Mets' Jose Quintana, Yankees' Carlos Rodon not enough to turn seasons around
Mets pitcher Jose Quintana, left, and Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon. Credit: AP; Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Jose Quintana and Carlos Rodon were teammates for three seasons on the White Sox, starting in 2015. But as both took the mound Wednesday in the second game of the Subway Series, their widely differing careers found another parallel.
Both missed the first half of the season because of injuries. Both have looked sometimes uneven in their return — Rodon far more so going into Wednesday’s game. And both have been emblematic of their two teams’ woes: significant promise going into the season, heavy spending that meant the Mets and Yankees had the highest payrolls in the sport, injuries and disappointments, and efforts at a turnaround that might be too little, too late.
Aptly, while Rodon had the better night, neither did much to prove that their respective teams could put together any sort of consistent stretch run — absolutely pivotal as Billy Eppler and Brian Cashman approach the trade deadline.
“I know it’s an arduous time for the front office and working through so many different scenarios,” Aaron Boone said before the game, also saying what everyone knows — that these next few games could “potentially” decide whether the Yankees make any sort of significant push to acquire talent at the deadline. “Sometimes, there are messages sent. But let’s see what happens and go from there.”
Rodon and Quintana took turns being messy and dominant Wednesday, swinging the pendulum from inning to inning — as much a product of their own rust as it was that of two offenses that have failed to consistently click this season.
Quintana danced in and out of trouble for the first two innings, eventually letting up two runs in the second and an unearned run in the fourth — this, despite the Yankees putting runners on the corners with no outs in the first, and loading the bases with no outs in the second. Rodon was more consistent early, before letting up a run in the third and allowing the Mets to threaten again in the fourth and fifth.
The eventual picture was that of two teams that don’t look especially ready to make up the significant ground needed to get back in the playoff race, despite the midseason reinforcements. Both pitchers did show enough, though, to make fans wonder what could have been.
“What I’ve said all along — kind of under the radar — people want to talk about Edwin [Diaz], and rightfully so, but Jose was a loss for us,” Buck Showalter said. “If we can get him back pitching every fifth day like he’s capable of, because he’s one of the guys who gives you a chance to win more times than not. He’s not scared and he’s not going to be the kind of guy where . . . his finger isn't going to shake when he’s trying to pull the bow back.”
At the very least, Quintana routinely displayed that fearlessness — even as the Yankees jumped on him early — allowing three runs on six hits over six innings.
And despite the tightrope walk, Quintana managed to extend some pretty impressive streaks; he has the longest homerless active streak for a pitcher — not allowing a long ball for 72 2/3 straight innings, which, due to his first-half absence, dates back to Aug. 4, 2022. He’s also now allowed two earned runs or fewer in his last 16 starts.
Then there was Rodon, who had some redemption to earn, and mostly did: He allowed one run on four hits with three walks, five strikeouts and a hit batsman over 5 2/3.
It was enough to earn him an ovation, despite a decidedly rocky start in pinstripes. He went into Wednesday’s contest 0-3 with a 7.36 ERA. A recent faux pas — blowing a kiss to heckling Yankee fans in Anaheim — also raised some hackles on social media and beyond. Wednesday, he showed fire in the other direction — yelling “Give me the [expletive] ball" during a dominant first inning where he struck out two.
“I do believe his stuff is there,” Boone said before the game. As for all the rest — what is, what will be, and what could have been — well, that’s above a manager’s paygrade.
“A lot of stuff is out of my control right now and, in some ways, out of the team’s control,” Boone said.
Both the Yankees and Mets have had to scuffle for months to make that true, and now, it might be too late to take back the reins.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
