New York Yankees: Looking Back at the Subway Series (Round 1)

I've mentioned several times on this blog about how tired I am of the Subway Series, but a series win by the Yankees always makes it a little more tolerable.  

Highlights

1. The starting pitching continued to shine. The Yankees got good starts from Freddy Garcia, A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova. All three starters kept the team in the game and, had it not been for a great start by the Mets' R.A. Dickey in Game 1, the Yankees could have swept this series.

2.  The balls continued to leave the yard for the Yankees. Wait, is this a highlight or a lowlight? Hard to tell by the way fans and the media are debating about it. Anyway, five more home runs were hit, pushing the team total over 70.

3. In Game 3, the Yankees finally got off the schneid as far as hitting with runners in scoring position goes. They were 5-for-10 with RISP, thanks to an eight-run seventh inning (during which no home runs were hit, by the way).

4. The Yankee bullpen also deserves its props. Rafael who? The pen has been lights out since Soriano went on the DL. Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson have done just fine in his place and they continued to do so in this series. 

Lowlight

A highlight was also a lowlight: runners left in scoring position. The Yankees had their chances in Game 1 and couldn't get the big hit. In Game 2, they relied on the long ball. Can they continue what they started in Game 3? Let's hope so. 

Looking Ahead

The pesky Toronto Blue Jays come back to town tomorrow night with their running game and their ML home-run leader, Jose Bautista.

It'll be nice to see Bautista and the AL's second-place HR hitter, Curtis Granderson, go head-to-head, so to speak.

To win this series, the Yankees have to do two things:

1. keep Bautista in the ballpark, and

2. Keep Rajai Davis off base.

Good luck, guys.