Lineup change: Tatis in left, Sheffield in right. Here we go.

Top One: Hernandez is off to a flying start as Jeter lines a leadoff double off the wall in left. Murphy tried to get Jeter at third on Swisher’s grounder, but Jeter was safe. First and third. Both runners scored on Teixeira’s double into the left field corner that Tatis had trouble picking up. 2-0 Yanks. Rodriguez walks on four pitches. Cano’s forceout puts men at the corners. Teixeira scores on Posada’s sacrifice fly. Cano was caught stealing for the third out. Yanks 3-0.

UPDATE: Wang hit Cora with a 3-1 pitch with one out in the first. No, smart-alecks, it wasn’t a message for Cora getting the only hit last night. Sheffield’s single up the middle moves Cora to third. Tatis flies to right to end the inning. Yanks 3-0.

UPDATE: Top second, Martinez makes a beautiful diving catch on Wang’s sinking liner to retire the side.

UPDATE: Hernandez has settled down, retiring the last two sides in order after the three-run first. Question is, is a 3-0 deficit too much for that Mets lineup to handle?

UPDATE: Top four, Rodriguez leads off with a single. Cano hits into a DP. Posada grounds out.

UPDATE: Sheffield walked, went to second on a groundourt, and scored on Martinez’ double off the left field wall that snapped an 0-for-16 slump. Martinez goes to third on a groundout. Castillo’s single scores Martinez. Steals second. Yanks 3-2.

UPDATE: Top fifth: Gardner walks and Wang bunts into a 1-6-4 DP as Hernandez smartly lets it fall.

UPDATE: Top Sixth, Jeter and Swisher walk. Runners move to second and third on Teixeira’s flyout to deep center. Hernandez intentionally walks A-Rod to load the bases for Cano. But Cano hits into a double play to end the inning.

UPDATE: Bottom sixth. Sheffield singled off Wang’s glove. Tatis sacrifices him to second. Wang’s out, Coke’s in. Martinez strikes out on high heat. Santos is pinch-hitting for Schneider. Girardi brings in Hughes and double-switches,Damon in left and Hughes hitting in Swisher’s No. 2 spot. Hughes throws one pitch and gets Santos to fly out to keep the score at 3-2 Yanks.

UPDATE: Bottom seven. Remember that post about bunting for a hit? Castillo just tried it three times while taking a walk. Argenis Reyes pinch-hits for Hernandez and bunts into a 5-6 forceout. Reyes to second on Murphy’s groundout. But Cora strikes out looking to end the inning.

UPDATE: Top eighth. Hernandez is out, Feliciano is in. Jeter walks and goes to second on pinch-hitter Matsui’s groundout. Teixeira intentional walk. Feliciano’s out, Green is in. A-Rod walks to load the bases with two out. Cano grounds out to Castillo to keep the score at 3-2 Yanks.

UPDATE: Bottom eighth. Bruney’s pitching and walks Wright on four pitches to lead off. Sheffield pops to Jeter. Tatis walks. Martinez fans for a second time on high heat. Bruney’s out, Rivera’s in as he tries to get his 500th career save. Wright steals third. Santos strikes out looking at a 3-2 pitch just abover the knees. Mets have left four on in the last three innings, three in scoring position.

UPDATE: Top ninth. Green’s out, Rodriguez is in. Reed is in right. Posada singles as Cora misjudges pop to short center. Looks like he thought Castillo was calling him off. Cabrera reaches on forceout. Steals second. Gardner walks. Damon lines to right. Jeter is intentionally walked to bring up the closer Rivera with the bases loaded. Rivera fouls off a pitch at 2-2 to stay alive, then works out an RBI walk for the first run since the first inning. No way he doesn’t get Save No. 500 now.

UPDATE: Bottom ninth. Castillo grounds out to second. Reed strikes out looking. Murphy bloops a single to left. Cora grounds out and Rivera notches his 500th save. 4-2 Yanks.

Daniel Murphy  1B

Alex Cora  SS

David Wright 3B

Gary Sheffield  LF

Fernando Tatis  RF

Fernando Martinez CF

Brian Schneider  C

Luis Castillo  2B

Livan Hernandez  P

“In the old days,” he said, “when a guy’s throwing like Burnett was and you can’t get anything going, you’d bunt. Just get the pitcher moving around, working harder, get him to come off the mound.”

Seems like a good idea, and I haven’t seen Jerry Manuel’s team try anything remotely like that. Unless he’s expecting Argenis Reyes to plant one 450 feet, perhaps he should give that a whirl, just to get something going.

Any comments?

