Start Spreading The News…Dodgers in New York

Dodgers Lineup @ New York-5-20-14

Gordon 2B

Puig RF

Hanley SS

Gonzalez 1B

Kemp CF

Crawford LF

Uribe 3B

Ellis C

Beckett P

Josh Beckett-1-1 vs. Rafael Montero-0-1

Start spreading the news…..The Dodgers are leaving LA….They want to be a part of it…New York…New York……

Well, if they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. The Dodgers are in New York at Citi Field to play the Mets for a three game series. The Dodgers flew into the big apple on Monday, and enjoyed an off-day before the series starts Tuesday night.

The Dodgers will be activating Hyun-jin Ryu Wednesday night. He’ll be making the start tomorrow against rookie Jacob deGrom. The Dodgers will need to make a tough roster move. But that’s not until Wednesday. Until then we have a Beckett versus Rafael Montero matchup for game one.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Beckett has gotten off to a good start in 2014. He is 1-1 with a 2.38 ERA in seven starts. Through 41.2 innings pitched, he’s allowed just 29 hits, and 11 earned runs. That’s a 6.3 hits per nine rate. He’s whiffed 40 and walked just 15. His last start was another good one. He threw 6.1 innings of one-run ball against Miami, picking up his first win since 2012. He’ll look for win number two tonight.

Beckett has pitched well against the Mets. Most of those games were from his old days with the Marlins. He is 6-2 with a 2.27 ERA in 14 starts against the Mets. Beckett is 2-2 with a 2.43 ERA I New York. But those starts were all at the now defunct Shea Stadium. Beckett has never pitched at Citi Field.

Most of the current Mets have not faced Beckett, but there is one guy to watch for. Former Yankee Curtis Granderson is batting .297 (11 for 37) with three home runs.

The Mets will counter with rookie Rafael Montero. The 23-year old Dominican right hander is making his second major league start. He got beat by the Yankees in his first start, so he is 0-1. The Mets signed him as an amateur free agent, but apparently he was tipping his pithes during his first start. In that start he gave up three earned runs in six innings, but may have not been disguising his pitches well. Montero is six feet, and about 180. According to the scouting report, he’s been compared to Pedro Martinez. He’s got a good strong fastball, but his secondary pitches are good too. A great slider, and pluschangeup fill out his pitching arsenal.

New York Mets starting pitcher Rafael Montero (50) delivers the pitch-William Perlman-The Star-Ledger

Montero posted a 2.78 ERA for AA Birmingham, and AAA Las Vegas in 2013. He whiffed 150 batters in 155 innings last season. Baseball America ranked him as the 68 best prospect in 2014. So of course that means he’ll probably shut out the Dodgers tonight.

All kidding aside, the Mets are in a similar situation as the Dodgers. They are tied for fourth place in the NL East, with a 20-23 record, four games behind Atlanta.

The Mets are better on the road than at home, much like the Dodgers are this year. The Mets are 9-12 at Citi Field, but 11-11 on the road.

Hopefully the Dodgers will be in a New York state of mind tonight. Check in with us later to find out if they are.

Congratulations to Yasiel Puig on winning the Co-NL Player of the week! He shared the award with Arizona’s A.J. Pollock.

Game time – 4:10 PM

Go Blue!