About Yesterday: Mets 3, Yankees 2
- Mike Whiteman
- May 18
- 3 min read
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
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.
0-6 with risp. Cant rely only on the HR. A game they should have won.
a close, tight game
lost in the 9th inning.
the rotation is coming along,. while
the Yankee relief corps has yet to become assured and impregnable, although Williams is beginning to harden and Loaisiga is a welcome addition.
it was not one of the three best relievers who allowed the last run.. it was the fourth
and it was the usually semi-trustworthy Leiter who almost coughed up a run after replacing Schmidt.
seemed as though the Yankee coaches expected Cruz to hold firm and take the game to extra innings...... and it seemed as though that was a reasonable expectation that was not realized.
it was a close, tight game
and the second tier of Yankee relievers looked a little…