Humiliating performance for Yankees in Subway Series loss to Mets
Gio Urshela of the Yankees looks on after his third-inning throwing error allowed the Mets to score a run at Citi Field on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Watching Friday’s Subway Series opener, it was difficult to remember which team began this weekend clutching a playoff spot.
One thing is for certain, however. If the Yankees keep playing the way they did in their humiliating 10-3 loss to the Mets, they can forget about the postseason. There’s no way the Red Sox and Blue Jays could possibly be any worse down the stretch than what we witnessed at Citi Field, where Aaron Boone & Co. gifted away runs at a disturbing rate in the team’s seventh straight loss and 11th in 13 games.
"It’s just a poor performance, period," said Boone, whose postgame Zoom sessions are growing testier by the day. "Just a frustrating, awful start to the series."
Not to take anything away from the Mets, who remain in the NL East race at the moment and will as long as Atlanta allows it. But this was charity bordering on comedy, so much so that the Citi Field PA system busted out the "Benny Hill" theme song during some Yankees fielding slapstick in the Mets’ five-run third inning.
How embarrassing. It’s tough enough for the Yankees to lose to their little-brother rivals from across the RFK Bridge, especially with a wild-card berth hanging in the balance. But what happened Friday was a dysfunctional mess, and the Yankees were extremely lucky to keep their second wild-card spot Friday (by a half-game) when the Blue Jays somehow lost to the Orioles.
"I don’t think it has anything to do with how we prepared, or how we felt coming into this game," DJ LeMahieu said. "It just kind of spiraled on us."
And to think Boone offered up a guarantee of sorts before the game when asked if his Yankees could bounce back one more time in this roller-coaster of a season.
"I know we’re gonna do it," Boone said Friday afternoon. "And I am confident that we’ll come out of it and our best baseball is still ahead."
Maybe Boone was talking about 2022, because a few hours after the manager uttered those words, the Yankees looked like Double-A Somerset on a particularly bad day.
As ugly as their fifth-inning debacle was, the overwhelming lowlight was Sanchez’s matador act in the first inning, one of the worst plays you’ll ever see from a catcher at any level.
With two outs and Jonathan Villar at second base, Javier Baez ripped a single to leftfield, where Gold Glover Joey Gallo scooped it on the run. As Villar was waved in, Gallo unleashed a perfect one-hop throw to the plate — so perfect, in fact, that Sanchez had the ball with Villar still four steps away.
What happened next was beyond bizarre. Sanchez sort of sidestepped the plate as he reached to make the tag, allowing Villar to slide under him. Initially, plate umpire Ted Barrett called Villar out — Sanchez tagged him on the helmet — but it was overturned after the Mets’ challenge as the replay showed Villar’s feet incredibly got to the plate first.
"It’s a big play, it’s an important play, but you’ve got to deal with that over the course of a season, of a game," Boone said. "Things aren’t always going to go your way in a game."
That play seemed to set the tone as the night unraveled around Montgomery in the third inning. Three walks, including one with the bases full. Another run scoring on Gio Urshela’s throwing error. Jeff McNeil driving in a run with a drag bunt. Kevin Pillar adding a sacrifice fly, the Mets’ 20th of the season (only the Angels have fewer with 19). It was a total dismantling, and as soon as the Yankees fell behind 6-2, they were as good as done.
Entering Friday, the Yankees were winless (0-34) this season when trailing by four or more runs, along with the Cardinals (0-40) and Marlins (0-34). That futility continued against the Mets’ starter, rookie Tylor Megill, who dominated the Yankees so thoroughly that Jacob deGrom couldn’t have done any better. Megill (10 strikeouts, one walk) allowed only four hits through seven innings.
Technically, the Mets still are a contender despite coming off a 4-4 road trip against the NL East bottom-dwellers in D.C. and Miami.
On second thought, maybe we’ve been too hard on them lately. Because for all the ridicule heaped on the Mets this month, they totally pantsed their Bronx rivals Friday night at Citi.
So who’s the punch line now?
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
