Yankees defeat the Mets once again

The Yankees defeated the Mets 5-2 on Saturday evening.  They won their seventh straight game and another interleague series.  The Yankees won every interleague series this year and are 13-4 in interleague with one last game tomorrow at the Mets.  The Yankees are 50-31 at exactly the halfway point of the season.  The team is on pace for 100 wins and they are 1-8 against the Red Sox.  They have been amazing against everyone else.  Here are some news and notes from postgame on Saturday.

Colon has a breaking ball and a changeup, but it’s that fastball that makes him so good. It’s the reason he gets so many strikeouts looking. He’s now thrown 13 consecutive scoreless innings, a stretch of dominance that extended to both sides of a DL stint.  Colon may be the MVP of this Yankees team. 

 Derek Jeter is finished in Trenton. He went 1-for-2 with a walk and a run. He started one double play and had to make at least one impressive, spinning play.  He came through the game fine and will play nine innings tomorrow before rejoining the Yankees on Monday in Cleveland.  It is ironic it is there, he started his first game there and that is where George Steinbrenner is from and it will be the Fourth Of July which would of been the Boss birthday. 

 Speaking of shortstops, you know all about Eduardo Nunez’s 7-for-8 the past two days. It turns out, his only out was caught by an old friend of his. Nunez has known Mets second baseman Justin Turner for a few years now, and in the sixth inning, Turner made a terrific play to rob Nunez on a line drive headed for the gap. “He told me, you can’t be 7-for-7,” Nunez said. “He’s my friend.”

Girardi said he had some advance notice that Colon might be this good. “They said he was really sharp on Monday,” Girardi said. “His velocity was good and the movement was good. He’s kind of surprised us all year long in a sense. We weren’t sure what we were going ot get out of him in spring training, and he just continued to pitch well and he did today.”

A.J. Burnett, CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova are still scheduled to start the Cleveland series. “They’re still the probables,” Girardi said.  This could change of course but that is it for right now.
 By the way, Girardi said he’s not positive he’ll have an announcement about Phil Hughes tomorrow. That seems a little crazy since he’s on turn to start Monday, but that’s what Girardi said.  It is a very tough choice but you know that CC, A.J. and Colon must stay in the rotation, Garcia isn't suited for the bullpen and Nova has eight wins and has been pitching better over his last four starts.  Nova is the likely guy to go down but is that really fair to him.  I would think that will happen rather then a six man rotation because they don't want to mess around with CC and A.J. 

For the second day in a row, the Yankees and Mets drew the largest ever crowd at Citi Field. They had 42,042 today. They had 42,020 last night.  The Yankees seem to have gotten a lot of those this year, largest at Wrigley, I believe in Cincinatti and now at Citi Field. 

 The Yankees are now 24-4 in day games. That’s an .857 winning percentage. They’re also on track for exactly 100 wins with a 50-31 record midway through the season.  It is hard to imagine with them being 1-8 against the Red Sox and they are still 2 1/2 games ahead of them for first place in the AL East. 

 Two more scoreless innings from Cory Wade. The Yankees really seem to have found something there. Russell Martin caught Wade when he had a 0.925 WHIP out of the Dodgers bullpen in 2008. “He looks like he’s even sharper now,” Martin said.  Wade has been a revelation much like Colon.  The Yankees have done well this year with the scrap heap pickups. 

Sergio Mitre made his season debut with the Yankees and gave up two runs in the ninth.  He is viewed as a long man but he has to produce, if not they could call someone up. Dominant pitching performances for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre tonight, as well. D.J. Mitchell pitched seven shutout innings in the first game of a double header, then George Kontos spot-started the second game and went four scoreless with no walks and five strikeouts. Keep an eye on both of them. Those would be legitimate long relief options if Mitre continues to struggle.