About Yesterday: Mets 3, Yankees 2

Happy Birthday Reggie Jackson! Reggie was my first "favorite" Yankee. Looking back, adult Mike would not have been a fan of his flamboyance, but as a kid, I was mesmerized. What made it all work was that he backed up the strut, again and again. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jacksre01.shtml

https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/Reggie-Jackson/

Here's the night be became Mr. October:

Quick Stats: The Yankees are 26-19, good for first place in the American League East. They have the second best record in the American League, and are on a pace to win 94 games. Aaron Judge watch: Hitless in five at bats with three strikeouts, batting average dropped from .414 to .402. He's still slashing a robust .402/.488/.611. The Big Story: The Yankees struck first in the third inning when DJ LeMahieu hit a true Yankee Stadium right field short-porch home run. The Mets scored two in the fourth on a rally built from a walk, two singles, a stolen base, and a sacrifice fly to take a 2-1 lead. That was all Clarke Schmidt gave up, and provided the Yankees six solid innings of two-run ball. The Yanks tied the game in the bottom of the sixth when Cody Bellinger smacked a 432-foot home run to right center. The Yanks held that tie with some nifty defense in the seventh, when a perfect Bellinger-to-Volpe-to-Escarra sequence off a double by Tyrone Taylor nabbed Brett Baty at home. The next batter, Francisco Lindor, hit a tough grounder to the right of second base that could have been a run-scoring single, but was stopped by a diving LeMahieu who threw the speedy Lindor out at first. The Yankees loaded the bases in the eighth, but couldn't break through. In the ninth, the Mets pushed a run through off of Fernando Cruz and took a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, the Yanks went down quietly in the ninth, and the Mets took away a win. Player of the Game: Now, this was only one game, but LeMahieu's performance allows me to dream a little bit - not about 2019 or 2020, but 2022 when he slashed .261/.357/.377 and had 3+WAR. If he could even approach that level of production, that would be welcome.

Notable Performances: Schmidt has a 3.13 ERA over his past four starts....Bellinger has a 12-game hitting streak, and is batting .340 with three homers over that span...Yankee pitchers have a 3.13 ERA when throwing to JC Escarra. Better to Forget: This was Judge's first zero for five game in 2025. He had two such contests in 2024...After a blazing start, Cruz is 1-2, 5.14 in his last seven games. They Said It: "DJ...from yesteryear" - YES announcer David Cone after the defensive gem in the seventh. My Take: Losing stinks, but it's tough to get overly upset about this one. Two good teams played a close, tight game, and someone had to win. More often than not for the Yanks, when they allow only three runs, they win. In fact, they are 20-4 when holding opponents to three runs or less. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, this has been a very fun season for me. There is a mix of youth and veterans that have gelled together well. The defense and baserunning both look improved over last year. I continue to keep my fingers crossed on the starting pitching, Next Up: Win the series! Max Fried (6-0, 1.11) against lefty David Peterson (2-2, 3.05). Game time 7:10.