Subway Series Proved Yankees-Mets Should Only Be Once a Year

Now that interleague play has concluded and the New York Mets and New York Yankees have seen the last of each other until next season, one thing is painfully obvious; the two teams should only meet for one series a year.

Sorry fellow Mets fans, but the prime reason is the talent gap is just too wide year in and year out.

Terry Collins and company lost five-of-six in 2012, something you could have seen coming. Listen, I love the Mets as much as all of you, but the franchise can't seem to get over the hump and beat the Yankees.

Since the two clubs first met on June 16, 1997, the Yankees have obviously been the better team, winning 54 games to the Mets' 36. The Mets have won just two of the six-game sets since the format was introduced in 1999.

Every year it seems like the same thing. The Mets lose two out of three in the most frustrating fashion imaginable.

Let's go through all six painstakingly irritating games this year.

Game 1: Johan Santana gets his lunch after throwing the first no-hitter in Mets' history to the tune of six earned runs on four homers in five innings pitched.

Game 2: The Mets muster a grand total of two runs against the "great" Phil Hughes and his then-almost-5.00 ERA. Hughes wasn't able to shut down anybody before that, but he got the best of the Mets.

Game 3: Russell Martin hits a pair of homers—including a walk-off—that appear to go a combined 600 feet in the miniature Yankee Stadium. I immediately shut my television off the second he made contact.

Game 4: The Mets get their only victory of the season against the Yankees, after Nick Swisher literally punches an Ike Davis' fly ball over the right field fence in the first inning to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. I then have to sit back and try not to gnaw my lower lip off while watching Frank Francisco strike those "chickens" out (more to come on that soon).

Game 5: Captain Kirk gets the Mets off to a good start with a third-inning homer and the Mets tack on a couple more to bring their lead to 3-0. Then Raul Ibanez—killing the Mets since his days in Philadelphia—comes to the dish and hits a 250 mph line drive to right field for a three-run homer. The unthinkable happens next: Eric Chavez hits the deciding home run. 

Game 6: Everybody's beyond excited about R.A. Dickey continuing his consecutive innings without an earned run streak. We should have known better. The Mets go down 5-1 before tying the game just so I have to sit there and feel my blood boil for the entire night. For some reason, Terry Collins doesn't bring Tim Byrdak in to face Robinson Cano, who comes to the plate and hits a 440-foot go-ahead moonshot off Miguel Batista.

If you didn't notice my crescendo of anger, I don't how I can make it more clear.

There's no reason for the Mets to have to walk into the buzzsaw that is the Yankee evil empire season after season, while teams like the Washington Nationals get an extra set against the lowly Baltimore Orioles.

Say what you want about Buck Showalter's club, but they are not a good team. They came into Citi Field and got routed by the Mets. Baltimore is 41-31 through some inexplicable act of the baseball gods, but they surely don't play like a team that is 10 games over .500.

This season is beside the point, though. We're looking at the big picture, and the big picture says that the Yankees are better than the Orioles.

Sure, the atmosphere in both ballparks is taken to the next level when the two teams meet, but one three-game set is enough. There haven't been any compelling story lines since Roger Clemens threw half of Mike Piazza's bat back at him.

The best we had this year was Francisco's chicken comment:

"

"I can't wait to strike out those chickens," Francisco told the New York Post. "I want to strike out the side against them. I've done it before."

"I make a simple comment, just that they complain a lot -- for every call, for everything," he said. "I thought it was funny. I didn't expect to make a big deal."

"

I'm all for jumping on the Yankees every chance I get, but how does complaining about a call make you a chicken? It makes you a complainer, not poultry. It wasn't even funny, it was just random and strange.

Do they even complain about every call, or is Michael Kay the one doing the complaining from the booth?

The only thing more ridiculous than Francisco calling the Yankees chickens was that the media actually made a story out of it. Yeah, I know that's their job to conjure up a cockamamie story whenever they can, but what does Francisco's comment even mean?

Seriously, if you can tell me what what that means, don't hesitate to do so.

In case you haven't heard, Francisco now finds himself on the disabled list.

Another thing, the Yankees are all drones. Nick Swisher is the only one in the lineup that shows any type of emotion on the diamond or in the dugout. Of course, his emotion infuriates me, but it's some kind of display nonetheless.

This has gotten to the point where it's no longer fun for Mets fans to endure these games. Obviously, Major League Baseball could care less about their suffering, but this interleague scheduling puts the Mets at a competitive disadvantage.

One series shellacking a season is fine. Two is egregious and unwarranted.