First I would like to thank my good friend (and cousin) Richie, of Forth Quarter Punts, for his input and his perspective of this series from a Mets fan point of view. And awayyyy we go:

Well I don’t really have to set up this matchup because my good friend Richie, from Forth Quarter Punts, did it in the Mets P.O.V entry that I submitted earlier. But what the heck here we go…

The Yanks and Mets are both coming off horrible performances against
their biggest rivals in their respective divisons and are both looking
to bounce back against their cross-town/city rivals. This series is
traditionally just for bragging rights but it seems that this year, at
least this series, it means a lot more. They
are both caught in tight division races (even though it is early in the
season) and both need this series to keep afloat and within an arms
reach of the Saux and the Phillies. Needless to say each team will be
rooting for each others rival during this series as well. Okay, enough
about that let’s get into this matchup.

As Richie stated in his post, the Mets are chomping at the bit to
get to this stadium and out of the black hole they call Citi Field. The
Mets power numbers have been down this year and they would love to get
their swagger back in the bandbox in the Bronx. Both teams are going to
be fired up going into this series and they know how important it is,
not only for their fans but for the psyche as well. The most intriguing
pitching matchup of this series will be featured tonite with Joba vs Hernandez.
Hernandez might possibly be the Comeback Player of the Year and a key
element to the Mets success this year, especially with Maine now being
on the DL. Joba is the swingman for the Yankees, he has been pitching
very well over his past 6 starts and hopes to continue the trend
tonite, and he needs to perform at his best for the rest of the year. I
think the Yankees have the advantage in this matchup…Joba has great
stuff and can strike out these Mets batters, the only concern I have is
that the Mets have very strong fastball hitter and with Sheffield, more
than likely, being in the lineup as DH that makes the Mets even more
dangerous. Livan has not had success against the Yankees in the past,
6.37 ERA with a 1.89 WHIP, and this lineup is more potent than in years
past…in my opinion advantage Joba…Mets haven’t seen him as a starter
and the Yanks can, given the track record, give Joba a lead and let him
calm down, relax and pitch his game.

Tomorrow’s game is definitely advantage Yankees. Pettitte will be
squaring off against some kid from AAA that will probably be shaking in
the knees while standing on the mound. No reason to go into depth about
this…all that needs to be said is that the Yankees must take advantage
of early strikes and mistakes and if they can they will be golden…the
only thing that concerns me is that the Yankees struggle against young
pitchers in the past…but this year they seem to handle them pretty
well. Pettitte has not pitched well at all at home, which is scary, and
David Wright is probably licking his lips with the way this ball
travels to both sides of the field. As long as Pettitte can keep the
ball down and not float that curve over he will be fine and the Yanks
should roll to victory.

Well this is the matchup we will all be waiting for…Santana vs.
Burnett…this matchup scares me and both pitchers are coming off of
lackluster starts. Santana will most likely bounce back and we all know
what he is capable of…Burnett is another story and needs to start
showing his worth. Both pitchers can be dominate, you expect that from
Santana and hope for that from Burnett (at least for this year), so I
don’t think there will be a lot of offense in this game. If Burnett
struggles you can easily see a 5 earned type of game from him, and if
that was to happen you can say goodbye to the Yankees chances of
winning. Unfortunately Santana is the best pitcher in the game and that
gives the advantage to the Mets in this matchup. The Yanks do have a
glimmer of hope in that Santana has been worse on the road this year
than at his cushy home of Citi Field but of course not much worse. If
anyone gets into trouble in the new Yankee Stadium balls can fly out of
there…so it will be interesting to watch…especially since both pitchers
haven’t pitched particularly well against either team in their tenure
in the big leagues.

Key to the series: How the ballpark plays…this park makes mistakes
homeruns…so it should be interesting to watch considering both teams
have a good amount of power.

Series breakdown: Yanks 2-1…I think Santana will outlast Burnett…but I am looking for a good game out of A.J.

REMEMBER: Please comment we like to discuss this… you can bash us too we don’t mind…it’s all in good fun.

Thanks again to my good friend, and Cousin, Richie from Forth Quarter Punts for his insight into this series…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

I am going to start with his view first (sorry for the formatting):

Ahhh, it must be spring.  The first round of the annual grudge match
for city bragging rights between the Mets and Yankees begins tonight
at Yankee Stadium.  There’s no need to set this series up, both teams
are coming off a horrific series against division rivals, and need to
win this series to keep pace in their respective division races.  It
may be the “Subway Series”, but this is for more than bragging rights.
The Yankees need to keep pace with the Red Sox and the Mets need to
just keep afloat until the reinforcements come back from the DL.

Now, I’ll be the first to admit that when you break down these teams
by position the Yankees have a huge advantage, but this series being
played in Yankee Stadium actually sets up well for the Mets.  Normally
when an NL team plays in an AL park the AL team has a distinct
advantage.  The NL team is usually forced to designate a back-up
position player as DH, while the AL team usually has a specific hired
gun to DH.  But the Mets have some pretty good bats on the bench and
can play around with pitching match-ups accordingly.  It also allows
them to DH Gary Sheffield which improves OF defense and gives him a
break over the long run.  Having the DH allows Jerry Manuel to use
Jeremy Reed in LF for defense (although I think they’ll start out with
Ryan Church there) or get Murphy’s bat in the line-up in RF (keeping
Tatis at 1st).

Offensively the Mets bats are salivating at the thought of getting out
of the cavernous Citi Field and into the Yankee Stadium bandbox, but I
still think they’ll need to play NL small ball to drive the offense.
They’ll have to pick and choose their spots though.  A double in Citi
is a HR in Yankee and you don’t want to jeopardize a potential run by
making foolish decisions on the bases.

I like the pitching match-ups in 2 out of the 3 games.  The Game 1
match-up of Livan Hernandez vs. Joba might be the most interesting of
the series.  Livan has pitched lights out in his last four starts.
He’s gone deep into games (even a CG, not bad for a 60 year old) and
is 2-0 with a 1.57 ERA.  Of course he usually pitches horrible against
the Yanks and Jeter and Aroid traditionally hit him as well as they do
a batting practice pitcher.  But if he forces ground balls I think
he’ll be alright (or at least I hope he’ll be alright).  Joba is hit
or miss.  The key for the Mets will be patience.  Drive up his pitch
count, force some walks, steal some bases, and get him flustered.  If
they force the Yankees to the bullpen early they should put up some
runs.  In Game 2 some guy from AAA Buffalo is going against Pettitte.
Pettitte hasn’t pitched all that well this year, but he is at least a
major leaguer.  He also pitches well against the Mets.  This one could
get ugly for the Mets.  They need to get on Pettitte early and give
this Nieve kid some support if they want to have any chance.  Game 3
is the big name, big money match-up of the series, Santana vs.
Burnett.  Both pitchers are coming off shaky outings in their last
starts, but Santana is the more consistent pitcher and even though the
Yanks big bats have a pretty good history against him I think he’ll
step up here.  The Mets bullpen, believe it or not, has been one of
the best in the league (2nd in ERA behind Boston) and is a clear
advantage for the Mets.  While I’m not that confident to call it a
difference maker in this series it should help pull out a win in this
series, most likely Game 1.

As I said at the top the Mets are nursing a lot of regulars on the DL
(8 to be exact), but have been competitive against the better teams in
the league in this stretch (they are, after all, the only NY team to
beat the Red Sox this year).  If anything they’ve proven to be a
resilient bunch and it will carry over into this series.

The Pick: The Mets win the series 2-1, riding Livan and Santana in
games 1 and 3.