The red-hot Mets are likely using this weekend to help gauge exactly how good they are — the Yankees, after all, are a slightly more formidable opponent than the Orioles or Indians — but one imagines the Yankees could learn a few things about themselves this weekend, too.
Despite playing in a division that can boast the teams with the three best records in all of baseball, the Yankees have enjoyed a wonderfully easy stretch of games since taking two of three against Minnesota last month. Only twice have they played teams with a winning record since then — in fact, only twice have they played teams in any place but last since then — and they lost two of three in both of those series. Which isn’t to suggest they’ve played badly or anything: Winning eleven of thirteen against Baltimore, Cleveland, and Houston isn’t easy, even if they are Baltimore, Cleveland, and Houston, and tagging Roy Halladay for six earned runs should really count for two or three wins.
But the Mets — as hot as they are, and with Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana lined up for tomorrow and Sunday — are as dangerous a team as the Yankees have played in a good long while, perhaps since they played these very Mets at Citi Field. Javier Vazquez, the only Yankees starter to win a game in that series, gets the ball tonight, hoping for a similar outcome.