What Clayton Kershaw thinks about Greinke-deGrom Game 5 match-up

“We came into this knowing we were going to see (Kershaw) twice and possibly Greinke twice”, manager Terry Collins said. Only one got past first base: Daniel Murphy, who hit one over the rightfield fence in the fourth for his second solo home run off Kershaw in this series.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw catches for fellow pitcher Brett Anderson during a workout Sunday, October 11, 2015, in preparation for Monday’s NLDS baseball game against the New York Mets at CitiField in New York. The reigning NL MVP and Cy Young Award victor was 1-6 with a 4.99 ERA for his postseason career entering this start. But the left-hander easily doused that threat, retiring the next three batters on only six pitches.

For the Mets’ first-round Draft pick (seventh overall) in 2010, it wasn’t easy to get to this point, battling back from 2013 Tommy John surgery and navigating the whole innings limit drama as this season drew to a close. “But an extra day never hurts you, especially with how many pitches (121) I threw before, so, yeah, I think that does help”.

Matz struck out Corey Seager to strand two runners in the fifth, keeping the Mets in it. Then he was lifted for pinch hitter Michael Cuddyer, who struck out to end the fifth on Kershaw’s 71st pitch.

Noting how lefties hit right-handers’ fastballs better than righties do and given all the Mets’ left-handed bats, Greinke was more off-speed than normal Saturday.

“I appreciate the confidence that Donnie has, the confidence in me to do it”, Kershaw said. Matz had one bad inning, highlighted by one bad pitch, while an offense that scored 13 runs yesterday was neutralized by a three-time Cy Young victor, who was on his game. He had lost elimination games each of the past two years, once on three days’ rest. Kershaw’s postseason performances had not matched up with how terrific he has been in the regular season.

Kansas City wasn’t done making bold statements yet, with Kendrys Morales adding three more runs on a towering blast against Astros ace Dallas Keuchel in the bottom of the eighth. But the seventh inning was his undoing, with Matt Adams blasting a 3-run homer that gave St. Louis a 3-2 win and the series victory.

Fittingly, the Dodgers’ season could either be prolonged or end on back-to-back appearances by Kershaw and Greinke, whose arms propelled them to a third consecutive NL West title and a franchise-record third straight playoff appearance. I just keep telling myself it’s the same game. If you can get strikeouts on heaters like he can, it’s really tough.

The 24-year-old Matz was pitching in a big league game for the first time in 19 days after a balky back sidelined him late in the season. For all the dissection of Kershaw’s spotty postseason history, he remains one of the best pitchers in baseball, and he pitched like it in Game 4. Since both Greinke and deGrom have been so good this year, the game can go either way. But if ever the Mets decide to give him a QO and he accepts, it will likely lead to him being traded for prospects as the team won’t be letting him go for nothing.