The previously slumping former batting champion Jeff McNeil is downright hot now, which gives the Mets a chance to have about the deepest lineup in baseball. One through nine, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza can write a bona fide threat into every spot in the order, at least on days when Jose Iglesias is playing and not singing.
This differentiates them from the Yankees, who as well-known truth-teller Luis Severino memorably pointed out in some classic trash talking to his former Yankees teammates that they currently have “only two good hitters.”
(Aside: I got a rare chance to edit rather than write, and I pointed out to the great sport Severino that while he was right about the other seven in the Yankees’ order, it’s fair to call Aaron Judge and Juan Soto “all-time great” and not just “good.” He agreed. “Right, they’re great,” Sevy conceded to me.)
Put-downs aside, the Mets are the deeper and better team right now. OMG are they ever! (hat tip to Candelita, Jose Iglesias’ stage name)
Thanks to McNeil’s heroics, the Mets beat the Yankees, 3-2, in a sold-out Subway Series game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, going to 3-0 against their crosstown rival.
Fairly, in this one they barely survived quite a ninth-inning scare when previously struggling Jake Diekman got through the two superstars (closer Edwin Diaz was unavailable.) The valiant veteran walked Soto and struck out Judge after the Mets walked Judge his first four times up — once intentionally and three times close to intentionally. (Mendoza served as Yankees bench coach six of Judge’s seven-plus seasons, so he must understand to avoid him better than most others.)
Though the Yankees remain 6 ¹/₂ to the good over the Mets by record, the feeling is much more positive around the Mets now. Though their plane from Miami didn’t touch down until 6 a.m. Tuesday, they played a generally alert brand of baseball, save for one bizarre baserunning play by McNeil two innings before he became a Subway Series hero.
McNeil’s go-ahead home run — he broke a 1-1 tie and now has six hits in 15 at-bats since the break — came off ex-Met Michael Tonkin, who’s been treated unkindly by the team from Queens counting two previous designations for assignment (a nice way of saying you’re fired).
“I feel [McNeil’ is] back to what he’s capable of. But now he’s driving the ball,” Mendoza said.
Both local teams are in wild-card position and both could use some help. Yet, it is the slumping Yankees — now 10-21 in their past 31 games — who need significantly more trade deadline reinforcements.
For weeks, even months, no one saw this coming, not back when the Yankees were playing their way to a best-in-baseball 51-22 record and the Mets were digging themselves a deep hole 11 games below .500.
While the Mets have played like a fringy playoff team over the past month, that’s a lot better than the Yankees, who have plain stunk. Since their slide started more than a month ago, all but one team is outplaying them. Yes, of course that’s the White Sox, who are challenging the historic 1962 Mets.
With a week to go before the deadline, it’s clear which team has more holes to fill, and it’s not the team from Queens. The really great thing about the Mets’ current situation is that they already own the very two things most teams lack: rotation depth, and lineup depth.
Their lone pressing need remains obvious: They must bolster a bullpen that’s mostly either moved to the season IL (Brooks Raley, Drew Smith), the temporarily IL (Reed Garrett, Sean Reid-Foley) or low-leverage situations (Adam Ottavino, Diekman). It was a stunner when Mendoza rolled the dice with Diekman (though he didn’t say whether he closed his eyes for the Judge at-bat, which ended with a fastball for a called strike.)
As for the Yankees, well, they’ll need of a deadline miracle. Or maybe two.
The rotation that was the best in baseball for two-plus months became the close to the worst for a month. The lineup that was the best in the game for those same two-plus months was close to the worst for that same month.
For weeks the Yankees were talking like they needed only a bullpen reinforcement or two. They still need some help there, especially of the swing-and-miss variety, true. And a starter wouldn’t hurt, either. The Yankees’ most glaring issue, however, is that two-superstar offense that’s unlikely to work come the playoffs.
I won’t go over all the ugly numbers here, but suffice to say, it’s hard to imagine a lineup composed of the game’s two best hitters and seven guys who are struggling will go anywhere in October.
Giancarlo Stanton doesn’t look far off, and top hitting prospect Jasson Dominguez should become an option. But the two superstars need help now. A third basemen looks like a must, with Luis Rengifo, Jonathan India, Matt Chapman and Isaac Paredes among potential targets.
They’ll need to do something about what’s going on. As constituted, the Yankees simply are not good enough.
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