Noah Syndergaard (-130) will toe the rubber for the Mets against Nats lefthander Gio Gonzalez (+120).
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Shelby Miller makes his last start of the season for Atlanta, hoping to end one of the most puzzling streaks in recent years.
The games must be played because the Mets are now tied with the Dodgers in the league standings at 89-70. The two teams have the same record but the Mets own the tiebreaker having taken four of the seven regular season meetings. With the likelihood of Hurricane Joaquin going out to sea after today, the conditions look favorable in terms of getting all three games in over the next two days.
Steven Matz’s back injury could prevent the rookie from starting for the New York Mets against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series. He helped himself with a pair of hits, including an RBI single.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t use three Young Guns for the series – even if it goes five games.
“Right now”, Collins said. “This kid’s really gotten better”. Harvey is now lined up to start Game 2 one week from Saturday.
The downplaying that Alderson is referring to comes from earlier in the week, when the Mets said that Matz hurt his back when he slept on it wrong. The Nationals picked up a 3-0 win at Turner Field on Thursday behind a dominant Stephen Strasburg.
“Everybody in here is disappointed how the season turned out, but at the same time, it would be huge to go into New York and play our best baseball, ” Thursday’s starter Stephen Strasburg said.
Matz could pitch early next week in the fall instructional league in Port St. Lucie, Florida, if he is healthy by then.
We’ve all heard the talk about how Clayton Kershaw can’t pitch in the playoffs. The left-hander is 6-1 with a 1.68 ERA and 9.23 strikeouts per nine innings over 10 starts in Queens. An All-Star this season, Miller is winless in his last 24 starts – he’s 0-16 despite a solid 3.77 ERA in that span. The Braves haven’t scored much for him, a big reason he’s neared the major league record of 28 straight winless starts shared by Jo-Jo Reyes, Matt Keough and Cliff Curtis.
As for Gonzalez, he was cruising against the Phillies on Sunday until the sixth when he struggled to find the strike zone.
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Papelbon has been suspended for the rest of the season.
