By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — The Mets won baseball bragging rights in the city by taking two out of three games in the weekend Subway Series with a 6-4 win over the Yankees Sunday night.
In the end, the series came down to a battle of A-Rod versus K-Rod — with the Mets closer striking out the Yankees slugger with two men on to preserve the victory.
“I really enjoy that situation where you either come out the hero or the horse,” Francisco Rodriguez told the New York Post. “That is what I get paid for.”
The Yankees scored three runs in the ninth inning before A-Rod came to bat.
“I got good pitches to hit and fouled them back,” Alex Rodriguez told the Post. “It was 6-0 . . . to come back in that last at-bat with two men on base, I’ll take my chances.”
Things don't get any easier for the Mets. The first-place Philadelphia Phillies come to town Monday. The Yankees have Monday off before heading to Minnesota to take on the Twins.
Both teams entered the series in need of wins. The Yankees had just been swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Mets had dropped seven of 10 and rumor had it manager Jerry Manual's job was on the line.
"It's always nice to win the Subway Series because you know you're beating an elite team," David Wright told the Daily News. "You knew they weren't going to roll over, they have too many great players. You just hope that when they hit, you have a big enough cushion."
For the Yankees, Manager Joe Girardi tried to explain the team's rough weekend.
“We’ve had better weeks,” Girardi told the New York Times. “I think you could definitely say that. We’ve had a multitude of problems.”
The problems started early for the Yankees Sunday night. The Mets pounced on ace CC Sabathia by scoring four runs in the second inning, as Jason Bay launched the first of two home runs and Alex Cora drove in two runs with a single.
Mets ace Johann Santana kept the Yankee bats quiet for much of the night, and the team took a 6-1 lead into the ninth.
They then scored three runs — two came on a double by Yankee Captain Derek Jeter and the other came when Brett Gardner grounded out to third. They had two more men on when A-Rod came to bat.
The Yankees won the first game of the series on Friday night 2-1. The dropped Saturday night's game 5-3.
