There were a number of interesting storylines Thursday night as the Mets and Yankees concluded Subway Series play for 2014. For
starters, and I do mean to emphasize that word, it was battle of pitchers making their major league debuts: Chase Whitley for the Yankees (below) and Jacob deGrom for the Mets (scroll down).
It was the first time that situation had ever occurred in a game between New York's rival teams. Then, to make the coincidence even stronger, both pitchers had base hits their first times at bat. Both guys, who grew up in the mostly-DH minors. And that's especially notable for deGrom, who broke a season-opening 0-for-64 hitless streak for Mets pitchers.
Below, Yankee trainer Steve Donahue in his other role -- after placing a piece of tape on the ball that Whitley hit, he's marking it (on a piece of athletic tape) for the young pitcher's personal collection.
A member of the Mets staff would soon be doing that for deGrom, who was even more impressive than Whitley on the mound. Even though he gave up a hard-luck run and took the loss, he kept the Yankee batters off-stride for most of his six innings.
And yes, I caught deGrom (below) in the 3rd inning, as he made contact with Whitley's pitch and singled in his first at bat.
But, as the game played out, the most important and impressive work of the night was by another rookie -- Yankee reliever Dellin Betances, who struck out 6 of the 7 Mets batters he faced, and earned the victory.
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