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WHAT IT MEANS: The Mets didn't send Little Jerry Seinfeld away with a win.

In a game billed as a pitchers' duel, it instead became a battle of the bullpens -- and the Mets' relievers once again came up short in a 6-5 loss to the Yankees in front of 42,364 fans, the largest crowd in Citi Field history.

The Amazin's lost this round of the Subway Series 2-1 and finished 1-5 against their home-run-hitting rivals.

CRACKED ACE: R.A. Dickey's streak of 44 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run ended as the Yankees battered him for five runs in six innings. It's the second-most earned runs he has yielded all season and the most since April. He received a no-decision.

Dickey struggled to get his knuckleball over for strikes and he walked three batters. Those walks proved to be costly, especially in the second as both came around to score as the Yankees put up four runs. The three walks were the most Dickey had issued since he walked four against Arizona on May 6.

In a game that was billed as a duel between aces, neither Dickey or his counterpart, C.C. Sabathia, looked the part. Instead, it was a night for the offenses to shine as both starters were charged with five runs.

BYRDAK IN THAT SPOT? In the eighth inning of a 5-5 game, the Yankees sent up Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira to start the inning. In Saturday's game, lefty Tim Byrdak retired both those hitters late in the game.

Sunday, manager Terry Collins instead stuck with Miguel Batista, who had thrown a scoreless inning of relief to that point. Cano lead off the inning with a deep home run to center that gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead that they would never relinquish. You wonder if Byrdak would have been the better option to face the lefty at that point in the game, as Batista had surrendered a two-run shot to Cano in Friday night's game.

RALLY: The Mets don't send out the most imposing lineup, but you have to be impressed with how they battled back against Sabathia. Trailing 5-2 in the sixth, the Mets knocked the lefty out of the game and ultimately tied it up. While an error clearly helped the Mets, they didn't lay down after falling behind 5-1. They collected nine hits off the former Cy Young Award winner and put together good at-bats all night.

A NICE RETURN: Ruben Tejada made his return to the lineup after nearly two months on the disabled list with a right quad strain and didn't miss a beat as he went 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Before the game, Collins said the Mets needed Tejada's bat back in the lineup and the shortstop showed why. His RBI single tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth.

WHAT'S NEXT: The Mets hit the road for a three-game set against the Cubs. Johan Santana (5-3, 3.00 ERA) will face Travis Wood (1-3, 4.14) at 7:05 p.m.