Remembering Mets History (2013) Mets Enjoy Their First Inter League Subway Series Sweep

Monday May 27th 2013: This years version of the subway series began on Memorial Day at Citi Field. Starting this year for the first time, the cross town match ups would be played in two separate two game weeknight series rather than on the weekend. Through the years the subway series hype had died down & fans have become a lot less interested than they once were. 

In the first game Mets manager Terry Collins sent Jonathon Niese to the mound against New York's Philip Hughes in front of 32,000 at Citi Field. Tonight the Mets donned their dessert camouflage caps & uniforms.

Both pitchers pitched well, holding each other scoreless through the first five innings, scattering a few harmless hits along the way. 

In the top of the 6th Bret Gardner, tripled down the left field line then scored on a Jayson Nix base hit. 

In the home 7th, Mets Captain David Wright took things into his own hands, blasting a long HR to left center field, a solo shot for his seventh of the season.

In the bottom of the 8th, pinch hitter Jordany Valdespin, drew a walk & advanced on a passed ball from pitcher David Robertson. Ruben Tejada then chopped a grounder to second base, Mike Baxter running on contact attempted to score but was nailed out at home.

With two out, Daniel Murphy, who had been robbed of a HR back in the 6th inning, when Bret Gardner caught the ball off the top of the fence, came through with a single to center field, scoring Valdespin. It ended up being the games winning run.

In the top of the 9th, Mets closer Bobby Parnell struck out David Adams, but then walked Ichiro Suzuki putting the tying run on base. Parnell who was looking like he'd develop into a fine closer then struck out Lyle Overbay for the second out. Next, Parnell got Travis Hafner to pop out to David Wright at third base for the final out as the Mets took the first game of the series.

Tuesday May 28th 2013: In the second game at Citi Field, the Mets owner Fred Wilpon let Mariano Rivera throw out the ceremonial first pitch to former Mets reliever John Franco.

A crowd of 31,877 filled up Citi Field with lots of excitement because the latest Mets star pitcher Matt Harvey was taking the mound & it was also his first subway series start. 

Harvey came into the game undefeated at 5-0 with a 1.93 ERA (third in the NL) with second most strike outs in the league (74).

Harvey retired the first six batters, collecting a pair of strike outs in the 2nd inning. In the top of the 3rd surrendered a pair of base hits but got all three outs on strike outs adding up his total to five thru the first three  innings. 

Harvey held New York scoreless thru the first five innings. In the top of the 6th, base hits from Brett Gardner & Lyle Overbay led to the games first run.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, Ruben Tejada reached on an error then advanced on a passed ball. With two outs & Lucas Duda at bat, Tejada was picked off on second base in a close call. Manager Terry Collins got into a heated argument with umpire Adrian Johnson & was ejected from the game.

In the top of the 7th inning, Matt Harvey took a line drive to his back, picked up the ball & threw to first base for the out. The fans cheered, then as the trainers were ready to come toward him, he waved them off saying he was fine. Harvey took charge & inspired his team, in their final at bat. 

Doctor K Trivia: During the game former Mets All Star pitcher, Dwight Gooden sat in the stands, updating Harvey's K count on social media's twitter.

Meanwhile on the A.L. New York's team side, pitcher Hiroki Kuroda was rolling along as well. He shut out the Mets thru seven innings allowing just four hits with seven strike outs.

In the bottom of the 8th, David Robertson retired the Mets in New York.

In the top of the 9th, Scott Rice came on for the Mets, he gave up a one out single to Ichiro but he was caught stealing & then Reid Brignac struck out to end the inning.

In the 9th inning, Mariano Rivera came to the mound to try to close it out. He had everyone thinking it was going to be a done deal, since he had not blown a save yet all season. But it was going to be that way tonight. Rivera would not be able to retire one Mets batter. 

Daniel Murphy, the hitting hero of last night's game, led off with a ground rule double to left field. Captain David Wright, who also had a big part in last night's win drove a single to centerfield, Murph scored tying up the game at one. It was Wright's second straight multi-hit game raising his average to .294.

On the mound Mr. Rivera's head spun around as he still had not recorded an out. 

Then Lucas Duda, came through with a line drive into short right field, the ball fell in for a hit, David Wright motored around third base scoring the games winning walk off run as the Mets won the game 2-1. They took both games at Citi Field as the fans went wild.

For Duda, it was his second walk off game winning hit of his career.  

Mets History on Beating Up Rivera: For Mariano Rivera it was his third career walk off loss to the Mets. In his career against the Mets, he has the second highest ERA (3.53) to any team other than the Angels.

The winning pitcher was Scott Rice who went to 3-3 after pitching a scoreless 9th inning.

Matt Harvey although he got no decision, he kept himself at 5-0, as he had pitched eight inning, allowing one run on six hits while striking out ten batters. 

It was an exciting night for the Mets & their fans. Mets sweep at home, up two games to none.

Wednesday May 29th 2013: The series moved across town to the Bronx, as 43,000 fans came out for Wednesday nights matchup of Jeremy Hefner (0-5) looking for his first win, going up against David Phelps (3-2).

Team Meeting: Before the game, Manager Terry Collins called Ike Davis & Ruben Tejada into his office for a private closed door meeting. The two players, who were key members of the Mets infield had been struggling mightily. Ike Davis was batting just .160 with four HRs. He had been in a 1-42 slump, while striking out 18 times.

