Game in National League ballpark results in National League score

The Yankees beat the Mets 2-1 on the strength of six strong innings of one-hit, shutout ball from Javier Vazquez. I was watching the game at Bleecker Heights with an old friend of mine, and so we were baffled when Vazquez — who had been absolutely cruising — didn’t come out for the 7th inning. Turns out he suffered a bruise in his finger after laying down a nice sac bunt in the top of the 6th, but fortunately x-rays were negative. It’s unclear whether he’ll make his next start, but things don’t sound too bad.

Mets starter Hisanori Takahashi was also excellent, throwing six shutout innings of his own and leaving the game in the hands of his bullpen. Unfortunately for Takahashi, the Mets’ bullpen did their best Yankee impression and coughed up a couple of runs, which were knocked in by Kevin Russo of all people.

Due to the magnificent pitching from both starters there was barely any offense to speak of. Poor Jason Bay actually ripped two balls to left field that looked like home runs off the bat — the second of which would have been long gone in any other stadium — but had to settle for a flyout and a double. Not that this is new news, but man Citi Field is cavernous.

David Robertson came on in the 7th but was only able to get one out, so Joba Chamberlain ended up tossing 1 2/3 scoreless frames. Mariano Rivera came in to lock down the save in the ninth and actually gave up a run, but was able to close it out without further damage.

I imagine the anti-Vazquez crowd will look at a start like this against a weak-hitting National League team in a gigantic ballpark and still remain skeptical, but I thought he looked pretty good out there. Hopefully he continues to improve, as the team very much needs quality innings from Vazquez due to the recent inevitable corrections to some of our other starters’ outstanding early-season performances.

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