The scoreboard said "Yankees-Mets," but the scorecard didn't. With all their injuries, it's as if the two New York baseball teams were the two New York football teams.
The Yankees' lineup for Friday night's opener of the three-game interleague party at Shea Stadium had no Hideki Matsui (out until at least September with a broken wrist), and no Gary Sheffield and no Bubba Crosby (both also on the disabled list). Another absentee, the right-hander Carl Pavano, who hasn't pitched for the Yankees this season, won't pitch this season. He needs bone-chip surgery above the elbow.
The Yankees' outfield was reduced to the elegant but aging Bernie Williams in left, the sore-footed Johnny Damon in center and the rookie Melky Cabrera in right. That's not exactly what George Steinbrenner had in mind when he approved a Yankees payroll that approached US$200 million.
The Mets' starting pitcher was Jeremi Gonzalez, a 31-year-old right-hander who two weeks ago was at Triple-A Norfolk after five undistinguished seasons with the Cubs, the Devil Rays and the Red Sox. That's not exactly what Fred Wilpon had in mind as the ideal opponent for the Yankees' struggling future Hall of Famer, the left-hander Randy Johnson. The pitching matchups were scheduled to improve: Mike Mussina versus Pedro Martinez in what could be a classic on Saturday, and Aaron Small versus the 281-game winner Tom Glavine on Sunday.
For all their troubles, the Mets were still atop the National League East and the Yankees entered Friday night's game a half-game behind the Red Sox in the American League East. But as this season progresses, each team's eventual performance may depend on the "let's make a deal" performance of the rival general managers: the Mets' Omar Minaya and the Yankees' Brian Cashman. Will Minaya somehow discover dependable No. 4 and No. 5 starters to create a dependable pitching rotation? Will Cashman somehow make a deal for an established outfielder to tide over the Yankees in Matsui's absence?
"It's too difficult to get somebody special right now; too early," Minaya said. "Other teams don't want to give you anything good this early because it would look like they've given up on the season. You almost have to wait until later on, when a team realizes it's not going to do much, and even then they want to give you their guys that aren't any good for your best prospects."
The Mets' best prospects are the outfielder Lastings Milledge at Norfolk and the 6-foot-7 right-hander Mike Pelfrey at Double-A Binghamton. "We're not trading either of those two players," Minaya said. "We want to build a team with our farm system, and we expect them to be two of our core players."
Willie Randolph, the Mets' manager, has three dependable starters -- Martinez, Glavine and Steve Trachsel -- but he needs two more. Victor Zambrano and Brian Bannister were supposed to be those two, but both are on the disabled list. Zambrano is out for the season after tendon surgery in his right elbow, and Bannister was still unable to trust one of his hamstrings during a rehab start at Norfolk on Thursday. The right-hander John Maine, recovering from an inflamed middle finger, is also on the DL.
The Mets thought that the well-traveled Jose Lima, promoted from Norfolk after Zambrano was injured two weeks ago, might be the No. 4 starter. But for all of his experience, primarily with the Astros and the Tigers, he has talked a better game than he has pitched.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but