This weekend's three-game series at Yankee Stadium left the home fans very pleased. Unfortunately for fans of the crosstown New York Mets, those three victories came at their team's expense.
Friday's contest saw the Yankees win in convincing fashion. Fresh off pitching the first no-hitter in Mets history, left-hander Johan Santana had much less success against the Bombers' vaunted offense: Robinson Cano gave his team a two-run lead with a home run in the second inning.
One inning later, Cano blasted a second two-run homer to give the Yankees a 4-0 advantage, and Nick Swisher and Andruw Jones made it 6-0 with back-to-back solo shots.
That was more than enough for Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and fired seven scoreless frames in all. The right-hander struck out seven Mets en route to his fifth win on the season.
Saturday's game saw Phil Hughes take the mound for the Yankees opposite Mets right-hander Dillon Gee. The Yankees struck first, taking a one-run lead in the opening frame, but solo home runs from Omar Quintanilla and David Wright in the third and sixth innings gave the Mets their first lead of the series.
That lead proved to be short-lived: First baseman Mark Teixeira blasted a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth to put the Yankees on top for good. Hughes earned his sixth win of the season; Gee took his fourth loss.
Sunday's series finale matched up two left-handed starters in Andy Pettitte and Jon Niese. The Mets scored three runs in the top of the second thanks to doubles from Scott Hairston and Jordany Valdespin; as Niese rolled through the first six innings, his team seemed poised to salvage the final game of the series.
In the seventh inning, though, the Yankees cut the lead to 3-2 thanks to a home run from Russell Martin. They scored two more in the eighth to take a 4-3 lead, but the Mets tied it up in the top of the ninth with an RBI double from Ike Davis.
Finally, Martin's second home run of the game gave the Yankees victory in the bottom of the ninth inning.
While the Mets took a night off on Monday, the Yankees kept rolling on the road in Atlanta. New York took advantage of a wild Randall Delgado to score single runs in each of the first three frames, and Ivan Nova fired seven scoreless innings to secure his eighth win of the year.
With wins in seven of their last eight games, the Yankees (35-25) are now tied with Tampa Bay atop the AL East standings. Meanwhile, the Mets (32-29) are tied with Miami for third place in the NL East.
The Yankees will wrap up their series in Atlanta this week; the Mets will take on the Rays in Tampa as interleague play continues.
