Pumping brakes on Mets-Dodgers playoff preview
Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo scores on a Starling Marte single in the seventh inning against the Dodgers at Citi Field on Thursday. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
The Mets beat the Dodgers Thursday in a Game 7.
That’s always an impressive statement. But in this case, coming Sept. 1 at Citi Field, it obviously doesn’t carry quite the same weight as the 5-3 victory would nearly two months from now.
But if the Mets are able to ride the same stellar pitching, timely hitting and general resourcefulness they displayed Thursday on Oct. 25 — the date of this year’s NLCS Game 7 — we’ll be having a much different conversation.
Under that scenario, the Mets will be headed to their sixth World Series in franchise history.
Heady stuff, right? For now, let’s pump the brakes a bit. There’s still the month of September to play, and Atlanta to fend off in the NL East, so envisioning a playoff showdown with the Dodgers is extremely premature. The Mets, to a man, certainly weren’t willing to think too far ahead after taking two of three from L.A. this week and winning the season series.
“This is not the playoffs,” said Chris Bassitt, who dodged some early trouble to power through six innings, allowing two runs. “I know it may not be cool for the fan’s kind of thing or whatever that may be, but it’s just another game. If this were the playoffs, I’d be saying a whole lot of different things. We have a long way to go. So it’s just a good win against a good team and that’s about it.”
But there are a few things we can declare after the Mets went toe-to-toe with everyone’s World Series favorite and came away feeling pretty good about themselves. As great as the Dodgers are, they’re not invincible, and Thursday they were prone to the same mistakes as considerably lesser clubs.
In the sixth inning, Starling Marte beat out a routine ground ball for an infield single when Dodgers second baseman Gavin Lux apparently thought Daniel Vogelbach was running, based on his casual approach. Marte scored the tying run on Francisco Lindor’s laser double into the right-center gap and later put the Mets ahead to stay on Darin Ruf’s sacrifice fly.
Lux screwed up again in the seventh, losing Brandon Nimmo’s pop-up while doing a pirouette in shallow rightfield — the ball dropped a few feet away — and James McCann (who doubled) scored. Nimmo then hustled around on Marte’s single to put the Mets more comfortably ahead, 5-2.
“They’re a good team — it’s good to establish that we can play with them,” manager Buck Showalter said. “But let’s face it. They’re in a little different mode now. Some things they’re doing right now they won’t do down the road. But it is what it is. They’re trying to win and they got really good players.”
One of those was Clayton Kershaw, making his return after a month-long stay on the IL, and the three-time Cy Young winner limited the Mets to one run over his five innings — retiring the last 13 hitters he faced. The next five weeks will just be an extended tune-up for the Dodgers, who should have the NL West clinched by mid-September at the latest, so it’s understandable if Thursday’s series finale maybe didn’t represent their A-plus effort.
But that didn’t matter to the Mets, a team that fights like they’re on a mission every night. And for the record, they played the Dodgers more than even all season. Through these seven games, the Mets outscored L.A., 25-24, and out-homered them, 9-6. They also had a superior team ERA (2.90 to 3.34).
“The key was how well we pitched,” Showalter said. “You have to match their pitching and our guys did.”
The Mets didn’t see Tony Gonsolin (forearm strain) this week and Julio Urias wasn’t on turn, so the rotation should be different in late October. Again, that’s not something they’re overly concerned about yet. Showalter & Co. do have plenty of reasons to be confident, however.
Coming off Wednesday’s wild Citi spectacle, with Jacob deGrom’s gem, Brandon Nimmo’s dazzling catch and Timmy Trumpet’s live intro for Edwin Diaz, the Mets saved some flash for Thursday’s finisher. Lindor made a nifty stab behind second base with a backhanded flip to Jeff McNeil for one of the prettier defensive plays of the season
Diaz was even summoned again in the eighth inning — for the fifth time in his last 13 appearances — and rifled a 102.8-mph fastball to whiff Lux for the final out of that frame.
It’s worth noting that Diaz twice gave up two long drives that came within a few feet of being game-tying homers, but adding that triple-digit exclamation point made everyone forget the warning track drama.
“We showed them that we have a really good team, too,” Diaz said.
And if there’s another Game 7 between these two clubs on Oct. 25 out at Chavez Ravine, the Dodgers don’t want to see Diaz in that one.
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
