DeGrom strikes out 13, Mets top Dodgers 3-1

DeGrom retired the last 11 batters he faced and was elated after tying Tom Seaver’s franchise mark of 13 strikeouts in a postseason game.

We can officially take Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson off the list of people who think the Full House revival for Netflix is a good idea.

“It’s a completely different lineup, not just Cespedes, you know”, Kershaw said. “And he matched him pitch for pitch”. This kid’s never done it in his whole career. His last fastball was as hard as his first of the game, 97 miles per hour. Kershaw is simply not the same pitcher in the fall as the summer, in the playoffs as the regular season.

What a showing by the two starters, particularly deGrom.

The trend continued Friday, in an even bigger situation. In the first inning, Wright treated the fans to several souvenirs, fouling off eight pitches, six with two strikes, and going through a 12-pitch at-bat that launched Kershaw on the road to bad pitch count numbers. He withstood two misplays in left field by Michael Cuddyer, wiggling out of trouble unscathed both times. The inning that beat Kershaw in Game 4 of that same series, the one that ended the Dodgers’ season.

But there was one moment that, inescapably, tilted this game to the Mets. Who does deGrom share that record with?

“He was unbelievable right from the get-go”, Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. Collins had toyed with the idea of bringing back the shaggy right-hander for Game 4.

“There were a couple of times tonight 3-2 where I threw a couple of changeups, ” deGrom said of a pitch he sharpened during an 11-day hiatus in September.

Of course, deGrom’s brilliant effort wouldn’t have mattered if the Mets didn’t muster a few semblance of an attack off Kershaw-a daunting task. While working past the seventh inning seems easy for Kershaw most of the time – he did it in 22 of his 33 starts this year – it hasn’t been as such in the playoffs.

The call and its outcome gave Kershaw a final line of three run, four hits, four walks and 11 strikeouts over 6 ²/₃ innings pitched – hardly an embarrassment, and actually a quality start.

As it is on Wall Street, past performance is no guarantee of future results, and with a player of Kershaw’s caliber it stands to reason that eventually his talent will overcome whatever mental block has derailed him in the past.

It paid dividends later. He walked three batters, loading the bases with two outs and Wright due up.

Greinke allowed two runs in 14 innings against the Mets this season.

“That’s just who he is”. He hits a homerun on the day we clinched. Mets’ manager Terry Collins took no chances, pulling Clippard and turning to Jeurys Familia for a four out save.

He finished the season with a 16-7 record, 2.13 ERA and an wonderful 301 strikeouts.

They did it, and now Mattingly and the Dodgers are in a bigger bind than the one they faced in the seventh inning Friday.

The NL East champs rebuilt around a stable of prized young pitchers such as Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard.