The Mets and Yankees played three games against one another in spring training, so the novelty of referring to the opposing Latest York team as “them” has worn off for Carlos Mendoza.
Fifteen years as a Yankees minor league instructor/major league coach and now a half-season into his first MLB managing job, Mendoza wasn’t about to get too nostalgic as he prepared for his first Subway Series as Mets manager.
The Mets have two games ahead against their Bronx neighbors and are more concerned with continuing their recent surge than any of the opposite hoopla.
“They’ve a very good team,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got a very good team and we’re playing well, too.”
Mendoza still occasionally converses together with his old friend Aaron Boone, the Yankees manager, but Tuesday and Wednesday at Citi Field can be more businesslike.
Harrison Bader, a Latest Yorker who played within the Subway Series on the opposite side, sharing a dugout with Mendoza, was asked what it’s got to be like for the Mets manager provided that Mendoza helped develop and nurture most of the Yankees players.
“Go on the market and kick some ass — that’s all there may be to it,” Bader said. “If anything [the Subway Series], amplifies the extent of gratitude now we have for the opportunities of the sport. I’m excited for [Mendoza] to experience it. I’m excited for me to experience it. I’ll be on the opposite side now and I’m going to embrace it and dive into it and I’m going to have as much fun as I possibly can.”
It’s hardly the primary time a former Yankees player or coach can be guiding the Mets within the Subway Series.
Willie Randolph was the Mets manager from 2005-08 and experienced it. Buck Showalter was the Mets manager for the past two seasons.
“There’s at all times wrinkles to it,” Boone said. “Mendy being such a crucial a part of this organization for such an extended time and now helping lead that organization, yeah, it’ll be a little bit odd. We got to do it in spring training where we saw him, but now these count. It’ll actually be fun to see him.”
The Mets have been formidable in June with a 13-6 record that features 4 straight series victories.
To maintain that streak intact, they might must sweep the 2 games in Queens against the Yankees.
Mendoza last week switched his pitching rotation, moving David Peterson into Tuesday’s start after deciding Luis Severino should face the Cubs.
Severino on Sunday responded with one among his top performances of the season, striking out 10 over six shutout innings.
Now it’s Peterson’s job — his mound opponent is Gerrit Cole — to validate the second half of Mendoza’s rotation readjustment.
For Peterson, the challenge starts with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, but doesn’t end there.
“They’ve an incredible lineup,” Peterson said. “Those guys statistically and historically are two of the very best hitters now we have in the sport immediately, so for me that doesn’t change anything. I could possibly be facing the guy with the best statistics or lowest stats within the league and it’s still the massive leagues.”
Bader, who grew up attending the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium, welcomes the diversion of those games.
“It’s a Subway Series,” Bader said. “If we were playing just one other team, there isn’t a title to it. Two Latest York teams playing one another, there may be like a theme. As a young kid, as a fan, I loved it. I loved the emotion of all of the backwards and forwards. All of us wish to hoist a trophy up in Latest York. That’s all of our dreams”
—Additional reporting by Greg Joyce
The Mets and Yankees played three games against one another in spring training, so the novelty of referring to the opposing Latest York team as “them” has worn off for Carlos Mendoza.
Fifteen years as a Yankees minor league instructor/major league coach and now a half-season into his first MLB managing job, Mendoza wasn’t about to get too nostalgic as he prepared for his first Subway Series as Mets manager.
The Mets have two games ahead against their Bronx neighbors and are more concerned with continuing their recent surge than any of the opposite hoopla.
“They’ve a very good team,” Mendoza said. “We’ve got a very good team and we’re playing well, too.”
Mendoza still occasionally converses together with his old friend Aaron Boone, the Yankees manager, but Tuesday and Wednesday at Citi Field can be more businesslike.
Harrison Bader, a Latest Yorker who played within the Subway Series on the opposite side, sharing a dugout with Mendoza, was asked what it’s got to be like for the Mets manager provided that Mendoza helped develop and nurture most of the Yankees players.
“Go on the market and kick some ass — that’s all there may be to it,” Bader said. “If anything [the Subway Series], amplifies the extent of gratitude now we have for the opportunities of the sport. I’m excited for [Mendoza] to experience it. I’m excited for me to experience it. I’ll be on the opposite side now and I’m going to embrace it and dive into it and I’m going to have as much fun as I possibly can.”
It’s hardly the primary time a former Yankees player or coach can be guiding the Mets within the Subway Series.
Willie Randolph was the Mets manager from 2005-08 and experienced it. Buck Showalter was the Mets manager for the past two seasons.
“There’s at all times wrinkles to it,” Boone said. “Mendy being such a crucial a part of this organization for such an extended time and now helping lead that organization, yeah, it’ll be a little bit odd. We got to do it in spring training where we saw him, but now these count. It’ll actually be fun to see him.”
The Mets have been formidable in June with a 13-6 record that features 4 straight series victories.
To maintain that streak intact, they might must sweep the 2 games in Queens against the Yankees.
Mendoza last week switched his pitching rotation, moving David Peterson into Tuesday’s start after deciding Luis Severino should face the Cubs.
Severino on Sunday responded with one among his top performances of the season, striking out 10 over six shutout innings.
Now it’s Peterson’s job — his mound opponent is Gerrit Cole — to validate the second half of Mendoza’s rotation readjustment.
For Peterson, the challenge starts with Juan Soto and Aaron Judge, but doesn’t end there.
“They’ve an incredible lineup,” Peterson said. “Those guys statistically and historically are two of the very best hitters now we have in the sport immediately, so for me that doesn’t change anything. I could possibly be facing the guy with the best statistics or lowest stats within the league and it’s still the massive leagues.”
Bader, who grew up attending the Subway Series at Yankee Stadium and Shea Stadium, welcomes the diversion of those games.
“It’s a Subway Series,” Bader said. “If we were playing just one other team, there isn’t a title to it. Two Latest York teams playing one another, there may be like a theme. As a young kid, as a fan, I loved it. I loved the emotion of all of the backwards and forwards. All of us wish to hoist a trophy up in Latest York. That’s all of our dreams”
—Additional reporting by Greg Joyce
