NEW YORK—After being pounded 15–6 by the Mets Friday afternoon, the New York Yankees officially placed outfielder Hideki Matsui on the disabled list.
Carlos Delgado had a franchise-record nine RBI – more than enough to shred the Yanks' pitching—and lifted the Mets in game one of the mini-Subway Series.
The unusual two-stadium doubleheader today is the result of a rescheduling of a May 16 game between the city rivals that was rained out. The first game began at 2:05 in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx; the second game began at 8:10 in Shea Stadium in Flushing.
With the win, the Mets returned to .500 and within three games of NL-East leading Philadelphia. The Yankees dropped to 42-37, but share with the Mets the distinction of holding third place in their respective divisions.
Even though Mets starter Pelfrey gave up four earned runs in five innings, Yankees southpaw starter Dan Giese was worse, giving up six runs on five hits in only four innings. Not to be outdone, the Yanks bullpen allowed nine more runs–all earned.
On top of the Yankees pitching failures, the offense wasn't much better. The Mets only outhit the Yankees 14–12 and the Mets handed opportunities to the Yankees on a silver platter by committing three errors during the game. But the Yankees just couldn't come up with clutch hits: they left a total of 26 men on base—seven by Posada—and the only big offensive blow came on A-Rod's two-run homer in the sixth.
All 15 of the Mets' scores were batted in by only three players. On top of Delgado's nine RBI, four of which came on a grand slam in the sixth inning, third-baseman David Wright and centerfielder Carlos Beltran each had three.
Yankee Woes
Clearly disappointed at the post-game press conference, Yankees skipper Girardi pronounced, "We're going to DL Matsui." He said that Matsui "felt better hitting but the running is still an issue."
Before today, Girardi was optimistic that Matsui's sore knee, which has bugged him for more than a week, would get better. "I was hopeful every day that he would come in every day and say that it felt great. But it never happened."
He added, "Obviously they will continue to treat him and try to get him to full strength. We'll give him a few days and see where he's at."
When asked about the Yankees' deteriorating pitching situation, he replied, "I believe in our pitchers, and obviously today was a tough day … The walks hurt us bad today. Our bullpen was not able to shut them down today. But obviously it's an opportunity for people to step up."
The Yankees hoped to right their ship in the second game of the doubleheader across town at Shea. It featured a pitching matchup between Sidney Ponson for the Yankees (4–1, 3.88 ERA) and Pedro Martinez for the Mets (2–1, 6.57 ERA).
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