Two teams, two stadiums, one long day of baseball

It’s a hazy afternoon here in the Bronx, where the Yankees and Mets are ready to play the final Subway Series game in the history of Yankee Stadium.

This is the third time the two New York teams have tried this two-stadium deal in the same day, and you know what? For the players, it’s actually not all that bad — the Yankees had a late report time today and they’ll get to shower up before receiving a police escort across the Triboro Bridge to Shea Stadium.

The first time they tried this in 2000, it took a grand total of 11 minutes for the Yankees to get back home, and we all remember how that one wound up (especially Mike Piazza, who took a fastball to the coconut). Actually, the Yankees’ record in these split doubleheaders against the Mets should be encouraging, as they’ve swept them both.

If you haven’t seen this already, Sam Borden of the Journal News is walking it between the two stadiums to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. Newsday’s Jim Baumbach is running it. What a great idea. I’d love to do either, but it’s not happening. If you see me idling on the Grand Central Parkway, say hello.

I’m going to keep this one thread open for the entire day, and let’s see how many posts we get discussing the game. Dan Giese (1-2, 0.64) and Mike Pelfrey (4-6, 4.30) are the starters in Game 1, and Sidney Ponson (4-1, 3.88) and Pedro Martinez (2-1, 6.57) will pitch the nightcap. Ponson is not on the Yankees’ roster so there will be a move between games — seems very likely that Hideki Matsui could be DLed.

Stay tuned for this one. After a 4:15 a.m. wakeup call, if I were a pitcher, I’d be telling my manager that I could give him one or two innings. By the end of 18, I may be getting a little punchy. It’s still a great privilege to be here every day, but the whole thing should be pretty entertaining.

2:17 p.m.: Not the world’s greatest start for Dan Giese, but he limited it to one run. Still, that’s no way to endorse the Jack Daniel’s burger from the Pittsburgh International Airport TGI Friday’s. Mike Pelfrey has never thrown a pitch against the Yankees, but that’s about to change. I covered Pelfrey the day he signed with the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Fla. He was tall then and he’s still tall now.

2:31 p.m.: Jason Giambi’s mustache makes its Subway Series debut with a broken bat RBI single to left. Man, that thing is filling in. The Yankees of the 1970s would be proud. Speaking of ‘Just For Men,’ Keith Hernandez was in the press box before the game.

2:45 p.m.: Nice job by Giese, getting out of trouble. For a makeup game, this one drew a pretty decent crowd. The field level seats around the dugout seem pretty available — companies not able to unload them? — but upstairs and the bleachers are where the party is anyway.

2:53 p.m.:  I was kind of hoping they’d play Night Ranger’s ‘Sister Christian’ for Justin Christian. Maybe if he steals a base – you know, ‘motorin’?’ Meanwhile, MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo is also live blogging over on New York Minute. Let’s start a blog war. It’s a blog eat blog world.

3:04 p.m.: Dan Giese’s 51st pitch just bounced in front of the plate and skipped over Jorge Posada’s head. 51 pitches with nobody out in the third inning? Good thing they didn’t need to use the bullpen last night in Pittsburgh.

3:09 p.m.: The right field porch taketh away. If Beltran’s batting at 9:09 p.m. tonight instead of 3:09 p.m., that’s a double off the wall. Meanwhile, Trot Nixon joins the list of great Mets who wore No. 6 … um, Al Weis, Wally Backman, Melvin Mora, Jeff Keppinger, Timoniel Perez (whom they called Tim O’Neill Perez when he first got called up). Maybe not so great.

3:20 p.m.: The Captain does hit the Mets well. That’s hits in 18 consecutive games vs. the Mets and reaching base in 40 straight Interleague games. In the context of the ’08 season, it’s a 14-game hitting streak and career double No. 400 for Jeter. A-Rod scorched that ball past Reyes and now it’s 3-2 in what looks like it’s going to be a see-saw battle. Hear that, bullpen?

3:26 p.m.: Heck of a play by Reyes there. He’ll make the spectacular ones once in a while. Nice effort by David Wright and I almost thought for a second he’d made the play, but that turned this game around pretty quickly. 4-3 Yankees.

3:32 p.m.: Anyone see that? Marlon Anderson seemed to be limping a little bit and just gave up running to first. No one came out of the dugout but he hobbled back. The chances of seeing Andy Phillips in this twinbill just inched up incrementally. 80 pitches for Giese through four innings, Pelfrey at 62 through 3 1/2.

3:39 p.m.: YES just flashed a graphic reminding you what you probably wanted to forget — the Yankees called Shea Stadium home in 1974 and 1975. Bobby Murcer in particular hated playing at Shea; the cookie-cutterness of the ballpark robbed him of his power numbers and eventually paved his way out of New York. Then again, Joe Girardi said earlier this year that he remembers Murcer more as a Cub. Go figure.

3:42 p.m.: That error goes to Fernando Tatis but really, Pelfrey’s got to catch that ball. Amazing that the Yankees didn’t score there in that half inning. The Match Game on the scoreboard revealed two Shelley Duncans … did I miss something?

3:55 p.m.: A squirrel just ran in the Mets dugout. I always thought the Yankees missed an awesome marketing opportunity with that Scooter squirrel from ’07, by the way. You know if they’d won the World Series, he’d be the new Rally Monkey. Kids would be buying stuffed squirrel toys for years. On a completely unrelated note, Graig Nettles just stopped by.

4:27 p.m.: The caffeine jolts are wearing off. Time to buy a 50 cent cup of java and get going again. How much Red Bull do you think is fueling the Yankees right now? 6-4 Mets as Edwar Ramirez works here in the sixth.

4:45 p.m.: You know, I thought Delgado might be a problem for the Yankees today. You know what else is a problem? Idiots running onto the field. These Yankee Stadium security guys don’t mess around — you run on the field, you’re not only going to get caught, but you’re going to wake up in the morning feeling like you got hit by a dump truck. Anyway, Ross Ohlendorf probably could use the breather from that knucklehead who just got clipped in left-center field. Ross’s sinker isn’t doing the trick much these days.

5:11 p.m.: I neglected to post it (see the rapid-fire slowing down?) but that home run by Alex Rodriguez … doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot. I’m working on my game story so the pace of updates may grind a little here. That’s OK, so is the pace of the game. I’m also beginning to doubt I’ll be able to make it to Shea by first pitch.

5:21 p.m.: And here comes the white flag, be thy name LaTroy Hawkins. Maybe that’s not fair to say, but it’s been true of late. This move screams, “Ah, we’ll get ‘em in the nightcap.” Sir Sidney Ponson’s nerves are jangling somewhere in New York.

5:31 p.m.: Farewell to Yankee Stadium, Carlos Delgado. The big guy has set a new Mets record with nine RBIs in a single game, surpassing an old record held by Dave “Kong” Kingman. The Mets are boarding a bus 20 minutes after the last out, and the Yankees probably can’t wait for them to get out of the building. It’s a
ll window dressing at this point anyway.

5:50 p.m.: Hey, it’s Andy Phillips time! Doing his part to move this one along. Score it F-9. Last licks for the Bombers, trailing by a touchdown and field goal.

6:54 p.m.: This isn’t looking good for getting to Shea by first pitch. The Deegan is a mess and I’m giving up on getting there by car. Seems the smart way to do it is to dump my car in the Bronx and rely on the good ol’ Subway to get me to the Willets Point station. Straphangers, here I come. Wish this poor lost guy from the suburbs some luck.