the season.
Any drama the rest of the way would be drained by Yankees miscues. In the second, Chisholm airmailed a throw to first base that put Tyrone Taylor on second base before Marte rocketed an RBI single off the left-field wall, another instance in which Domínguez got a poor jump.
The Yankees had cut the deficit to 7-5 by the bottom of the seventh, when Ronny Mauricio doubled before Francisco Lindor singled into center. Trent Grisham might have had a play at the plate, but the center fielder booted the ball so Mauricio scored easily and Lindor reached second.
With little help behind him, new Yankees pitcher Jayvien Sandridge then could not help himself: After a walk to Soto, Sandridge served up a down-the-middle fastball to Alonso, who demolished it for a three-run shot on an afternoon the first baseman drove in five.
The scoring on a perfect and imperfect day for the Mets and Yankees, respectively, ended aptly: With Soto drilling a long, RBI single off the right-field wall in the eighth, one more indignity for his former team.