Dodgers 9 Mets 1: They Got Utley

The Dodgers took down the Mets with some help from a New York fan favorite.

Mets starter Noah Syndergaard has a bit of a reputation. He’s a phenomenal talent with nearly unlimited potential, but he’s been known to be a bit of a jerk on the mound. Last year in the Word Series, Thor threw the first pitch of game three up near the head of Royals’ shortstop Alcides Escobar. Here’s an excerpt from ESPN.

"“My intent on that pitch was to make them uncomfortable, and I feel like I did just that,” Syndergaard said. “I think in every postseason game that Escobar has played in, he’s swung at the first-pitch fastball. I didn’t think he would want to swing at that one.“I mean, I certainly wasn’t trying to hit the guy, that’s for sure. I just didn’t want him getting too comfortable. If they have a problem with me throwing inside, then they can meet me 60 feet, 6 inches away. I’ve got no problem with that.”"

So we have a bit a bit of knowledge about Synderdaard. He’s not afraid to go inside and he’s not afraid to send a message.

Syndergaard allowed a couple hits in the first, but for the most part seemed to be his same dominant self. His night came to an end in the third inning, when he threw behind Chase Utley in Utley’s second plate appearance. As far as I know, there weren’t any warnings, but a 99 MPH fastball behind the subject of the most controversial slide in baseball history led to an ejection. It was a quick ejection, but a bit too coincidental that his first pitch that missed his target nearly drilled Utley. Manager Terry Collins was not happy at all and got himself ejected as well, and that was pretty much the only exciting thing to happen in the first three innings.

Kenta Maeda had a scary start to the game, as the third batter of the game hit a comebacker off his pitching hand. He stayed in the game and that comebacker ended up being the last base hit off Maeda, as he recovered and was excellent. He allowed two walks and two singles in five innings and kept the Mets off the board, which was important because it took a while for the Dodger bats to realize Syndergaard wasn’t pitching anymore, as they couldn’t get anything going until the sixth inning.

If you would have told me that after all the hooplah, Utley would hit a home run to get the Dodgers on the board, I would have thought it was way too cliche. So of course, Utley made it 1-0 with a shot to right. Adrian Gonzalez hit a double and scored on a Yasiel Puig single+TOOTBLAN, which might have been on purpose to make sure Gonzo scored.

As if the game wasn’t cliche enough, the Dodgers loaded the bases in the seventh with no outs. After Enrique Hernandez pinch hit and struck out, Utley hit a grand slam after fans were chanting “hit him”. Not exactly what they had in mind, I’m sure.

In all, this was obviously a glorious game. Gonzalez finally looked like Gonzalez, as he added a seventh run in the eighth with a solo shot. Howie Kendrick added a dinger in that inning as well, which was great to see.  Maeda got through his five allowing three baserunners, and while he maybe wasn’t as sharp as usual, he still turned in a fine outing. Adam Liberatore and Chris Hatcher each threw scoreless innings. The Mets scratched in the eighth when J.P. Howell allowed a homer to Juan Lagares, but the Dodgers got that run back with a Corey Seager homer.  Casey Fien even made his Dodger debut and struck out the side in the ninth. They won a game against a tough team and their best pitcher (although he didn’t factor too much into it), and they have Clayton Kershaw going tomorrow. Solid.

Next: In Support of Yasiel Puig

Tomorrow’s game will be on ESPN, so we get another game with national broadcasters (hooray!). At least Jessica Mendoza is great.