Yankees Win On Walk-Off Pop-Fly: Remembering June 12, 2009

Yankees-Mets games are always an absolute blast to see in person. The stadium is always packed, and you get hours full of fun trash-talk from both ends. I’ve been to at least five games between the Yankees and Mets, but I’ll never forget the night they met in the Bronx on June 12th, 2009.

My friend and I had purchased bleacher tickets, but we spent the whole game just standing on the centerfield sun-deck among a large mix of both teams’ fans. Mets fans were feeling particularly good that night, because their team had continued to take the lead throughout the game. By the bottom of the ninth, with 2 outs and runners on first and second, the Mets were up 8-7 and Alex Rodriguez was at the plate.

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What proceeded to take place from there is something that no Yankees or Mets fan will ever forget:

A-Rod hit a routine pop-up to second base off Mets closer, Francisco Rodriguez, and the Mets fans in our area began to celebrate. I’d be lying if I told you that my friend and I didn’t begin to find our way towards the exit as soon as we saw Mets second baseman, Luis Castillo, get underneath a ball he’s caught a million times.

All of a sudden we hear absolute mayhem inside the stands, so we quickly turn around to see what happened. Castillo dropped it. And since there were two outs, Derek Jeter easily scored from second. But it was Mark Teixeira’s hustle that won the game that night, as Castillo immediately grabbed the ball and threw to second instead of home. Teixeira was able to score all the way from first on a play where most players would have just jogged it out.

In a matter of seconds, Yankees fans went from disappointment to jubilation, and Mets fans were just depressed. But it was the walk on 161st Sreett after the game that I enjoyed the most. You would’ve thought the Yanks just won the World Series. People were dancing, and a large group of Yankees fans were marching down the street singing “Meet the Mets.” I even saw two grown men in Mickey Mantle jerseys hugging like they were brothers.

That night was so memorable because of how rare it really was. I will probably never again see a baseball game end the way that one did that night in Yankee Stadium. And I have only one guy to thank for that: Luis Castillo.