EP

Redding will be out before the fifth inning at this rate. He’s already thrown 21 pitches, having walked Swisher and Teixeira. Yanks are being very patient with him, making him work. Wright couldn’t glove a foul pop in the stands that hit him on the mitt. But Cano struck out to end the inning.

UPDATE: Top second. Burnett’s fouled off five pitches before striking out to end the inning.

UPDATE: Swisher banged his 14th homer of the season over the 384-foot sign in opposite left center for a 1-0 lead in the third.

UPDATE: Mets go down in order in the third. This is looking a lot like last night’s game offensively, when the Mets didn’t get a hit until the fifth inning. At least they’re only behind by a run.

UPDATE: Fourth inning. Redding’s pitching well since the homer, retiring the next five batters in a row and striking out the last two.

UPDATE: Burnett just went through four with a no-hitter. Sound familiar?

UPDATE: Bottom five, Cabrera makes a reaching, running grab at the warning track on Murphy’s deep fly, his second great play of the night. Schneider walks with two out, and Redding gets a nice hand as he comes to the plate. He strikes out, and Burnett has a no-hitter through five.

UPDATE: Top Six. Teixeira lines a double to center and scores on A-Rod’s single up the middle. Cano put men on second and third with his double that droped in front of the left field wall. Posada hits Redding’s first pitch over left field for his 10th homer, a three-run job. Redding’s done. Stokes is in. Stokes retires the side. Yanks 5-0.

UPDATE: Cora lines a single to center to break up the no-hitter. Now the Mets only have to make up the five-run stagger. Easier busting up a no-hitter for this team.

UPDATE: Bottom seven. Pena lays out for a backhand grab of Murphy’s grounder and throws him out by a hair.

UPDATE: Top eighth. Stokes is out, Misch is in. He survives the eighth, and Dessens comes in for the ninth after Bruney relieves Burnett and gets the Mets out in order.

UPDATE: Bruney’s out, Robertson’s in to finish up. That’s it. 5-0 Yanks.

Alex Cora  SS

Argenis Reyes  2B

David Wright  3B

Ryan Church  RF

Gary Sheffield LF

Daniel Murphy 1B

Jeremy Reed CF

Brian Schneider C

Tim Redding P

As a friend said, water always finds its own level. Call up enough minor league guys, and you’ll get a minor-league team. Agree? Disagree?

Leave a comment.

EP

UPDATE: Cabrera reached second on a single and David Wright’s throwing error on a slow bouncer to third. Pena drove in Cabrera with a double, and Sabathia helped himself with an RBI single up the middle. Gardner moved him to second with a bloop single, bringing the pitching coach to the mound. Sabathia scored when Cora threw away Damon’s grounder, putting men on second and third. Evans’ bobble on a Teixeira’s grounder scored Gardner and put Damon on third. It was the Mets’ third error of the inning and second that scored a run. A-Rod walked to load the bases. 4-0 Yanks.

UPDATE: Top of the third, Pena strokes his second double of the game and moves to third on Sabathia’s groundout. He stays there, however, as Gardner grounds out to end the inning.

UPDATE: Sabathia just got through his third perfect inning, with Pelfrey hitting the first groundout against the pitcher. He’s struck out four so far.

UPDATE: Sabathia’s through four perfectly, with five strikeouts. Wright almost broke through, but A-Rod made a nice backhanded pickup and threw him out.

UPDATE: Sheffield put the Mets on the board with his ninth homer, a shot deep to left, off a 1-1 pitch. Tatis legs out an infield single after a diving stop by A-Rod and was out on Church’s broken-bat groundout. Evans’ single to right put runners on first and second. Santos and Argenis Reyes, pinch-hitting for Pelfrey, struck out.

UPDATE: Pelfrey’s out aftetr an outing that looked a lot worse on paper than it was. The Yanks dinked and dunked him to death when his own infield wasn’t killing him. Misch is in in the sixth. Gardner blooped a two-out single to center and swiped his 17th base of the season. But Misch struck out Damon looking.

UPDATE: Top seven, Rodriguez walked and Cano doubled as Tatis lolligagged a throw to short as Cano kept running. Cabrera walked to load the bases. Misch is out, Dessens is in. Castillo just got a big, sarcastic hand for catching Cervelli’s popup with the sacks loaded for the second out. Remember, his dropped ninth-inning popup cost the Mets the opener of Subway I. Castillo goes even further back for Pena’s pop to end the inning.

UPDATE: Eighth inning. Brett Gardner hit his third homer of the year into the lower stands in right. for a 5-1 lead. Rodriguez hit his 13th homer of the season into the Mets’ bullpen. Cano lined a single to center. Dessens is out, Parnell is in. Parnell balked Cano to second and wild-pitched him to third on his first two pitches. Yanks 7-1.

