ICED COLE

BY MARK HALPERN

    On Tuesday night 06/25/24, the New York Mets kicked off their subway series against the cross-town rival New York Yankees. Over the past 20 games, the Mets have been one of the hottest teams winning 15 of their last twenty, and have put themselves in a great position to be BUYERS come this trade deadline. This series is just about winning or losing, it’s bragging rights for a few days and in New York, a few days can feel like an eternity. In these games, the Yankees had some of the hottest hitters in baseball such as Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, and Volpe. They have been playing solid baseball. As for the Mets, it took a purple cartoon character named Grimace (McDonald’s mascot) and the Mets started changing the lineup it has worked and the pitching has been Steller.

       The first game on Tuesday featured Yankees ace Gerrit Cole (I think he needed more rehab time) and David Peterson the Met’s back-end starter. Gerrit Cole is the best pitcher in baseball and I am not throwing shots at anyone. When Cole is on and pinpoint his pitches and isn’t injured, he is a 20-game winner any year. However, that version of Cole hasn’t reemerged yet. Most of Cole’s pitches missed the point or were left flat over the plate. Cole was also on a pitch restriction as he is working his way back from injury. His final line against the Mets wasn’t pretty. Cole pitched 4innings giving up 7 hits and 6 earned runs to go along with 4 home runs and 4 walks (something Cole doesn’t do much). Getting destroyed doesn’t help build up his confidence. You could see his frustration after each pitch missed where he wanted to be and when you fall behind to a 3-0 count, those Met Hitters are going to capitalize and Nimmo, Bader, and Vientos (twice) found his weakness and exploited it.

      One thing I have always said is “Never count out the Yankees.” They have a great team and are in a rough patch right now. If I was a Yankee fan and I am glad I am not, yes it’s concerning about Cole but the rest of the team is playing and there is a reason you’re in first. As for the Mets, this was a statement saying we can beat the best, and now is the time for Stearns and Cohen to sit down and see what they can BUY to help make the push to try and catch the Phillies but, realistically one of the 3 wild card spots are now in reach.