The Mets and Yankees will begin one of the most anticipated Subway Series in years on Tuesday, July 26.
Here are the best moments from the previous games between the New York City baseball rivals.
25. Blast from the past
June 16, 2002
Mo Vaughn played parts of two years with the Mets at the end of his successful career, and they mostly were disappointing — except for one big at-bat at Shea. With the Mets trailing 2-0 in the eighth inning, the former Red Sox star belts a game-winning, three-run homer off David Wells to send the Mets to a thrilling 3-2 victory.
24. El Duque throws strike with glove
June 5, 1999
Mo Vaughn celebrates with manager Bobby Valentine after his 3 run homer wins the game. APRey Ordonez figures he has caught a break when his comebacker was gets lodged in the glove of Orlando “El Duque” Henandez. But the Yankees right-hander throws the entire glove to first base and records the out in the Yankees’ 6-3 victory at the Stadium.
23. Judge’s Citi Field shot
August 16, 2017
Though Judge had been struggling headed into that year’s Subway Series, he started the road portion of the matchup with a bang. In the top of the fourth, Judge sent Robert Gsellman’s pitch into the third deck at Citi Field, the ball going 457 feet. The Yankees went on to take a 5-3 win.
22. Lo Duca erupts over A-Rod antics
July 2, 2006
Alex Rodriguez homers twice and drives in seven runs in a 16-7 Yankees blowout, but it’s his histrionics that make this night memorable. A-Rod stares into the Yankees dugout, tossed his bat and slaps his hands together after a grand slam, which draws the ire of Mets catcher Paul LoDuca. When Rodriguez nears the plate, Lo Duca begins chirping, and the two have to be separated. “I thought that was disrespectful,” the catcher says later.
21. Ty to the rescue
July 4, 2004
Ty Wiggington ensures the Mets complete a Shea Stadium sweep and win the season series against the Yankees for the first time with a pair of home runs in the Mets’ 6-5 victory. And he does it on Yankees owner George Steinbrenner’s 74th birthday.
Ty Wiggington celebrates his game winning home run. AP20. Welcome to New York, Francisco Lindor
September 12, 2021
It may have taken him until September in his inaugural season with the Mets, but Francisco Lindor had his first defining moment in New York, blasting three home runs in a 7-6 win over the Yankees. In a tense game where emotions boiled over and the benches cleared, Lindor let his bat have the last word as his third home run was a game-winning solo shot to right field.
19. Ventura’s Piazza impression
June 11, 2000
On this rain-soaked Sunday night without baseball, Mets veteran third baseman Robin Ventura dons a Mike Piazza jersey, painted on a mustache with eye black, and mimics the Mets slugger’s batting stance, rituals and lumbering running style before diving headfirst into the tarp around second base and home.
18. Yankees come back down five
August 30, 2020
In another seven-inning doubleheader, the Yankees were down to their last out with a five-run deficit. Then things started to get weird. Luke Voit hit a bases-loaded check-swing single on which Thairo Estrada could have been thrown out at third, but knocked the ball out of Andres Gimenez’s glove. Aaron Hicks then hit a game-tying home run, setting up Gio Urshela for a walk-off single in the eighth.
The Yankees celebrate Gio Urshela’s walk off knock against the Mets. Paul J. Bereswill17. Wagner falls apart
May 20, 2006
The Mets appear headed to a series victory before closer Billy Wagner combusts, blowing a four-run, ninth-inning lead in an eventual 6-4, 11-inning loss to the Yankees at Shea Stadium. Wagner walks three, hits a batter and allows two hits in one-third of an inning, one of his worst outings as a Met.
16. Yankees collapse on the July 4th
July 4, 2021
The 2021 Yankees had a myriad of bullpen issues and this was a nadir. The Yankees went into the top of the seventh holding a 5-4 lead and proceeded to give up six runs in the inning, which started with a Pete Alonso tying home run off Chapman. The Yankees closer would be charged with the loss in the seven-inning affair, giving up three more runs before Lucas Luetge relieved him and gave up three more.
15. Wright beats Rivera
May 19, 2006
The Mets captain’s most memorable moment in 53 Subway Series games, Wright hands Mariano Rivera the loss with a double over the head of center fielder Johnny Damon for a walk-off, 7-6 victory to start a series at Shea Stadium, capping a game in which the Mets trailed 4-0 after the opening half-inning.
The Mets celebrate David Wright’s walk off hit against the Yankees. REUTERS14. Delgado demolishes Yankees
June 17, 2008
Carlos Delgado snaps out of a personal slump and set a Mets record with nine RBIs, blasting two home runs in a 15-6 rout in The Bronx. Since the game was a makeup of a postponed game in May, in which the Mets won the first two games of the series, it caps the Amazin’s first series sweep of the Yankees at the Stadium.
