Los Angeles’ star pitcher is being sent out with the Dodgers knowing that nothing less than a win will do for them tonight. He has not absorbed a loss since August 20, and he was the winning pitcher against the Royals in Game 2.
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Following 162 regular season games, four playoff games and plenty of blo0d, sweat and tears, the season comes down to one game for the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Coming off Clayton Kershaw’s stellar outing that tied the NL Division Series 2-2, Zack Greinke takes the mound on Thursday night against Jacob deGrom of the Mets.
Collins said he did not have any trepidation about starting Matz despite the long layoff, and pointed to Matz’s strong showing each of the past two seasons in his minor-league team’s championship-clinching games.
The Mets fell to the Dodgers, 3-1, on Tuesday night at Citi Field, and this best-of-five series is now evened at 2-all.
“They’ve given us two guys that stop streaks, save your bullpen, are just day-in, day-out consistent guys”, manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday. “You’re looking at Noah’s going to be down there tomorrow, Matt, if we need him, they’ll all be there”.
“When you’re facing Kershaw and Greinke in four of five games you know that runs are going to be at a premium and they have definitely been that with those two guys on the mound”, Wright said. The only blemish on Kershaw’s night was a solo homer by Daniel Murphy, who did the same to help deGrom defeat Kershaw in Game 1. Any time you’re down to win or lose, it’s a tough situation.
Consider that during the regular season, he posted one of the best ERAs of all-time (post Deadball era) at 1.66 to go along with a 19-3 record, 0.84 WHIP and 200 strikeouts in 222 2/3 innings. And if he can, will the Mets’ lineup be able to give him ample support by squeezing a few runs out of Greinke? But it’s worth noting the Mets and Dodgers have a handful of pitchers who are pretty capable at the plate.
In a duel against Clayton Kershaw in Game 1 of the series, deGrom struck out 13 over seven five-hit innings.
After they were shellacked by the Mets in Game 3 Monday, dropping a 13-7 decision that was even more lopsided than the score might indicate, the Dodgers look to flip the script against Mets rookie southpaw Steven Matz, fielding three right-swinging outfielders in hopes of scoring early and often against the 24-year-old out of Ward Melville High School in East Setauket, New York. “I think a lot of those guys in (our) clubhouse feel the same way”. “I just really wanted to push it”.
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The Mets are 4-1 in their last 5 during game 5 of a series and 9-1 in deGroms last 10 road starts. I get it that the legacy talk before the game was prevalent, and to be fair if Kershaw didn’t SHOVE without any caveats. Hey, he’s not stubbornly sticking to “I only pitch my closer in the ninth inning” doctrine. “We’ve got all the confidence in the world that if we get to the next round, he’s going to be a part of that rotation”. All righty then. But with Kershaw already out of the game, he really had no choice but to use his best reliever.
