Back in mid-May, it was easy to envision Subway Series fireworks over the Fourth of July weekend.
The Yankees had just taken two of three from the Mets in a hard-fought series in the Bronx, and both teams exited with leads in their respective divisions.
“That’s a great team over there,” Mets first baseman Pete Alonso said after the May 18 series finale, which the Yankees won, 8-2. “That’s the beautiful part about playing in the Subway Series. No matter which side you’re on, it’s that electric environment and it’s really fun. This is really fun baseball.”
But both the Mets and Yankees cooled off as the summer heated up.
Entering play Thursday, the Mets had lost 14 of their last 18 games and fallen into second place in the National League East behind the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Yankees had dropped 13 of their previous 19, with Wednesday’s 11-9 loss allowing the Toronto Blue Jays to tie them atop the American League East.
“It’s a long season,” Aaron Judge said Wednesday. “We’ve got to play better. That’s what it comes down to. You play better, we’ll put ourselves in a better position. But it’s not concerning. We’re not concerned about what’s going on around us. We’ve got to control what we do in this room and what we do out there on the field.”
This weekend’s Subway Series rematch at Citi Field offers an opportunity for the Mets and Yankees to right the ship.
Marcus Stroman (1-1, 8.16 ERA) is set to start Friday afternoon’s series opener for the Yankees, with Carlos Rodón (9-5, 2.95 ERA) scheduled for Saturday and Max Fried (10-2, 2.13 ERA) in line for Sunday.
Friday’s game is set to be Stroman’s second start since an 11-week stint on the injured list for left knee inflammation. He held the A’s to one run over five innings on Sunday.
The Yankees won the Subway Series games started by Rodón and Fried in May, with Rodón limiting the Mets to one run in five innings, and Fried holding them to two runs over six innings with eight strikeouts two days later.
“I grew up in Los Angeles, so you get a little bit of that with some Lakers-Clippers stuff, just being in the same city. They shared the same stadium for a while,” Fried told the Daily News ahead of his first Subway Series start. “It’s cool. It’s a cool rivalry that everyone’s really looking forward to.”
The Mets, meanwhile, had not announced their pitching plans as of Thursday afternoon as injuries continue to ravage their rotation.
Paul Blackburn (shoulder impingement) landed on the injured list Thursday, joining Kodai Senga (hamstring strain), Tylor Megill (elbow sprain), Griffin Canning (ruptured Achilles) and Sean Manaea (oblique strain).
Frankie Montas, who was limited to eight appearances with the Yankees from 2022-23 due to shoulder issues, is likely to start one of the games for the Mets. He is 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA in two starts since a lat strain delayed his season debut by three months.
“Gotta get through today and see where we’re at for tomorrow and then for the weekend,” manager Carlos Mendoza said Thursday.
Much of the attention during May’s interborough battle revolved around Juan Soto, who was playing in the Bronx for the first time since he left the Yankees in the offseason for a 15-year, $765 million contract with the Mets.
Soto heard unrelenting boos and jeers throughout that series, during which he went 1-for-10 amid a slow start to his Mets career.
But Soto has since returned to his superstar form, winning National League Player of the Month for June after hitting 11 home runs with a 1.196 OPS.
Soto was one of few Mets to provide consistent offensive production during their June swoon. The Mets entered Thursday averaging 3.2 runs per game over their previous 18.
In Wednesday’s 7-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, Mendoza moved Francisco Lindor out of the leadoff spot (and into the No. 2 hole) for the first time this season.
“Whatever it takes to win,” said Lindor, who snapped an 8-for-60 slide by going a 3-for-4 with a home run. “I don’t have to hit in one place. I’ll hit wherever the team thinks is the best thing.”
SENGA START
Senga is set to begin a minor-league rehab assignment with Double-A Binghamton on Saturday or Sunday.
“Hopefully it’s the one here this weekend, and he might be in play for us before the [All-Star] break,” Mendoza said.
Senga, who last pitched on June 12, is 7-3 with a 1.47 ERA this season.
NÚÑEZ NEWS
Dedniel Núñez went on the injured list Thursday with a right elbow sprain, and Tommy John surgery is on the table, Mendoza confirmed.
“We’re gonna wait until multiple doctors take a look at the imaging,” Mendoza said.
The right-hander has a 4.66 ERA in 10 appearances this season.
OTHER METS UPDATES
The Mets got “relatively good news” on Blackburn’s shoulder, according to Mendoza, who said the right-hander will be shut down from throwing for three to five days.
Manaea, meanwhile, is set to make another rehab start on Tuesday and could make his season debut in the final game before the All-Star break.
YANKEES ADD INFIELDER
The Yankees added to their infield depth on Thursday, signing Nicky Lopez to a minor-league contract, according to FanSided.
Lopez, 30, was a Gold Glove finalist at second base with the Chicago White Sox last season and has also played 296 games at shortstop and 75 at third base during his seven-year MLB career.
The lefty-swinging Lopez is a career .245 hitter, but he totaled only one hit in 24 at-bats during stints with the Los Angeles Angels and Chicago Cubs this year.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, meanwhile, claimed infielder CJ Alexander off of waivers from the Yankees on Thursday.