13. Mets walk off at Yankee Stadium
August 28, 2020
In the second game of a doubleheader played under COVID-19 rules, the Mets were the home team at Yankee Stadium and proceeded to take advantage. Down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Amed Rosario took Aroldis Chapman deep for a walk-off two-run home run to win the game, 4-3.
12. Bullpen Bru-haha
June 14, 2009
Before the Yankees’ 15-0 clubbing of the Mets, the two bullpens nearly get into a brawl in the outfield. It began the previous day, when Yankees right-hander Brian Bruney, on a rehabilitation assignment, took a shot at Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez’s over-the-top celebrations, calling it a “tired act.” Rodriguez responds by saying he didn’t know who Bruney was, and he should “keep his mouth shut.” Rodriguez attempts to shut it, aggressively approaching and pointing at Bruney in the outfield before the two are separated.
11. Judge propels comeback on 9/11 anniversary
September 11, 2021
In a Subway Series matchup on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Yankees and Mets played a back-and-forth game that finished with the Yankees completing an eighth-inning comeback to take the win. Aaron Judge provided the heroics, with a game-tying, two-run home run off Trevor May. Luke Voit then drove in the eventual winning run with a ground ball that scored Andrew Velazquez, and Chapman closed out the win.
Aaron Judge blasts a two-run homer off of Trevor May on 9/11. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post10. Gooden shines in Shea return
July 8, 2000
It would be overshadowed by Roger Clemens’ beaning of Mike Piazza in the nightcap of the dual-stadium doubleheader, but Dwight Gooden wins in his return to Shea Stadium as an opponent for the first time, allowing just two hits in five strong innings of a 4-2 victory.
9. Rivera saves No. 500
June 28, 2009
Mariano Rivera picks up the 500th career save of his career, joining only Trevor Hoffman, and also drives in his first career run in his third career at-bat by drawing a walk off Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez with the bases loaded.
8. Francisco backs up “chicken” talk
June 22, 2012
The Mets enigmatic closer calls out the Yankees the day before the Subway Series, telling The Post “I can’t wait to strike out those chickens,” then saves the opening game of the series, a 6-4 Mets win. Mets reliever Tim Byrdak takes it a step further, revealing on Twitter he bought a live chicken in Chinatown and shared a video of the bird in the Mets’ clubhouse before the game as part of a practical joke.
7. Estes hits Clemens where it hurts
June 15, 2002
In Roger Clemens’ first start at Shea Stadium since he beaned Mike Piazza and threw the broken shard of a bat at the Mets catcher in the 2000 World Series, Shawn Estes throws behind Clemens with a retaliatory pitch, but Estes helps the Mets get revenge anyway. He blasts a two-run homer off Clemens at the plate and tosses seven shutout innings, leading the Mets to an 8-0 victory.
6. Piazza slams Clemens
June 9, 2000
In the Subway Series opener, Mike Piazza continues his dominance of Yankees ace Roger Clemens, cranking a third-inning grand slam to dead center field off Clemens at the Stadium, leading the Mets to a 12-2 victory.
Mike Piazza hitting a grand slam off of Roger Clemens. New York Post5. Franco beats Rivera
July 10, 1999
The pinch-hitter extraordinaire’s two-out, two-strike, two-run game-winning single off future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera sends the Mets to a dramatic 9-8 victory at Shea Stadium, snapping the Yankees’ string of 124 straight wins when leading after eight innings.
4. Koo’s dash to the plate
May 21, 2005
His one-year major league career was far from memorable, but Dae-Sung Koo always will have this moment against a Hall of Famer. The Japanese southpaw blasts a double off Randy Johnson, and comes all the way around from second to score on Jose Reyes’ sacrifice bunt when the Yankees fail to cover the plate, helping the Mets top the Yankees, 7-1, in Queens.
3. Mlicki’s moment
June 16, 1997
A journeyman right-hander, who finished his career 14 games under .500 across 10 seasons, Dave Mlicki owns the opening installment of the Subway Series, tossing a complete-game, nine-hit shutout at Yankee Stadium, leading the Mets to a 6-0 victory in the first New York intra-city baseball game of significance in 40 years.
Dave Mlicki celebrates after shutting out the Yankees. Getty Images2. Castillo’s unforgettable error
June 12, 2009
The Mets seemingly have the game won when closer Francisco Rodriguez gets Alex Rodriguez to pop up with two men on base, two outs and the Mets holding a one run lead. However, the ball pops in and out of the glove of second baseman Luis Castillo, allowing Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira (from first) to score the tying and winning runs of the Yankees’ improbable 9-8 victory in The Bronx.
1. Clemens beans Piazza
July 8, 2000
In the first meeting since Mike Piazza’s grand slam a month before, Roger Clemens nails Piazza in the head with the first pitch of the at-bat in the nightcap of a day-night, dual-stadium doubleheader in The Bronx. Piazza suffers a concussion, missing four games, and the next day says he has lost all respect for Clemens, believing he threw at him intentionally.
