Starting Five: Subway Series Sizzles

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Subway Series is finally living up to the hype on the field that Big Apple seamheads give it off the field. Friday, Luis Castillo made one of the most memorable fielding gaffes lately to cost the battered and reeling Mets a win. Saturday, Yankees walking injury relief pitcher Brian Bruney ripped record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez for his antics on the mound just prior to Castillo's flubbed popup.

The series finale had a bit of everything.

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K-Rod confronted Bruney on the field during batting practice, a scene which was captured by YES Network cameras and shown on SportsCenter nationwide and in which Rodriguez appeared irate and had to be separated from Bruney by Yankee pitcher Jose Veras and teammate Mike Pelfrey.

The Yankees carried the fireworks into the actual game, tagging Johan Santana for nine earned runs -- the most the two-time Cy Young winner has ever allowed -- and blowing out the Mets 15-0. It was the largest margin of victory in the history of the Subway Series.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel was ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the sixth inning.

Santana, who surrendered four home runs in his last start, insisted he is physically fine, but he and the team also revealed that his back troubled him a month ago and that he has recently had to deal with a blister on the middle finger of his pitching hand and another one on his left big toe. Given the Mets' troubled injury record in 2009 and his recent performance, there is plenty of reason to worry about the lefty.

As for K-Rod and Bruney, both seemed eager to bury the hatchet, at least publicly.

"It's over. Turn the page. That's it," Rodriguez said.

Or so he thinks. It's hardly ever that simple in the Big Apple. Just in case you were wondering, they meet again in two weeks at Citi Field (June 26-28).

From the Trainer's Room ...
Royals center fielder Coco Crisp is finally headed to the disabled list with "irritation and ... inflammation" in his right rotator cuff. Crisp, who has played just five games in June, didn't play at all from May 27 to June 3, but the rest doesn't seem to have had the intended effect.

"It wasn't enough rest to let the irritation and the inflammation settle down in that right shoulder," [Royals manager Trey] Hillman said. "We're going to give it the rest that it needs."

Kansas City called up Tug Hullett to take Crisp's spot on the active roster.

Numbers Game ...
Not even a tornado warning could prevent the Rockies from picking up their 11th straight win Sunday. Colorado, which fired then-manager Clint Hurdle on May 29 and replaced him with Jim Tracy, is 13-4 since. It has reeled off that many wins in a row only one other time in franchise history, from Sept. 16 to Sept. 27 of 2007. The Rockies, with Hurdle at the helm, went all the way to the World Series that season.

They'll go for a new franchise record Tuesday against a similarly hot Rays team.

In Their Own Words ...
"You can't defend a walk. ... I've got to find a way to get the ball in play or Skip (Jim Leyland) is going to have to find somebody to do it. I'm going to have to kick it in gear, get it done. I go one step forward and two steps back and it's unacceptable the way I played." -- Tigers pitcher Dontrelle Willis after walking eight in 3 2/3 innings of work in a 6-3 loss to the Pirates. Willis' spot in the Detroit rotation appeared to be on the line this week when Jeremy Bonderman came off the disabled list, but Bonderman returned to the DL Friday and is unlikely to be back before September, possibly earning Willis a stay of execution.

Advance Scouting ...
There are only two games -- one in Cleveland and the other in San Francisco -- so you could conceivably watch every pitch of every major league game Monday night. But if you can only set aside enough time for one contest, go with the nightcap, a rematch of the 2002 World Series. The Giants welcome the Angels to AT&T Park (10:15 PM ET) and send Barry Zito to the mound against John Lackey, who beat San Francisco in Game 7 of that Fall Classic. Lackey (1-2, 6.61 ERA) is still looking for the form that has made him the Angels' ace over the last few seasons.