Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole as marquee a matchup as Subway Series has seen
New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole delivers against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
In the 139 previous regular-season Subway Series games, was there ever a better pitching matchup on paper than the one on Wednesday night, when Justin Verlander started for the Mets against the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole?
That’s not an easy question to answer. In the history of the Subway Series (starting in 1997), four future Hall of Famers have started games for the New York teams: Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine for the Mets and Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson for the Yankees. But only Mussina could be said to have been at his peak when he pitched in New York.
Verlander is a lock for the Hall of Fame. Cole, if he continues his current career arc, has a good chance. So Wednesday’s mound matchup could in the future be referred to as one of future Hall of Famers, which is what Yankees manager Aaron Boone was willing to call it in the present.
“I think it's great,” Boone said before the game, which was rain-delayed 37 minutes before Verlander threw the first pitch to Jake Bauers. “Mets and Yankees, startin’ to feel like summer even though it's raining out. It’s a Hall of Famer [in Verlander], a guy in the middle of a Hall of Fame career in Gerrit. Ex-teammates. You know that's a marquee matchup and one you look forward to going to watch those guys go at it.”
Mets manager Buck Showalter was less tickled by the matchup, which may say more about the state of his team, which had lost nine of 10 going in.
“I think it’s something for the fans,” Showalter said. “I don’t know how fun it’ll be for the hitters . . . Sometimes, you’ll see things happen with what’s perceived is going to happen on the field, all of a sudden both guys are gone in the fourth inning and you’re pitching games out of the bullpen. That’s tough against the Yankees. They have one of the best bullpens in baseball, if not the best.
“On paper, I [get] it, because of the history. You know, history is about the past. Tonight’s about tonight. Both guys are capable of pitching real well over a long period of time in their careers and tonight. Sometimes things as they appear on paper do work out. I know from our standpoint, it would really help us in the situation we’re in now. The other team doesn’t always cooperate, like last night.”
The last night Showalter was referring to was Tuesday, when the Mets staked future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer to a 5-1 lead only to watch him give it back and more in the Yankees’ five-run fourth inning. Scherzer allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings in the Mets’ eventual 7-6 loss.
The big asterisk when you consider great pitchers who have started Subway Series games is Roger Clemens, who certainly has Hall of Fame statistics, but has not made it to Cooperstown because of his suspected use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens had some memorable starts against the Mets – ask Mike Piazza about that if you ever run into him – and threw eight shutout innings against them to win Game 2 of the 2000 World Series.
A future Hall of Famer Subway Series matchup was supposed to take place in June of 2003, when Glavine was scheduled to face Mussina at Shea Stadium.
But the game was delayed by rain for 63 minutes at the start and Glavine was scratched in favor of rookie Jeremy Griffiths. Mussina pitched for the Yankees, but the rain returned in the fourth inning with the Yankees leading 4-3.
Play did not continue, and under the rules at the time everything that happened, including home runs by Todd Zeile of the Yankees and Jeromy Burnitz and Ty Wigginton of the Mets, was washed away by the rain.
The game was made up in its entirety as part of a two-stadium, day-night doubleheader a week later.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
