ST. LOUIS – Both teams are really the visitors this weekend. The city is the host.
New York City is the home team.
The Mets and Yankees will go at it again tonight at Shea, starting the three-game Subway Series in which New York is 100 percent baseball for 72 hours.
It has to be.
“Should be crazy,” Cliff Floyd said yesterday regarding what Shea will be like this weekend. “We’ve got two good teams coming at each other and New York City fans, they love that Subway Series. And I’m just glad we’re both playing well because it should be a good series.” Floyd is right, as both teams blast into the Subway Series off to strong 2006 starts. And tonight, the Yankees will invade with Randy Johnson on the mound, while the Mets will have Jeremi Gonzalez making his second start as a Met.
Pedro Martinez and Mike Mussina face off tomorrow, with Tom Glavine and Aaron Small dueling on Sunday. All three games are sold out.
Both the Mets and Yanks will have players making their Subway debut this weekend.
Carlos Delgado and Johnny Damon are the biggest new names.
“I don’t want to say it’s just another three games because it’s not another three games.
It’s a big thing,” Delgado, the Met first baseman, said yesterday. “But at the end of the day, it’s just another three games.” Delgado, though, admitted, “I think the fans are going to go crazy. And I think it’s a great show for the fans. Don’t take it wrong.
I think it’s pretty awesome. But as a player, it’s a pain in the [butt]. You’ve got like around twice as many media, twice as many requests. It’s just the same game. You’ve got to play 27 outs.” The 24-16 Mets, who lead the NL East by two games over the Phillies, come into the series having lost two straight and having been defeated in all three series on their nine-game road trip.
The banged-up 23-16 Yankees, meanwhile, just split four games with Texas and enter Shea trailing the first-place Red Sox by half a game. The Yanks are missing Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui and have Small starting on Sunday instead of Chacon due to a shin bruise.
“It could be the longest three days of the year,” Yankee manager Joe Torre said of his incomplete unit. “But then we go to Boston after that so what the heck.” While the Yankees have gone 29-19 against the Mets in the Series’ nine-year history (not including the Yankees’ 4-1 triumph in the 2000 World Series), the Mets have taken seven of the last 12. They won four of six in 2004 and split three and three last year.
“I think it’ll be cool,” said Xavier Nady, who will also make his Subway debut this weekend. “I think it’ll be exciting obviously for the city of New York and obviously you get to play your crosstown rivals now.
There’s a lot of history there, and I think everyone looks forward to it so it should be a lot of fun.” While the Red Sox and Phillies are secondary this weekend, both also loom following Sunday’s action. The Yankees, as Torre noted, visit the Sox at Fenway, while the Mets will host the Phillies at Shea.
That’s days from now, though. This weekend it’s all local.
– Additional reporting by George King
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AT A GLANCE
TONIGHT TV: Ch. 11, Ch. 9, 7:10 p.m. Radio:WCBS (880 AM), WFAN (660 AM) Matchup: Randy Johnson (5-1, 5.13) vs. Jeremi Gonzalez (0-0, 5.40) Weather: Scattered thunderstorms, low 53
TOMORROW TV: Ch. 5, 1:20 p.m. Radio: WCBS (880 AM), WFAN (660 AM) Matchup: Mike Mussina (6-1, 2.56) vs. Pedro Martinez (5-0, 3.19) Weather: Mostly cloudy, high 66, low 56
SUNDAY TV: ESPN, 8:05 p.m. Radio: WCBS (880 AM), WFAN (660 AM) Matchup: Aaron Small (0-1, 8.71) vs. Tom Glavine (6-2, 2.43) Weather: Occasional showers, low 53