A-Rod’s bizarre game-ending pop-up to Luis Castillo needs a deep rewind

I mean, it’s just a basic pop-up. Right?

New York City is synonymous with baseball. The two major league teams occupying that space - the New York Yankees and the New York Mets - have only clashed once for bragging rights during a 2000 World Series dubbed the Subway Series. And, the Yankees dominated that.

In the years that followed that 2000 series, the Mets and Yankees have been climbing their way back to the Classic, but on two different paths - the Yankees have struggled to get back into the World Series, while the Mets have struggled to get in the postseason at all. So, a pop-up from current Yankees albatross Alex Rodriguez, seemingly right into the glove of current Mets’ comeback kid Luis Castillo, feels like it could be a turning of the tides during their June 2009 crosstown clash. After all, A-Rod is clearly on the outs with his reported past steroid usage, while Castillo looks like a genius signing for the Mets’ front office. Both teams are about to change the “big-brother little-brother” narrative about their respective clubs.

Right?