Subway Sweep: Yankees Sweep Series with the Mets

It is that time of year. Interleague baseball. And of course, you can't have interleague baseball without the Subway Series. The series received added hype by how well the Mets had played prior to traveling to the Bronx. I will recap the weekend series and reflect upon what we learned about both sides.

Robinson Cano watches his second home run of the game. (Mike Stobe)

In Friday night's series opener, Johan Santana was on the mound for the Mets for the first time since throwing the first no-hitter in his club's history. He would show no such dominance in this one. The Bronx Bombers lived up to their name as they took Santana deep four times, including two blasts by Robinson Cano. Santana came into the start on extra rest and showed some definite rust. The Yankees countered with Hiroki Kuroda. He was in superb form. Kuroda threw seven innings of one-hit ball, before having to leave the game after taking a liner off his ankle. The Yankees took the opener 9-1.

Phil Hughes gave up just two runs in 6 1/3 innings of work. (Mike Stobe)

The Yankees took the early lead in Saturday night's affair when Alex Rodriguez singled home Derek Jeter for the 1-0 lead. The Mets tied it up in the third on a solo home run by Omar Quintanilla. In the top the sixth, the Mets gained the lead on another solo shot, this one by David Wright. However, in the bottom half of the frame, the Yankees answered with a two-run home run by Mark Teixeira to gain the lead 3-2. Curtis Granderson added an insurance run for the Bombers in the 8th with a solo shot. Rafael Soriano came in and closed out the 4-2 Yankees victory with his ninth save of the season.

Russell Martin prepares to celebrate his walk-off home run. (Al Bello) 

In the series finale, it was the Mets who struck first. In the second inning, they capitalized on an uncharacteristic error by Robinson Cano to score three runs off Yankees starter Andy Pettitte. Mets starter Jonathan Niese was on cruise control, until an error by David Wright kept the bottom of the seventh alive for the Yankees. Russell Martin made them pay when he hit a two-run home run to draw the Yankees to within one. In the eighth inning, the Yanks got to Niese again, as Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez came up with clutch RBI singles to give them the 4-3 lead. In came Soriano in the ninth, who had yet to blow a save this season. However, that ended quickly as Lucas Duda and Ike Davis hit back-to-back doubles to tie the score up at four. In the bottom of the ninth, Martin was the first batter up for the Yankees. Facing a full count, he connected on a walk-off home run to left, as the Yankees completed the sweep with a dramatic 5-4 victory.

The Yankees are really starting to heat up. This team looks completely different from the ball club that was playing just a few weeks ago. The starting staff is looking more stable from top to bottom. The Bronx Bombers loved the long ball as always, hitting eight homers in the series. However, more importantly, they came up with clutch hits with RISP, something they had struggled with earlier in this season. The Yankees are beginning to look like a dangerous team. The Mets will be disappointed by getting swept, but they look to keep going. They have overachieved to get to this point already, so they don't have anything to lose. They will look to rebound when they take the field again Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. It was another excellent Subway Series, full of stellar moments. It is truly one of the highlights of every baseball season.