UPDATE: Sabathia’s finished after seven innings of one-run, three-hit ball. He struck out eight abnd walked none. Except for the fifth, he retired every side in order. Tomko’s in. If the Mets are going to come back, this is the guy to do it against—the human pitching machine. No such luck. Side’s out.

UPDATE: Ninth inning. Green’s in for Parnell after Murphy pinch-hit. Pena infield hit to third. Gardner tripled to right for an 8-1 lead. Damon doubles to right for a 9-1 lead. Teixeira hit by pitch. Ransom runs for Teixeira, and Matsui pinch-hits for A-Rod.

UPDATE: Castillo grounds to short. Cora pops to short. Wright strikes out. That’s it. 9-1 Yanks.

Luis Castillo 2B

Alex Cora SS

David Wright 3B

Gary Sheffield RF

Fernando Tatis LF

Ryan Church CF

Nick Evans 1B

Omir Santos C

Mike Pelfrey P

Just kidding.

But seriously, Luis Castillo just got a big hand from the Yankee Stadium crowd. Of course he did. You always thank the one who comes bearing gifts.

Hey! Castillo just fielded Mark Teixeira’s grounder cleanly and threw him out to end the first. Things are looking up!

UPDATE: Omir Santos put the Mets up 2-0 in the second with his fourth homer of the year, a liner just over the left field wall.

UPDATE: A-Rod just put the Yanks on the board with a homer, his ninth, that barely cleared the left field wall. Rain’s getting a little heavier now in the second inning. Castillo made a nice, reaching grab on Matsui’s liner to end the second.

UPDATE: Looks like they may have found something in Fernando Nieve. He’s looked steady through four, allowing just a homer and a walk to A-Rod. Works fast and keeps the hitters off-balance with a combination of a good fastball and slider. Unless he falls apart over the next inning or two, he’s earned himself a second start in place of John Maine as far as I’m concerned.

UPDATE: Gary Sheffield lined an RBI single to right off Pettitte, who’s had a labored afternoon. He’d already given up a fifth-inning leadoff single to Beltran and a lined double past Rodriguez by David Wright. Aceves is up in the pen as Mets hold a 3-1 lead with first and third, none out. Wright scores from third on Tatis’ forceout at second. 4-1 Mets. They get another as Omir Santos blasts an RBI double off the wall in right. 5-1 Mets. Inning ends as Santos gets caught in a rundown on Martinez’ grounder to deep third.

UPDATE: Nieve just pitched his way out of a first-and-third, two-out situation by getting Jeter to ground to short to end the fifth. Nicely done. Now in the top of the sixth and Pettitte is done, making way for Aceves. Five earned runs, 12 hits, a walk, three strikeouts and a homer.

UPDATE: Tatis just made two plays, snagging Johnny Damon’s broken-bat liner and diving for Mark Teixeira’s hard grounder toward the hole. Nieve just hit Rodriguez with a pitch, though. He strikes out Cano to make it through six. Jerry Manuel has to be delighted right now.

UPDATE: Sheffield put the Mets up 6-1 on his seventh homer, Aceves pitching. Ryan Church doubled to right. Jose Veras is up in the Yankees’ pen.

UPDATE: Nieve gave up two-out singles to Cabrera and Gardner in the seventh and is done with men on first and third. Sean Green’s in. Can’t fault the kid’s performance, though. Only four hits and two walks. Jeter’s infield single to Castillo, barely safe, scores Cabrera. 6-2 Mets.

UPDATE: Aceves out, Veras in. Castillo legged out a hit on a slow roller to second. He goes to third on Beltran’s single as Gardner slipped in center and the ball falls in. Wright grounds out to end the eighth.

UPDATE: Yanks’ last ups. Green’s out, and Rodriguez is in in a non-save situation. Posada skies to left. Matsui strikes out. Cabrera grounds out. That’s it. 6-2 Mets.

Castillo said he couldn’t sleep last night and was eager to get to the park today.

“I couldn’t wait to get to the game,” Castillo said. “It’s a new start today.”

The second baseman said he received several calls of support from friends last night, and now he’s set his mind on forgetting what, for now, goes as his most embarrassing moment on the field.

“I want to forget about everything from last night,” he said. “Everything about that game. I want to play and play hard.”

Manager Jerry Manuel didn’t have a second thought about putting Castillo back in the lineup. In his usual fashion—he has often shrugged off the gaffes that has cost his team games—he chalked this one up to the nature of the game. In other words, there’s no signs whatsoever that Manuel will remind his players that fundamentals—hustle, two-handed fielding, knowing the game situation—will become an overriding theme the rest of the season.

