Dodgers Mets Game 3 Preview

Well after a boring day in between games, the Dodgers are in New York for game three of the NLDS.

A quick recap of the last couple days. Chase Utley takes out Ruben Tejada breaking up a double play. Utley called safe, Tejada breaks his leg. Dodgers score four that inning and win 5-2. Outrage. MLB Chief Baseball Officer Joe Torre says the play was correctly called and handled by the umpires, but says he will review it to see if disciplinary action is necessary. Deems disciplinary action necessary. Suspends Utley for two games. Utley appeals, so he can play until the hearing occurs. I wrote about it at length here.

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Utley’s slide should be illegal and come with suspension. Chris Coghlan‘s slide three weeks ago, where he kicked his legs out and tore up Jung Ho Kang‘s knee should be illegal and come with suspension. Didi Gregorius‘ slide from the wild card game last Tuesday (H/T to Reddit), which was also late and in a barreling action to break up a double play, but did not injure Jose Altuve, should be illegal and come with suspension. Only one of those three slides from this past month came with suspension.

The only problem I have with suspension is that by doing this, baseball is essentially calling Utley’s slide the worst slide in baseball history. As far as I’ve seen, only one other suspension has been handed out because of a slide, which came in Spring Training in 2008 and combined with past issues, led to a brawl (details can be found here, H/T to @presidual on Twitter). If any of the other dirty slides had been suspended, it would be fine. If MLB decided in the offseason to look at these slides with a stronger eye and announced that suspensions would occur when these slides happened, fine. But to just kind of make it up as they go along leaves it a lot more open to criticism.

Hopefully, all this outcry and these hot takes leads to some change. Obviously baseball can’t police everything, but it’s definitely better to see players on the field and not getting carted off.

Oh right, game preview.

Sep 20, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey (33) heads out to cover first base during the first inning against the New York Yankees at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Another unfortunate consequence of this whole fiasco is that it’s taken away from what’s been a tremendous series. Both games were decided in the seventh innings (Clayton Kershaw walking the bases loaded+Pedro Baez giving up a single in game one, Slideghazi in game two) and each game has the feeling of “one or two more plays and either team could be up 2-0”.

The Mets should have an advantage in game three with Matt Harvey on the hill, but it could be less of an advantage that most people think. Harvey is indisputably a better pitcher than Brett Anderson, with no offense to Anderson. There’s just so many question marks surrounding Harvey. How many pitches/innings will he be comfortable throwing? He’s also pitching on nine days rest, and while almost every pitcher has to pitch on extra rest in the postseason, Harvey has complained about it in the past.

There’s also the fact that while he’s a phenomenal pitcher, the Dodgers have hit him around in the past. Obviously it’s a small sample to draw off, but in four career starts (24 innings), Harvey has given up 12 runs. His 4.50 career ERA against the Dodgers is his third worst ERA against any team and his 2.00 BB/K rate is the worst against any team. He’s had his problems in the past with the Dodgers, and while the postseason is a different animal, the Dodgers have to be happier seeing Harvey on the mound as opposed to Noah Syndergaard or Jacob deGrom. Plus, Harvey only averages 95.2 on his fastball, how is he even in the Mets’ rotation??

The Dodgers chose Anderson to start this game over Alex Wood, who could either start game four tomorrow or come out of the bullpen. Anderson has a career high numbers of innings pitched under his belt this year (180 1/3) and had the highest ground ball rate since 2006. When he does give up fly balls, they tend to go very far (17 percent of them leave the yard). He’s never faced the Mets in his career, but he’s given up five hits in 12 at bats against Curtis Granderson (most recent was in 2011).

This feels like the Dodgers running some damage control. Utley is not in the lineup despite being 6-18 in the past against Harvey. Corey Seager is also not in the lineup and the pessimist in me credits that to the fact that the Mets might put a little extra into their slides tonight, and Jimmy Rollins is probably better equipped to keep himself safe out there.

Other that that, Carl Crawford is still in left. He’s looked awful at the plate in the first two games, so Yasiel Puig should be in the lineup. Same can be said for Yasmani Grandal and A.J. Ellis. Stay safe guys, look out for beanballs.

First pitch is scheduled for 5:37 and while the game will be shown on TBS, if the Cardinals/Cubs game goes long the beginning will be seen on TNT. Sorry, fans of The Replacements or Castle, but the Dodger game will likely cut into your regularly scheduled viewing.