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          New York Mets

          Series preview: Mets vs. Yankees

          CC Sabathia, who is winless in his last nine starts, is scheduled to take the mound for the Yankees on Sunday against the Mets' Matt Harvey. AP Photo/Chris O'Meara
          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterSep 17, 2015, 09:45 PM
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          NEW YORK METS (83-63, first place NL East) vs. NEW YORK YANKEES (80-65, second place AL East)

          Friday: LHP Steven Matz (3-0, 1.88) vs. RHP Masahiro Tanaka (12-6, 3.40), 7:10 p.m. ET

          Saturday: RHP Noah Syndergaard (8-6, 3.20) vs. RHP Michael Pineda (10-8, 4.25), 1:05 p.m. ET

          Sunday: RHP Matt Harvey (12-7, 2.88) vs. LHP CC Sabathia (4-9, 4.93), 8:08 p.m. ET

          YANKEES SHORT HOPS

          • Mark Teixeira has a fractured right leg and is done for the season. He initially fouled a ball off the leg on Aug. 17. Rookie Greg Bird has capably filled in at first base minus Teixeira. Bird has seven homers in 101 at-bats. Five of those long balls have given the Yankees the lead. All had come with a runner on base until a solo shot on Wednesday against Tampa Bay Rays reliever Andrew Bellatti.

          • Michael Pineda reentered the rotation on Aug. 26 after missing more than a month with a right flexor forearm muscle strain. He has a 5.82 ERA in four starts since his return.

          • Alex Rodriguez is unlikely to appear except as a pinch hitter this weekend at Citi Field with no designated hitter in the National League ballpark. He has started only three games in the field all season. A-Rod had an MRI exam on Tuesday for a bruised left knee. A-Rod’s 32 homers lead the Yankees, one ahead of the idled Teixeira. Rodriguez has scored 1,998 career runs. With two more runs, he will join Hank Aaron as the only players in major league history with 3,000 hits, 2,000 RBIs and 2,000 runs scored.

          • Jacoby Ellsbury snapped a career-high 0-for-25 skid on Wednesday with a two-hit game against the Rays. Since returning from the disabled list on July 8, Ellsbury is hitting .211 (52-for-247) with six homers and 24 RBIs.

          • Masahiro Tanaka stymied a powerful Toronto Blue Jays lineup in his last start, allowing four hits and no walks while striking out seven in seven scoreless innings. That performance came on the heels of Tanaka limiting the Baltimore Orioles to one run while striking out 10 in eight innings five days earlier.

          • CC Sabathia pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings against the Rays on Monday in his second start since returning from the disabled list. It marked Sabathia’s first scoreless start since April 7, 2013. Sabathia had been sidelined while dealing with inflammation in a degenerative right knee. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in five of his last six starts. Still, Sabathia is winless in his last nine starts, matching the longest streak of his career. The Yankees have given him an average of 3.49 runs of support per start this season. That ranks second-lowest in the American League, better than only Cleveland’s Corey Kluber (3.41).

          • Ivan Nova, ineffective in his first season back from Tommy John surgery, has been moved to the bullpen beginning with this weekend’s series against the Mets. Nova (6-8, 5.11 ERA) will be replaced in the rotation by Adam Warren.

          • Ex-Met Carlos Beltran lost a nine-game hitting streak Wednesday.

          • Dellin Betances has not surrendered an earned run in his last 36 road appearances, which span 41 2/3 innings. That’s the second-longest streak in franchise history, trailing only a 37-game streak by Mariano Rivera during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

          • Assistant general manager Billy Eppler reportedly interviewed for GM jobs with the Los Angeles Angels and Seattle Mariners this week.