Subway Series, Part II

The Yankees and Mets kick off a three-game series for the second time this season on Friday night. This time the two clubs will face off at pitcher-friendly Citi Field in Flushing, New York.
Subway Series, Part II
Kristen Meriwether
6/25/2009
Updated:
6/26/2009
The Yankees and Mets kick off a three-game series for the second time this season on Friday night. This time the two clubs will face off at pitcher-friendly Citi Field in Flushing, New York.

The two New York clubs faced off earlier this month with the Yankees taking two of three at Yankees stadium. All three of those games saw lots of offense—mostly from Yankee bats which is clearly something the Mets pitching staff hopes to curb this time around.

CC Sabathia (6–4, 3.71 ERA) is expected to get the Friday night start for the Yankees despite leaving early in his last start on Sunday. This will be Sabathia’s first Subway Series start but not the first time he has faced the Mets. He has only beaten them once in his career.

The Mets will call on Mike Pelfrey (5–2 4.74 ERA) to start on Friday. Pelfrey is hoping for a repeat his only start against the Yankees, a little over a year ago, which resulted in a 15–6 Mets win.

A.J. Burnett (5–4, 4.24 ERA) will get the start on Saturday for the Yankees, looking for his sixth win of the season. Burnett will be the only Yankees starter that pitched when the teams met earlier this month.  

Burnett provided the Yankees with seven innings of work and eight strikeouts in the 15–0 win almost two weeks ago.

Tim Redding (1–2, 6.08 ERA) will face Burnett, looking for his second victory of the season after getting his first victory Monday against St. Louis.  This will be Redding’s first start against the Yankees.  

The Subway Series finale will feature Chien-Ming Wang (0–6, 11.20 ERA) for the Yankees against Livan Hernandez (5–2, 4.05 ERA) for the Mets.

Wang is still searching for his elusive first victory of the season. He is 1–1 in his two career starts against the Mets.

Hernandez has faced the Yankees six times and is 0–3, including a no decision earlier this month in the 9–8 loss on June 12. He gave up three home runs in that game.

The Yankees have a record of 40-32 and are currently four games behind Boston in the AL East.

The Mets have a record of 37–34 and are currently one game behind the Phillies in the NL East.