Ruben Tejada was hitting .209 & was making mental errors on defense, which was normally his strong point. The players were both told, that if their play didn't pick up, they would be headed for the minor leagues.

Quotes: Terry Collins: "We're fifty games into it, all the kinks should be out by now. There are guys that play very well when they're comfortable & maybe there's those guys who play even more aggressively when they're standing on the edge. We'll find out."

The top of the 1st inning, certainly was an exciting one, fresh off the sweep at Citi the Mets continued hitting. Ruben Tejada responded to his manager with a lead off base hit. Daniel Murphy then doubled to bring in Tejada with the first run. 

David Wright walked & with one out catcher John Buck singled to right field bringing in Murph with the Mets second run. 

Short time Met, Rick Ankiel drew a walk loading up the bases. Marlon Byrd hit a double play ball to third base, but Jason Nix booted the ball & David Wright was able to score to make it 3-0.

Ike Davis also responded to his managers talk delivering a two run single to left-centerfield scoring both Buck & Ankiel, making it 5-0 Mets. It was the first of Ike's two hits on the night. 

David Phelps was knocked out giving up five runs on four hits & would be the losing pitcher of record. In the inning the Mets sent ten men to the plate, scoring five runs on four hits collecting two walks & benefiting from a costly error.

In the top of the 3rd inning, Marlon Byrd added a solo HR off Adam Warren, his fifth HR of the season. 

In the top of the 4th, Mike Baxter was hit with a pitch to start the inning. After Ruben Tejada & Muroh struck out, David Wright reached on an infield single.

Lucas Duda then hit a two run double, scoring both Wright & Baxter giving the Mets an 8-0 lead. In the top of the 9th, Rick Ankiel added an RBI base hit topping off the 9-4 Mets win. 

In the bottom of the 4th, Brennan Boesch put the AL team on the board with a solo HR. 

In the top of the 6th, three straight hits led to the AL teams second run, then a Jason Nix RBI single made it an 8-3 game.

Jeremy Hefner went on to his first win of the year (1-5) going six innings allowing three runs on nine hits with five strike outs.

In the top of the 9th, Ruben Tejada injured himself going after a pop fly then sliding out of Lucas Duda's way. He was placed on the DL& would miss over three months of play.

Latroy Hawkins came on to close out the game for the Mets. He allowed a run on two hits but after three defensive interference calls in the inning, he struck out Travis Hafner to end the game.  The Mets had taken the first three games of the subway series.

Latroy Hawkins Trivia: Hawkins spent one year with Mets saving 13 games going 3-2 with a 2.93 ERA in 72 appearances.

Thursday May 30th: The Mets came into the game excited looking for a series sweep. Another big crowd of 44,207 came to the last game of that years subway series.

Models Anne Vyalitsyna (Matt Harvey's girlfriend) & Karlie Kloss were on hand among the A-list for the game.

Terry Collins sent Dillon Gee (2-6) to the mound to face Vidal Nuno III. Gee was coming off a personal two game losing streak, entering the game with an ERA over six. Gee's place in the rotation is also in jeopardy, as a young Zack Wheeler was getting ready to be brought up from AAA very soon. 

Terry Collins placed one of his favorites, Justin Turner, in the line up playing first base tonight, as Ike Davis got the night off.

In the top of the 1st, Turner led off with a double but the Mets left him stranded failing to score.

In the bottom frame, Dillon Gee allowed two  singles to start the game then struck out Vernon Wells & Travis Hafner, then got Lyle Overbay to ground out.

In the top of the 2nd, Lucas Duda drew a lead off walk, then Marlon Byrd blasted a two run HR to the second deck in left field, putting the Mets up 2-0. Marlon had now homered in consecutive games, with four RBIs. Hitting his fifth & sixth HRs of the year.

Byrd Trivia: The veteran Marlon Byrd would play for ten different teams in his 16 year career. He spent one season (2013) with the Mets hitting 21 HRs with 71 RBIs & an .848 OPS in 117 games.

In the bottom of the 3rd, Dillon Gee served up a HR to Robinson Cano. But it was the only run Gee would allow & the only run the AL New York team would get all night as well. 

Dillon Gee was fantastic stealing the show, as he pitched into the 8th inning allowing one run on just four hits while striking out twelve & walking no one.

Gee earned his third win (3-6)of the season. 

In the top of the 8th inning, the Mets added an insurance run, as Omar Quintanilla who was filling in for the injured Ruben Tejada walked, then advanced on a fielder's choice. 

With two outs, David Wright was walked. Joba Chamberlin who had just come back from the DL, was brought in to pitch. John Buck greeted him with an RBI base hit, just a dribbler down third base, but enough for his his team leading 35th RBI of the year (6th most in the NL).

Buck Trivia: In John Buck's short time with the Mets (101 games) he hit 15 HRs with 60 RBIs & helped mentor pitcher Matt Harvey & young catcher Travid d'arnaud.

In the bottom of the 8th, with one out Scott Rice, came on & retired the two batters he faced. In the bottom of the 9th, Bobby Parnell closed the door for his ninth save of the year & twentieth game finished (fourth most in the league).

Mets Trivia: This was the first time the Mets swept the entire subway series in both ballparks since the interleague series began.

Quotes: Manager Terry Collins: The hardest thing I've done is try to keep these guys positive. It wasn't about changing stances or shuffling bullpens. It was about trying to keep the guys in the clubhouse positive. Everybody goes through some bad times. You've got to work your way out of it."