Yankees, Mets to open March 28
MLB released its official 2019 schedule Wednesday, with the Yankees opening next season at home against the Baltimore Orioles on March 28.
The Mets open the same day and begin the campaign with a two-city trip in Washington and Miami.
Mickey Callaway’s team will play its home opener April 4 against the Nationals.
The Yankees’ schedule also includes an overseas trip, as the Bombers will face the Red Sox on June 29-30 in London, marking the first-ever MLB games in Europe.
With the American League East playing the National League West in interleague next season, the Yankees will also host the Padres, Diamondbacks and Rockies.
The Subway Series will go back to four games, split between the two ballparks. The Mets will be in the Bronx June 10-11, while the Bombers will travel to Citi Field on July 2-3.
The NL East is facing off against the AL Central in 2019, so the Mets will host the Tigers, Indians and Twins. They will also visit the Royals in a rematch of the 2015 World Series Aug. 16-17.
Once again there will be no baseball in New York on the Fourth of July. Mets are off that Thursday, while the Yankees are in Tampa.
TWITTER FAUX PAS
Looks like Tyler Austin is putting his dad in Twitter time out.
Austin apologized for his father, Chris, taking a shot seemingly out of left field at Greg Bird last week.
“It’s embarrassing, to be honest,” the former Yankees infielder told reporters Tuesday night of his pop’s Twitter actions. “I called and told him to take it down right away. That’s not acceptable.”
Chris must have been fed up with the Bronx Bombers always putting the oft-injured Bird ahead of his son in the depth chart, before ultimately dealing Austin to Minnesota at the non-waiver trade deadline.
Cue the pulling of the Twitter trigger.
“Tyler has more hits with the twins in a week than bird has in a month with the Yankees,” Chris tweeted Saturday night, from his personal account.
Since he was called up to the Twins, Austin has belted three home runs to go alongside a sparkling .333 batting average in nine games.
Bird has battled inconsistency all season.
NOT PEDRO’S DADDY
These Yankees don’t have the same makeup as the version that Pedro Martinez once referred to as “my daddy.”
“The Yankees don’t seem to have the energy of a winning team,” Martinez wrote on his @45PedroMartinez Twitter account Tuesday night. “I understand some key players are injured, but they don’t seem to be hustling out there.” Todd Frazier homered and hit an RBI double, Noah Syndergaard pitched six effective innings and the Mets beat the Giants, 5-3, on Wednesday night.
Dominic Smith and Jose Bautista also went deep for the Mets. Jeff McNeil singled his first two times up to set a Mets rookie record with a hit in eight consecutive at-bats. The 26-year-old second baseman grounded out in his next chance at the plate.
Smith bounced back from Monday night’s costly mistake when he charged in hard from left field and barreled into shortstop Amed Rosario on what should have been a routine popup, knocking the ball
loose and allowing San Francisco to score the decisive run in the 13th inning.
Smith’s leadoff homer in the second off Giants starter Casey Kelly (1-1) gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, and consecutive run-scoring hits by McNeil and Frazier made it 3-0. Frazier’s ground-rule double bounced over the left-center wall, sending McNeil back to third base after a replay review.
Syndergaard (9-3) started out on a roll, retiring his first six batters before permitting consecutive singles to begin the third. Steven Duggar had an RBI groundout and Joe Panik added a run-scoring single to cut it to 3-2.
Syndergaard allowed two runs and five hits while walking one and striking out six. Paul Sewald got two outs for his first major league save.
The Mets got to Kelly again in the fourth on Bautista’s 11th homer, a two-out drive to center that made it 4-2.
Kelly gave up seven hits and four runs — two earned — over six innings in his second start for San Francisco this season. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.
Austin Slater greeted Mets reliever Drew Smith with a home run to start the seventh, pulling the Giants within one.
NOTES
Jay Bruce, on the disabled list since June 19 with a sore right hip, homered and had an RBI single in his latest rehab game with Class A St. Lucie. He started at first base. Bruce is expected to return to the club today and be activated for Friday’s series opener against Washington. . . David Wright played defense for seven innings with St. Lucie and went 0 for 3 at the plate.