“It’s baseball,” Manuel said. “It’s part of the game. Obviously, you don’t like to go through this. But there’s 100 games left. The only thing that heals thing like this is time.”

Manuel said he gave Castillo a warm greeting upon arrival at Yankee Stadium, telling him “I couldn’t wait to see him.”

Very cuddly.

And he said he’s not worried about Castillo rounding back into the improved form he’s shown after a disastrous 2008 season.

“By the time we get back to Citi Field, he’ll be like 10-of-15 with five stolen bases,” Manuel said. “I’m not worried about that.”

METS:

Castillo 2B

Cora SS

Beltran CF

Wright 3B

Sheffield DH

Tatis 1B

Church RF

Santos C

Martinez LF

YANKS:

Jeter SS

Damon LF

Teixeira 1B

Rodriguez 3B

Cano 2B

Posada C

Matsui DH

Cabrera RF

Gardner CF

Pitchers: RHP Nieve (0-0) vs. LHP Pettitte (6-2)

The floor is now open. Be as kind or as unkind as you wish, just keep it clean.

EP

Of course, the way the Yankees pitchers are walking batters tonight, that lead won’t stand for long. Brett Tomko just walked the sixth batter after Joba Chamberlain walked five in four innings. Mets have left six on already,

Ryan Church just gave the Mets the lead—See, I told ya—with a two-run double to center, with Church taking third when Robbie Cano’s throw home hit David Wright as he crossed the plate.

UPDATE: Gary Sheffield just hit a two-run homer, his sixth on the year and 505th of his career, putting him in sole possession of 24th place on the all-time list ahead of Eddie Murray. Score: 6-3 Mets in the fifth.

UPDATE: Interesting exchange between Hernandez and plate umpire Fielden Culbreth in the fifth after Derek Jeter’s homer tightened things at 6-4. Hernandez started jawing with Culbreth during Nick Swisher’s at-bat and Culbreth started toward the mound appearing ready to throw him out. Brian Schneider interceded at the plate, until Jerry Manuel came out, and then headed out to the mound along with David Wright to settle Hernandez down. But Hernandez was hot with anger. The matter calmed to let the inning proceed. But after Hernandez fielded Teixeira’s bouncer for the third out, he glared at Culberth on his way back to the dugout.

UPDATE: Hernandez is out, Jon Switzer in with men on first and second and the go-ahead run up in lefty Hideki Matsui. Didn’t quite work out as Matsui homered on Switzer’s2-0 pitch for a 7-6 lead. Mets got the run back in the seventh when pinch-hitter Fernando Tatis’ double play allowed Sheffield to cross the plate from third. Tie score 7-7.

UPDATE: Girardi’s bringing in Mariano Rivera in a tie game in the eighth, two out and none on. Just my opinion, but the Yankee beat guys are gonna have a field day with this one, no matter how it works out. My assessment? Dumb move.

Wright just hit an RBI double into the RCF gap for an 8-7 lead off Rivera. Think Girardi’s second-guessing himself right now?

UPDATE: Rodriguez is closing. Gardner popped to Santos. Jeter lined a single to center. Pinch-hitter Johnny Damon strikes out as Jeter steals second. Teixeira is walked intentionally, bringing up A-Rod vs. K-Rod. Why the matchup? A-Rod is .071 lifetime against Rodriguez.  But the count goes to 3-0 before the reliever finally throws a strike. But A-Rod pops to second, only to have Castillo drop it to allow two runs in. Yanks win 9-8

EP

“It depends on how he does,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “Hopefully he pitches well and gives us five or six good innings. We’ll see after tomorrow.”

Manuel said Nieve, a middle-relief specialist since he arrived from Triple-A Buffalo in early June, had thrown several good starts with the Bisons. He was actually 3-0 in four starts, with a 3.70 ERA.

“Obviously, this is a good situation to evaluate a young pitcher,” Manuel said. “We’ll see how he handles things, and the emotions of the night, and make a decision after that.”

As far as Nieve was concerned, he was excited to find himself starting in the Subway Series.

“Whatever they want, I’m ready,” said Nieve, who allowed one hit and struck out two in his Mets debut, a two-inning scoreless stint last Saturday against Washington. “They’re giving me the starts one by one. There’s no time frame.”

EP

First up, an update on the John Maine-to-the-DL situation. While you’re waiting, feel free to head over to Giants Journal and take a look at the Michael Boley story there. It’s an interesting read.

EP