The Battle Of The Big Apple

The New York Yankees will play host to the New York Mets on Friday afternoon, and then the New York Mets will play host to the New York Yankees on Friday night. Confused? The two Big Apple clubs have decided to play what they’re calling a “day-night intra-city doubleheader” to begin their latest interleague series on the weekend.

The rivals have scheduled days like this twice before (in both 2000 and 2003), but it’s never turned out well for the Mets as the Yankees swept each of those twin bills. This Friday’s event was set up to allow the two teams to make up a rainout from back in May.

That May series did in fact turn out well for the Mets, as they beat their cross-town rivals by scores of 7-4 and 11-2. Still, the Mets immediately went on to lose each of their next five games, and their downward spiral culminated in the firing of manager Willie Randolph last week. The new direction hasn’t done much to get the Mets out of the doldrums yet; they lost a series to the Mariners this week, and their record is still below the .500 mark.

The Yankees went in the other direction after dropping those two games at home to the Mets back in the middle of May – they won eight of their subsequent 11 contests, and paid off nicely for those doing any baseball betting on them. The Yankees then continued their hot play into June to push their record back above the .500 mark, and they’ll be looking to knock off the Mets a few times in the upcoming set.

The Yankees, though, suffered a big setback last week when ace starter Chien-Ming Wang was forced onto the disabled list with a serious foot injury. Wang is going to be out long-term (at least until September according to reports), and the Bronx Bombers are now scrambling for some pitching help as they try to stay in the race for the playoffs.

And with Mike Mussina and Joba Chamberlain not scheduled to pitch this weekend the Yankees are expected to rely on Andy Pettitte, Darrell Rasner, Dan Giese, and Sidney Ponson. Veteran Pettitte hasn’t been tagged with a loss since May 17 (vs. the Mets), while Giese has only given up one earned run over 14 innings so far this season. Rasner, though, was pounded in his last outing, and Ponson is fresh off the scrap heap.

The Mets’ probable pitchers for the weekend series are Pedro Martinez, Mike Pelfrey, Johan Santana, and Odalis Perez. Martinez was knocked around for six earned runs over 4 1-3 innings in his last outing (vs. the Rockies), while Pelfrey has won each of his past two starts. Santana is 0-3 with a no-decision over his last four outings, although he pitched well in three of those games. Perez has been shaky, and could end up bumped.

The first game of Friday’s doubleheader is set to get underway at 2:05pm ET at Yankee Stadium, with Game 2 beginning at 8:10pm ET at Shea Stadium (assuming the traffic co-operates). The other two games of the series are both matinees at the Mets’ home field – Saturday’s first pitch will be at 3:55pm ET, with Sunday starting up at 1:10pm ET.