Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET the New York Mets (19-19) will continue the Subway Series vs. the hated crosstown rival New York Yankees (19-19) after bashing them in their own stadium for two nights. The action moves to the more spacious CitiField tonight, and fans can watch the game on ESPN or live stream it free by clicking this link. Mets fans can hear the radio broadcast on 710 WOR, while Yankees fans may do likewise on 101.9 WFAN FM. The Yankees new ace Masahiro Tanaka (5-0, 2.57 ERA) will take the hill in the stopper role against Mets' rookie Rafael Montero (0-0, 0.00 ERA).
Tanaka has been a godsend for the Yankees while they deal with myriad pitching injuries, and Derek Jeter had high praise for the Japanese import following a recent win over the Milwaukee Brewers in which he gave up a paltry two runs over 6.2 innings.
"That's how he's been pitching. He's pitched like that pretty much every time out," Jeter sad. "Milwaukee's a good team. They've been playing extremely well so far this year, but he mixes his pitches up and he's a handful to deal with."
Brewers third-sacker Aramis Ramirez discussed the difficulty in hitting Tanaka after that game. "You can't see any rotation, and that's what makes him good. You can't really pick it up. You think it's a fastball, and you have to respect his fastball because it's 92, 93 (mph). ... What I saw tonight, he's going to be good for a while."
That's an issue for the Mets, who have notably struggled with strikeouts in the early going. They are also relying on a youngster making his starting debut tonight in a pressure-packed spot.
"We understand that it's a debut on a big stage. We think he's ready now," general manager Sandy Alderson said of Montero. "We think from a mental standpoint, he's well able to handle it. The basic question that we ask ourselves is, what gives us the best chance to win?"
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