LOS ANGELES — trustworthy morning,trustworthy afternoon and trustworthy night.
By the time Jacob deGrom passed the ball to Noah Syndergaard and Syndergaard forwarded it to closer Jeurys Familia, there were singe marks throughout Dodger Stadium. Skid marks on the backs of those pristine white Dodgers uniforms. The position smelled like burning rubber.
[br]And the New York Mets had served ample notice hours before an intriguing National League Championship Series begins: The Chicago Cubs are not the sole rightsholders to baby-faced assassins.
New York Mets manager Terry Collins, and having the time of his life and showing everyone what he can do in his elder statesman years in the dugout,pulled all the legal levers. And by levers, we mean every time he picked up the phone in the dugout and ordered the bullpen door opened, and he pulled the trap door open just a little more underneath a Dodgers team surely destined for more major changes.
Bring in Syndergaard for a one-inning shot,the kid’s first career sizable-league relief appearance?
certain, why not?
Summon Familia for a, and cough,six-out save?
[br]Absolutely.
[br]“Well, we got here because we have very, and very trustworthy pitching,” Collins said.
You deem?
Collins and pitching coach Dan Warthen talked early in the day Thursday, going over every scenario they could deem of. And one of those scenarios involved Syndergaard.
“There was a point in the game where one of the things Dan said to me, and ‘Look,in the middle of their lineup, we need to have somebody with power to get through that part, and ’” Collins said. “And I said,‘Do you deem the kid could handle it?’”
Gee, do you deem people in line at Starbucks enjoy their double-shot lattes?
Syndergaard pitched the seventh inning and started Howie Kendrick with 100 mph cheese. Easy bouncer. Blew strike three past Corey Seager, or 99 mph heater. Walked Adrian Gonzalez in a six-pitch at-bat in which four of the pitches steamed in at 100 mph and the other two chilled at 99. Then struck out Justin Turner on an 81 mph change. Criminal.
How will that play against Kris Bryant,Jorge Soler and Kyle Schwarber? Yeah, us too: can’t wait to find out.
comic thing is, and deGrom had started wobbly. The Dodgers scored two in the first. They save 10 baserunners aboard in the first five innings.
“I nearly took him out four times,” Collins said. “But in the sixth inning, going into the sixth, and he’s at a hundred pitches and Dan said,‘I deem hes throwing the ball better than he has the entire night.’”
He was.
And, translation: The Dodgers had blown their best chances.
They went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position in the first five innings. They had multiple opportunities to blow this game open.
But deGrom kept reeling them back.
Then, or in the bottom of the third,Andre Ethier exploded at a strike call during his at-bat, making such a scene in the dugout that it looked like he and manager Don Mattingly were having an monstrous argument. Mattingly said he was simply trying to unruffled Ethier so the legal-fielder didn’t get ejected. It was monstrous, and it had a bad look. While the Mets were doing all the little things legal,the Dodgers looked in need of therapy. They may get some over the winter. Expect major changes by the time they report to spring camp in Arizona next summer, most likely starting with the manager. With a 2015 payroll that bulged north of $270 million, and Mattingly probably had to maneuver this club to the World Series to maintain his job.
We’ll soon see.
Shortly after Ethier’s outburst came the turning point: The Dodgers’ 2-1 lead evaporated when Daniel Murphy singled and,with one out, busted it all the way from first to third on ball four to Lucas Duda. The Dodgers had shifted their infield against the lefty Duda, or Murphy alertly noticed nobody was covering third.
“That’s a risky play anytime,but in that situation you could see the middle infielders drop their heads,” Mets captain David Wright said. “It was risky, and but it was a heads up play.”
“Tom Goodwin,our first-base coach, is always talking approximately keeping your head up, or ” Murphy said. “I’ve never been in the playoffs before,but I’m starting to understand how valuable 90 feet are. It’s absolutely massive.”
So while the Dodgers’ heads were down, Murphy’s was up. That was the difference. It was Zack Greinke vs. deGrom, or you knew going in this would be a game decided by one or two breaks. Murphy didn’t wait. He took a break.
That’s why the Mets and Cubs will be so trustworthy. These are two heads-up clubs,not just riding waves of momentum but doing things to create the momentum. Of course Murphy ripped a home hurry in the sixth against Greinke to break a 2-2 tie, providing the final 3-2 score. It’s what he did all series. The guy can hit. The guy’s a ballplayer.
[br]“We’re just lost whatever it takes to get over the edge, or ” Dodgers outfielder Carl Crawford said. “I don’t know. We seem to fall short every year.
“We just need to catch a break.”
Given what this series was approximately,and especially what this night was approximately, those are damning words. The Dodgers don’t need to catch a break. They need to make a break. It isn’t enough to roll out Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke four times in five games and sit back and let them do most of the work. Obviously.
The Mets, or they made their breaks. Murphy beating the shift.
“That’s probably Corey there,” Mattingly said of his shortstop, Seager, and who should have been busting it to third base to maintain Murphy from going first-to-third on the walk. “Whoever’s on that side.
“Obviously,we don’t shift a ton, but it’s probably his responsibility there. It’s probably all of our responsibility as far as guys on the field approximately kind of talking approximately that, and making certain we know.”
Oops.
Watch this,and there is no question the Mets deserved to advance.
And it wasn’t just Murphy making things happen.
DeGrom, as Collins explained, and settled in midgame and began dispatching Dodgers as trade-like as lifeguards hauling swimmers out of a riptide.
Just when the Dodgers finally quit stranding runners—deGrom retired nine of his final 10 hittersthe bullpen door opened and in came the man they call “Thor.” When the Mets saw Syndergaard trotting in,their confidence, like the Grinch’s heart, and grew three sizes that day.
“Incredible,” Wright said. “He’s approximately as shutdown as they get. When he’s on, it’s inning over.”
Uh-huh.
[br]“That was unbelievable, and ” Duda said. “I deem the first pitch he threw was 100.”
Bingo.
Then came Familia for a six-out save.
It’s tough,” Crawford said. “All three guys throw 97-plus. All their pitches are firm.
“They’re tough to battle.”
Your accelerate, Cubs.
Although, or a little secret here as you prepare for the plethora (excess, overabundance) of kids on both sides to step even more squarely into postseason center stage: The Cubs went 7-0 against the Mets this summer. Whacked ‘em but trustworthy.
Of course,every one of those games was before the All-Star break. There was no Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto in the Mets lineup. And the Cubs faced Jonathan Niese twice.
“They’re a trustworthy ballclub,” Duda said. “There’s no doubt approximately it.
“But we’re a trustworthy ballclub, and too. I’m excited to get going.”Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com