NEW YORK (AP) - The first Subway Series game of the season never got on track Monday night.
The scheduled opener between the New York Mets and New York Yankees was postponed because of rain at Yankee Stadium. The game was called about 30 minutes before it was supposed to start and will be made up Tuesday afternoon as part of a day-night doubleheader. The day game is slated to begin at 1:05 p.m., with the nightcap at 7:05 p.m.
Before the washout, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the Subway Series “is something that gets your juices flowing a little bit.”
Zack Wheeler (5-3) will start the opener Tuesday for the Mets against Masahiro Tanaka (3-5) in the first of four matchups this year between the crosstown rivals. Jason Vargas (2-3) goes in the nightcap versus fellow left-hander James Paxton (3-2) and the Yankees.
The Mets flip-flopped their scheduled pitchers - Vargas originally had been set for Monday night, with Wheeler going Tuesday. The Yankees simply stayed in rotation.
Both teams are off Wednesday.
“We’re pumped up to be here,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said Monday afternoon.
Trailing Tampa Bay by a half-game in the AL East after the Rays’ win over Oakland on Monday night, the injury-depleted Yankees now will need a fifth starter this week to face the White Sox in Chicago on Saturday. Boone said the club could choose Chance Adams, David Hale or a reliever as an opener.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: 2B Robinson Canó (left quadriceps), OF Brandon Nimmo (neck) and LHP Justin Wilson (left elbow) are scheduled to play Tuesday night for Triple-A Syracuse against Charlotte as part of their rehab assignments. Canó and Wilson are just getting started. Nimmo had been playing rehab games at Class A St. Lucie.
Yankees: Right-handed reliever Dellin Betances was examined by a doctor and will have an MRI on Tuesday. Betances has been out all season with a shoulder impingement but is now feeling lat soreness. … Boone said RHP Domingo Germán (left hip flexor) had an MRI that looked “pretty good” and he will receive a cortisone shot Tuesday. … RF Aaron Judge (strained left oblique) was set to face high-velocity pitches from a batting machine and could be ready to play in rehab games by this weekend, Boone said. … OF-DH Giancarlo Stanton (biceps/shoulder/calf) is set to play rehab games for Class A Tampa on Tuesday and Wednesday before moving to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this weekend. … RHP Danny Farquhar, who collapsed in the Chicago White Sox dugout on April 20 last year because of a ruptured aneurysm and brain hemorrhage, said on Instagram he will join Scranton on Tuesday. … Tanaka was reinstated from the paternity leave list. After Sunday’s game in Cleveland, the Yankees optioned LHP Nestor Cortes Jr. to Triple-A.
COUNT ME IN
Yankees slugger Luke Voit was the leading vote-getter at first base in the first AL All-Star balloting update released Monday.
“Pretty cool,” he said. “If I get a chance to play in it, it’d be awesome.”
Boone added: “The Luke Voit show rolls on.”
If invited, Voit said he’d love to participate in the Home Run Derby.
“Oh, I’m in. Let’s go!” he said with a smile.
WELCOME ABOARD, KID
The Yankees signed first-round draft pick Anthony Volpe, an 18-year-old high school shortstop from nearby New Jersey.
Volpe, who grew up a Yankees fan, was introduced to the media at Yankee Stadium before the game was called. He met Boone and New York players in the clubhouse, and said the whole experience has been a “surreal” dream come true.
“I don’t think it’s hit me yet,” said Volpe, headed Friday to the club’s complex in Tampa, Florida.
Listed at 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds, Volpe was selected with the 30th overall pick last Monday night out of Delbarton School. He passed up a college commitment to Vanderbilt to sign with the Yankees, saying it was the hardest decision of his life.
“I probably didn’t sleep the whole week of the draft,” he said.
Volpe lived in Manhattan as a child before moving to New Jersey. He said Derek Jeter was his favorite player and he wears No. 7 because Mickey Mantle was his grandfather’s idol.
“Good-looking kid. Athletic-looking kid. Really nice kid. You could tell very excited, obviously, understanding his affinity for this organization growing up. Can’t wait to get started,” Boone said. “A really neat opportunity to welcome somebody into the organization, into the family.”
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