David Lennon columns

An in-person pitch is pointless when the superstar spent the last seven months knocking pitches out of Yankee Stadium. The only thing Hal Steinbrenner & Co. have to do is pony up the money. 

The Yankees can offer quite a bit in terms of familiarity and Aaron Judge as protection, but what about Steve Cohen's checkbook?

Making World Series for first time since 2009 is nothing to write off, but the team's lack of accountability and poor fundamentals need to be fixed.

No agent is better at manipulating teams into paying through the nose for top-shelf talent.

He kept his cool this time at the GM meetings, fielding questions more successfully than Gleyber Torres ever did with his glove.

Score this one a big W for Brian Cashman and the Yankees.

With roughly $180 million in payroll coming off the Mets' books this winter and a certain outfielder named Juan Soto becoming a free agent, you can easily envision Steve Cohen being in the mood to have a chat with Scott Boras.

He's been an all-time regular-season great, but until the Yankees break their 15-year title drought, it'll be hard for Judge to shake the misplay that opened the floodgates to a disastrous fifth inning in Game 5 of the Fall Classic. 

5-0 lead in fifth disappears after pair of errors, costly brain freeze leads to five unearned Dodgers runs.

While the Yankees were playing for their World Series survival, Cole's pinstriped legacy was on the line Wednesday

New Jersey Yankees fan growing up, he gets to hear Stadium chanting his name.

With reigning Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole fronting the rotation and likely MVP Aaron Judge anchoring the lineup, the Yankees entered Tuesday on the verge of being swept in meek fashion by the Dodgers.

From what we've seen from the Yankees, don't expect them to make history this week. Just add their name to the casualty list.

Aaron Judge was battling swing issues and Shohei Ohtani was trying to overcome partially dislocated shoulder as the World Series shifted to the Bronx.

"We've been through a lot of adversity, through 162 and then this postseason," Aaron Judge said late Saturday night. "So guys are going to step up, guys are going to do what they need to do — I've got to step up as well."

Aaron Judge struck out three more times in Game 2, making him 6-for-40 with 19 strikeouts in this postseason.

Aside from one big moment in the ALCS, he again has fallen short of his regular-season brilliance in this postseason.

They had a 1-0 lead in the World Series . . . until they didn't, thanks to Freddie Freeman's grand slam.

The boy who attended the Yankees' parade down the Canyon of Heroes in 2009 is four victories away from going there as a player. 

"Wherever you are that you have a chance to win a championship, you're going to be excited to play for them. I think that's the biggest thing," Juan Soto said.

All eyes on baseball's two best players on sport's biggest stage. 

There is a huge difference between just passing through the Bronx, like dozens of high-paid mercenaries, and being the guy who delivers title No. 28, which is now right there for Boone.

The Yankees slugger has helped bounce the Dodgers from the postseason twice previously, and now could be the main obstacle between them and a World Series crown.

"We know the core," Brandon Nimmo said. "We know the front office. We know who's in charge. We know what kind of standards we're setting now."

Sean Manaea couldn't survive the third inning and there were no comebacks left as the Mets were eliminated in Los Angeles.

Carlos Mendoza has strong relationships with most of his Bronx colleagues and even texted with a few of them Saturday night after the Yankees won the ALCS.

Many reasons this Hollywood run can continue with two stunning wins in Los Angeles to send Mets to World Series.

Pete Alonso gets the Citi Field party started with three-run homer in the first inning.

Playing for their season on Friday after dropping another game at Citi Field. 

Alvarez is not the only one to blame for the Mets' futility against a suddenly impenetrable Dodgers pitching staff.

It was the Mets' defense that betrayed Severino, and ironically he was partly to blame — the team's only Gold Glove finalist.

As a rotation, the Mets ranked fifth in the majors in innings pitched — the next closest playoff team still left was the Yankees, at ninth. 

The Mets kept perennial MVP Barry Bonds at bay during the 2000 NLDS. 24 years later, can they continue to have similar success against the currently-struggling best player in the world?

When the Dodgers walked Francisco Lindor to load the bases and get to Mark Vientos, "I took it personal," he said after his game-changing grand slam. 

Yes, the Dodgers indirectly helped turn the Mets into a superteam in late May, but as soon as Carlos Mendoza & Co. traveled to the West Coast, Chavez Ravine became their kryptonite.

Francisco Lindor has been indispensable in these playoffs; Shohei Ohtani hadn't hit his stride yet.

Storylines galore if both local teams pull it off and meet again for championship 24 years later. 

Steve Cohen, David Stearns and Carlos Mendoza have established a winning culture with a team-first approach. 

David Stearns didn't assemble this Mets core, but he has their backs, and they in turn have carried him to the brink of the World Series in his first year as president of baseball operations.

The Mets wouldn't be headed to the NLCS - or even in the playoffs to begin with - without Lindor's heroics.

The grand slam was a no-doubter, a 398-foot missile, and Lindor had done it again, lifting the Mets to victory and their first champagne-spraying clincher at Citi Field.

After so many white-knuckle finishes during the two-week road trip that launched this playoff run, the Mets mostly spared their fans the late-inning drama, but made this highly-improbable, yet hotly-anticipated homecoming worth the wait.

Citi Field is expected to be "off the hook'' for NLDS Game 3 against the Phillies.

Players feel as if they've been on the road for "the last six months."

If anyone should recognize the trail of heartbreak the Mets are leaving in their wake, it's the core of this Phillies roster.

The risk vs. reward ratio apparently works for the Mets.

For weeks, Pete Alonso looked as if he were potentially paving his way out of Flushing, as it appeared the weight of the looming free-agent decisions might have been weighing on his mind.

As the Mets stared into the October abyss, Pete Alonso was dealing with the potential end to his Flushing career, as he'll be a free agent not long after this playoff run concludes.

The drama didn't go in the Mets' favor. After their lead evaporated in the thunderous dome, they went in order in the ninth, and now it's onto a one-game October showdown.

Stearns proceeded to revive the Mets well ahead of schedule, rewarding owner Steve Cohen's faith and annoying Brewers owner Mark Attanasio.