The rivalry between the Yankees and Mets is a unique one. Given they only play a handful of times per year, on paper it appears more of a fan rivalry than a player one. Alas, every so often tempers flare on the field enough to carry tensions over across a fall, winter and spring.
Sunday night's drama fits that mold. When Francisco Lindor hit his second of three home runs he started whistling, in reference to the Mets' belief that on Saturday the Yankees were (legally, in this case) figuring out signs and relaying them accordingly. So when Giancarlo Stanton tied the game later on with a two-run blast, he took his sweet time going between second and third, jawing with Lindor and causing the benches to clear. With both signed to the Big Apple long-term, this has the potential to carry over.
It wouldn't be the first time in the teams' relatively short (25 years) rivalry:
July 2000: In a doubleheader on July 8 in which one game was played in the Bronx and the other in Queens, the Subway Series officially became a rivalry when, in game two Yankees starter Roger Clemens hit Mets catcher Mike Piazza in the head, concussing the future Hall of Famer. That set the stage for a much more high-profile meeting later that year...
2000 World Series: Both teams won their respective pennants and for the first time since 1956 there was an all-New York World Series. Clemens started Game 2 and when Piazza came to bat for the first time fireworks ensued. The catcher fouled off one of Clemens' pitches, and the barrel of the bat inadvertently went towards the flamethrower. Clemens, of course, picked it up and flung it in Piazza's direction, causing the benches to clear. The Yankees would ultimately win 6-5 and take the series in five games.
June 2002: Clemens' final involvement in the rivalry came in 2002, when Mets manager Bobby Valentine said Clemens wore a "skirt" for throwing at hitters and not having to bat because he played in the American League. Alas, at Shea Stadium the Hall of Famer did come to bat, was greeted derisively by the fans and lo and behold the Mets' Shawn Estes threw behind his counterpart on the first pitch. Both benches were warned, though nothing else came of it (besides Estes later in the game hitting a two-run homer off Clemens, one of four career homers for the pitcher).
June 2009: Cooler heads prevailed for a few years as a new generation of players cycled through (and, mainly, Roger Clemens left). That is, until Francisco Rodriguez blew his first save as the Mets' closer in the infamous June 12 game when Luis Castillo dropped the pop-up in the ninth inning. Most folks remember that.
What many forget is the aftermath of that moment. In a postgame interview Yankees pitcher Brian Bruney blasted K-Rod for his "embarrassing" animated mound behavior, saying the loss "couldn't have happened to a better guy". Rodriguez responded by publicly challenging Bruney to basically say that to his face, instead of to the press. So, a few days later Bruney tried to do just that, and teammates had to separate the pair. It was the same game in which Johan Santana allowed a career-high nine earned runs in a 15-0 Yankees victory.
June 2012: Rodriguez again found himself in the middle of a spat when prior to the start of a series in Queens he called the Yankees chicken. His teammates reacted by putting a picture of Derek Jeter's head on a chicken's body in the clubhouse, and even brought a live chicken in to be the unofficial mascot. The Yankees didn't take too kindly to it, with K-Rod considering it overblown. Alas, after the Bombers won the series, Nick Swisher asked the press rhetorically "Who's chicken now?"
September 2021: Could this be the new version of the rivalry? Lindor and Stanton are both phenomenal players and won't think about each other until the teams meet for the first time in July of next season. But with the shortstop signed through 2031 and Stanton through 2027, there's plenty of time for the two superstars to continue the back-and-forth.