If Hal Steinbrenner was aggravated, frustrated and angry before the Mets reduced his Yankees to Subway Bums, imagine what he must be feeling today.
That thunderous sound Somebody Up There heard late in the afternoon after Mets 8, Yankees 3 was probably his father, the Boss, hurling a chair or two further than former Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen ever could.
The even more aggravated, frustrated and angry Yankees fans enjoyed one fleeting moment: third inning, Mets on first and second, Pete Alonso at the plate, when they drowned out the “Let’s Go Mets” chants with “Let’s Go Yankees,” and then Jordan Montgomery struck out Alonso and escaped. And a second fleeting moment. when Aaron Judge socked a sixth-inning home run — the first hit surrendered by Taijuan Walker — to spark a three-run inning.
Mets fans ended up with the last laugh, because everyone who hates the Yankees is laughing at them right now.
That the Mets looked like the more desperate team was damning commentary on the Yankees, following Judge’s players-only meeting and Son of Boss’ pointed message to the players to start giving him the bang for his bucks that he and GM Brian Cashman and everyone in The Bronx expected.
The Bronx Is Burning.
The Mets, their woeful offense sparked by the return of leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo, looked like a first-place team.
The 41-40 Yankees, 10 games behind the first-place Red Sox entering Saturday night, and with no relief in sight, looked like a fourth-place team.
Now imagine this: Should a highly motivated Marcus Stroman outduel Gerrit Cole in the matinee on Sunday, the Yankees will be a .500 team just in time for ESPN “Sunday Night Baseball.” With Nestor Cortes on the mound.
You might recall that Cashman explained why he wasn’t interested in Stroman at the expense of Clint Frazier at the 2019 trade deadline this way: “We were interested in Stroman, but we didn’t think he would be a difference-maker. We felt he would be in our bullpen in the postseason.”
Stroman, not including Cole or Luis Severino, eventually said: “There’s no current Yankee pitcher who will be anywhere in my league over the next five-to-seven years.”
Cashman desperately needs to hit a home run before the trade deadline. Since Mr. October isn’t available, can Cashman find a Mr. July with lefty power for that 314-foot right-field porch? Joey Gallo? Shohei Ohtani (LOL)?
He took calculated risks on the injury-plagued Corey Kluber and Jameson Taillon, and Kluber’s no-hitter is a distant memory now that he’s on the injured list.
And who hijacked Gleyber Torres? Why isn’t DJ LeMahieu The Machine? Frazier? Never mind. Will the backs of all those baseball cards ever awaken?
You better believe it’s getting late early in and around The Bronx.
Since sweeping the White Sox in late May, the Yankees are 13-21.
The good news: the season is half over.
“The history of this game is littered with teams overcoming larger obstacles than this with half a season to go,” Boone said. “But I would say that’s like completely getting ahead of ourselves. We gotta go play good baseball and become a great team to put ourselves in position to even think about that.”
When Boone left the dugout to yank Montgomery in the fifth, that wasn’t “BOONE” you heard from the Stadium crowd.
Boone has the perfect temperament for New York, a class act all the way, every day. But he isn’t paid solely to keep the clubhouse together. He is paid to win, and win big.
“We’re all pissed off about it, obviously,” Boone said. “We’ve set a much higher bar in there, and we haven’t to this point lived up to that.”
Sometimes in sports, when you knock on the door year after year after year and you cannot open it, you never get a chance to get back in position to knock on it again.
“This team is really good,” Luke Voit said.
Don’t tell us. Show us.
Where is that spring training hunger the Yankees were certain would carry them to the top of Manfred Mountain at last?
Walker, until he tired in the sixth inning, didn’t merely pitch like an All-Star. He pitched like Jacob deGrom and earned a standing ovation from the jubilant Mets fans in attendance.
After two successive rainouts, Boone should have prayed for rain.
“We can talk about it till we’re blue in the face,” Boone said. “We’ve gotta put together complete games, especially when we’re going up against good opponents.”
The Yankees are well aware that it is past time for every one of them to look in the mirror. They can’t possibly like what they see if and when they do.