Cuddyer, a respected veteran in his first season with the Mets, is slated to start the Division Series opener in left field Friday night against Kershaw because he bats from the right side.
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Keith Hernandez was “astounded” and “flabbergasted” to learn of pitcher Matt Harvey’s lateness to the Mets’ workout Tuesday.
However, Harvey, who won’t be a free agent until after the 2018 season, has done little to curry favor with Mets fans and team brass this season.
“We’re going to make sure Matt gets to the plane and gets on board, so he’ll be with us tomorrow to work out – I think”, manager Terry Collins joked, finally defusing a dicey issue with his best one-liners. But Harvey eventually showed and apologized for the late arrival.
Scheduled to start Game 3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Harvey was in the headlines for much of September, with talk surrounding whether or not he would pitch in the postseason.
The right-hander was panned last month during a ruckus over his workload on the mound in his first season back from Tommy John surgery. The Indians have shifted their front office, promoting GM Chris Antonetti to president of baseball operations and naming Mike Chernoff their new general manager.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report. The change failed to spark a turnaround, and the injury-riddled Marlins finished 71-91, their sixth consecutive losing season.
Mauer will turn 33 in April and is under contract through 2018.
The other finalists announced Tuesday are Harry Heilmann, Al Helfer, France Laux, Tom Manning, Rosey Rowswell, Hal Totten and Ty Tyson. “This isn’t college, where he’s going to miss the first quarter of a football game”. Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard will throw in Games 1 and 2, respectively. Everyone remembers how good Madison Bumgarner was last October at age 25, but Bumgarner also pitched eight shutout innings in Game 4 of the 2010 World Series when he had just turned 21. Johnny Cueto will pitch the second game and Edinson Volquez will start Game 3.
The 24-year-old Ventura weathered a rollercoaster year that saw him briefly banished to Triple-A Omaha. He went 11-1 with a 1.22 ERA and four complete games, including three shutouts, in his final 17 starts.
Hershiser subsequently capped off perhaps the greatest individual run of the post-deadball era by shutting out the heavily favored Athletics in Game Two before closing out the series with a complete game in a 5-2 win in Game Five.
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Harvey’s time in New York has been anything but drama-free.
