Dodgers escape elimination on strong arm of Kershaw

“And when you’re facing a guy like Clayton Kershaw, you’ve got to put up zeroes”. The pitching matchup is one of the greatest ever in an elimination contest: the Mets will send Jacob deGrom and his 2.54 ERA up against Zack Greinke and his league-leading 1.66 ERA. All righty then. But with Kershaw already out of the game, he really had no choice but to use his best reliever. This failure was becoming part of his reputation. And surely Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis have their National League Championship Series tickets ready to roll in case the L.A. Dodgers topple the New York Mets in their decisive game five tonight! He folded himself into a corner and stared ahead blankly. This was the only time the Dodgers have faced Matz and they hit just. His stare was no longer vacant. Zack Greinke will pitch for the Dodgers on their home field, with Jacob deGrom taking the mound for the Mets. deGrom won the series opener with a dominant 13-strikeout performance, allowing five hits over eight scoreless innings.

D’Arnaud lined a two-run homer to left in the third off losing starter Brett Anderson and Cespedes capped a four-run fourth with a three-run blast that turned it into a rout for the Mets, striving to win their first World Series in 29 years.

Granderson is 6-14 through four games and has tallied three walks. “The biggest chance I got against Kenley, and unfortunately I couldn’t finish the at-bat off right”, Murphy told reporters after the game.

Recent Mets news that both Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard are available to pitch out of the bullpen may give the Mets the edge in Game 5 if they are able to get a lead early. “Everybody had to do their job – us on the offense, the other starting pitchers when they had their chance”. His ERA was just a tick below 5.00. The Dodgers however are 0-9 in their last 9 road games when playing a team with a win rate above. Maybe he felt like Chris Hatcher could handle the bottom of the Mets’ batting order too.

In Game 3, the Dodgers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead. What would he do with it?

Those 10 victories don’t include the W Greinke got vs. the Mets last weekend, when LA’s Chase Utley kept his team alive by essentially obliterating Mets SS Ruben Tejada while breaking up a double play. You have to side with the Mets here at home, given the exceptional value and the fact they just faced Kershaw in game 1. There seemed to be a sense that they were up against the best, and that at a few point the best would be himself in the postseason.

John McHale Jr., the baseball executive who will hear the appeal, informed MLB and the players’ union of the timing of the hearing on Tuesday.

Dodger hitters went 1-for-8 in Game 1 with runners in scoring position and left seven men on base.

And then, the moment when he might have lost it: The seventh. Infield single. Nobody out. The Mets also appeared in the 2000 World Series, dropping the “Subway Series” to the crosstown rival Yankees in five games. With the season on the line the stakes may never be higher for Kershaw in establishing his lasting playoff legacy. Now, he knows he can do it in October again.