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Posted: Thursday, 15 May 2008 2:56PM

Schwei's Vision: Subway Series By The Numbers

John Schweibacher

mets@wfan.com
New York, NY (WFAN)  -- The Mets and Yankees will play the first of their two interleague series match-ups at Yankee Stadium. This is only the fourth time since the two clubs began playing home and home series in 1999 that the first of the two meetings is not at Shea. Overall, the Mets have gone just 10 and 20 in the 30 games played against their cross-town rivals in the Bronx. The only winning series the Mets have had at the Stadium was back in 2005 when they took the first two games of the series before losing the Sunday night finale. Despite their poor record in the Bronx, the Mets have only been swept once by the Yankees at Yankee Stadium (2003).

For the first time in their interleague match-ups, the Yankees face the Mets without Joe Torre as their manager. Joe Girardi, who appeared in the first "subway series" between the two clubs in 1997, managed against the Mets in 2006 while with the Marlins. Florida went 8 and 11 in the season series against the Mets with Girardi as their skipper that season.

Mike Piazza appeared in the most games for the Mets against the Yankees (38). Piazza also has the most hits (44) and RBI's (25) for the Mets vs. the Yanks and is tied with Cliff Floyd (8) for the most home runs by a Met in games played against the Yankees. David Wright has a lifetime batting average of .323 against the Yanks, tied with Roger Cedeno for the best mark against their cross-town rival. Piazza owns the 3rd best mark at .317. Current Mets Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes have hit .243 and .235 for the Mets in games vs. the Yankees.

Derek Jeter has played in all 60 games the Mets and Yankees have played against one another since interleague play began in 1997, the most of any player. He also leads the Yanks with 49 runs, 94 hits and 31 RBI's in games played vs. the Mets and is tied with Jorge Posada for the most home runs (11) in regular season play against them as a Yankee.

Pitching-wise, Al Leiter won five games for the Mets against the Yankees, the most by any Met vs. the Yanks but also suffered the most losses (5) as well. Kevin Appier owns the best ERA of any Mets pitcher in games played against the Yankees (0.60) with current Mets Oliver Perez (1.20) and Pedro Martinez (1.23) 2nd & 3rd. Armando Benitez has the most Met saves vs. the Yankees (5).

As for the Yankee pitchers against the Mets, Andy Pettitte has the most victories (5), while Roger Clemens has the most losses (5). Current Met Orlando Hernandez' 1.73 ERA is the best of any Yankee vs. the Mets, followed by Ramiro Mendoza (2.37) and David Wells (3.21). Mariano Rivera has 16 saves in the interleague games against the Mets.

Here are 10 trivia questions based on the Mets' visits to the Stadium:

1997: Dave Mlicki won the first-ever regular season game between the Mets and Yankees. Who were the Mets other two starters in that first "Subway Series"?

1999: Name the three Mets coaches who were fired during the series and who were the three coaches that replaced them?

2000: Who was the Yankees catcher in the game in which Roger Clemens beaned Mike Piazza?

2001: What Mets starter threw eight shutout innings, allowing just four hits in the Mets' 3-0, 10-inning win in the middle game of the series?

2002: Against which Yankee pitcher and catcher did Roger Cedeno steal home in the middle game of the series?

2003: What Mets rookie pitcher started against Roger Clemens in the day portion of the day-night, Yankee and Shea Stadium doubleheader?

2004: Which Mets pitcher and catcher wore the wrong uniforms in the Sunday night game of the series?

2005: Which Yankee delivered the game-winning hit in the 9th inning of the Sunday night game, denying the Mets a three-game sweep in the series in the Bronx?

2006: Who were the two Mets pitchers who each gave up eight runs in the Yankees' 16-7 win in the finale of the series?

2007: Who was the only Yankees pitcher the Mets defeated in the three-game series at the Stadium?

The Mets first-ever visit to Yankee Stadium was back on June 20th, 1963 in the inaugural Mayor's Trophy Game. A crowd of 50,742 saw the Mets defeat the Yankees, 6-2. The annual exhibition game was discontinued after 1983.

Trivia Answers:

1997: Armando Reynoso & Rick Reed

1999: Bob Apodaca, Tom Robson & Randy Niemann were fired. Dave Wallace, Mickey Brantley & Al Jackson replaced them.

2000: Chris Turner

2001: Kevin Appier

2002: Ted Lilly & Alberto Castillo

2003: Jeremy Griffiths

2004: Jose Parra & Tom Wilson (both wore the black "Mets" jersey instead of "New York").

2005: Jason Giambi

2006: Alay Soler & Heath Bell

2007: Roger Clemens

Click Here for more trivia questions.


{thanks to the Ultimate Mets Database for much of the Mets vs. Yankees info & boxscores}

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