Subway Series still gets fans revved up

6/11/09
mets
By Ryan Chatelain

Subway Series still gets fans revved up

Photo credit: Urbanite

David Wright and Alex Rodriguez meet in the Subway Series this weekend. (Photos by Getty)

By Ryan Chatelain

Twelve years after the first Subway Series, Mets and Yankees fans say the fire still burns bright in their crosstown rivalry.

“At my job, people are excited,” said John Perez, 32, a Yankees fan from Manhattan. “They’re making bets all around.”

The teams will revive their oft-heated rivalry on Friday, as the Bombers host the Amazin’s for the opener of a three-game series.

Mets and Yankees faithful agreed the team’s new ballparks — Citi Field and the new Yankee Stadium — will add to the thrill of the games this season. The Yanks will get their first look at Citi Field when they visit the Mets from June 26-28.“There’s more excitement than ever,” said Mets fan Kevin Stroble, 36. “It’s a big battle between the two. Big-time rivals. With the new stadiums, they want to prove something.”

But even though the Subway Series still draws packed houses, some acknowledged the rivalry has cooled since Major League Baseball introduced interleague play in 1997.

“I think the players get a little sick of all the attention that is paid to it and how people treat this as something more than a weekend series,” said Benjamin Kabak, who writes for River Avenue Blues, a Yankees blog. “I know everybody likes to say it’s a battle for New York, but it can get a little tiring.”

Observers also pointed to the fact that there is no bad blood between any players, as was the case with Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens and Mets slugger Mike Piazza earlier this decade. (Clemens famously threw a broken bat in Piazza’s direction during the 2000 World Series. Both All-Stars are now retired.)

John Strubel, a writer for the Mets online magazine Flushing9.com, blamed the lack of intensity in today’s rivalry on George Steinbrenner stepping away from the Yankees’ front office.

“He hated the Mets,” Strubel said. “I think he pushed that on to his ballplayers. He really wanted to see them beat the Mets and stomp them out.”

Anastasia Economides contributed to this report.
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Subway Series still gets fans revved up

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