Los Angeles, CA: Down 0-2 to the Dodgers in the third game of a four game series, the Mets faced off against Dodger starter Walker Buehler 6-2, 3.22 ERA with 42 strikeouts.
Only 3 current Mets batters have never faced Buehler. Luis Guillorme, Nick Plummer and Francisco Lindor. Pete Alonso owns a 12 at bat average of .333 that includes 3 homers and 9 RBI when facing the Dodger all-star righty. So will the Mets bats finally wake up against this Dodger ace?
The Mets counter with David Peterson, 2-0, 3.03 ERA. The current Dodger lineup has only 2 players who have ever faced Peterson. Freddie Freeman .300 with 10 at bats and Trea Turner .250 with 8 at bats. Can Peterson fool a team made up of players that have never faced him?
So put all that information in a bucket with a nickel and you know what you get? A nickel because neither pitcher lasted that long. Buehler left after 2.1 innings. Giving up 5 earned runs and 2 homers.
Peterson was lifted 2 outs into inning 4 with a runner on second base and a 0-1 count to Mookie Betts after a long foul ball. After that it was a parade of pitchers by both teams with a total of 12 relief pitchers being used tonight.
In talking to first base coach Wayne Kirby he pointed out that, “We feast on hard stuff and haven’t been as successful facing change-ups, sliders and splitters.” Which is what they have seen from Dodger pitchers in the past two nights. Buehler gave them a majority of 95-96 plus fastballs tonight and the guys in the bullpen only seem to throw high heat. Pete Alonso hit two homers tonight, the second one was off of a 100 mph fastball from Brusdar Graterol, Calobozo, Venezuela.
About the successful start of this team Kirby said, ”We emphasize fundamental baseball. It’s how the game is supposed to be played and this group has bought into it.” The fact that the Mets are second to Colorado for putting balls in play for hits is a good indication that this throwback to a less analytical approach is working. Resulting in less strikeouts this year and more runs scored.
Kirby also said, as per Buck, “We have no problem taking all the analytical information and using it as long as we, the manager and his coaches, get to decide how and when to use that information. The pecking order is owner, front office, GM, manager, coaches, players and then analytics. What ever we do, it has to work!”
Final score tonight, Mets 9 dodgers 4. What ever it is, it’s working.
