Subway Series Part 2 Pits Struggling New York Mets Against New York Yankees

Subway Series part two pits the struggling Mets against the struggling Yankees. Fans of the New York teams are right to wonder if, in this Subway Series, both teams could lose? The Yankees have not won in July and were 13-14 in the month. They maintained control of the American League East Lead solo for 79 days before being tied by the upstart Toronto Blue Jays.

The Mets and the Phillies have traded struggles this season, and the National League East division lead. Now it is the Mets’ turn to struggle. They have relinquished the divisional lead and risk falling further behind. The Mets won their last game but were recently swept by the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates. This is shaping up to be a banger of a Subway Series. Do you plan to watch it?

Subway Series Part 2 Pitching Matchups

Neither team has yet to name starters for the second interaction of the Subway Series over the July 4 holiday weekend in Queens, New York. It will not matter if the teams play like they have been playing. Both teams are slumping and making fundamental mistakes.

The Mighty Ducks Drill

The Yankees lost yesterday’s game to the Blue Jays 11-9. They fought back from an 8-0 deficit to tie the game at 9, only to lose on a horrible play. In the eighth inning of a tie game, with a runner on third base, third-string Catcher Ben Rice tried to backhand a changeup from Yankees Closer Devin Williams. He misplayed it, and the ball bounded away. What proved to be the winning run scored from third base. Toronto added an insurance run later in that fateful inning. This brings to mind a Little League drill the Yankees should do to avoid costly late-game blunders at the catcher position.

The catcher is the most important defensive player on the field, as he has to catch or block every pitch that is delivered. Blocking pitches is very important, and since Rice failed to do that, there is a drill he should do, maybe with the second-string Yankee Catcher, JC Escarra.

Put five balls on the first baseline about three feet apart from each other. Have two catchers stand at the beginning of the line of balls, and at your signal, they should block each ball in the line. Fall on their knees, with their glove covering their five-hole. The object is to block the ball straight down in front of you.

Practice makes perfect, and the object is to block all pitches so that they fall right in front of you. The catchers can compete with each other to see which catcher gets through the line more quickly. A coach should stand over them and critique their form. This may seem silly, but the Yankees have been so bad heading into this Subway Series that they need remedial training, and they should do this Mighty Ducks drill. This is from the movie.

Baserunning

Many people comment on the rash of injuries associated with head-first slides. Players seem to think it is quicker or more macho, but it is dangerous. Every team, including the Yankees, is guilty of this offense. Nevertheless, the Yankees do seem to make their share of baserunning mistakes. We will almost certainly see more of these head-first slides in the Subway Series.

A team should never make the first or third out at third base. The Yankees have been guilty of this basic infraction several times. Why? Because a baserunner on second will score on a base hit, they are said to be in scoring position. So, there is no need from that perspective to be on third base. If there is only one out, then the team has two chances to get a base hit to score the base runner. It is also the case that making an inopportune out at third base can cut a rally short.

Instead, the baserunner should stay put at second base and the team should ‘hit behind him’ (to the right side of the infield, or sacrifice fly or bunt the baserunner over to third base. These are also things the Yankees are not good at. In particular, bunting. An entire article could be written about that art form, but suffice it to say it is mystifying that baseball players who have made the major leagues cannot bunt. Some do not have a sacrifice bunt in their careers.

Conclusion

Whichever team executes these fundamentals will win the Subway Series. Both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets have flashy players who are making hundreds of millions of dollars. At base, baseball is about fundamentals like this, which are taught to 8-year-olds. The players in this Subway Series should swallow their pride and get back to basics.