Mets Seek Revenge on Man Who Spurned Them To Fight Back in NLCS

Yoshinobu Yamamoto picked the Dodgers over the Mets during free agency last off-season. The Mets can tie the NLCS up at two games apiece if they beat him tonight.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitches in the NLDS (Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images).

Hi friends-

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I was planning to write something profound after games 1 and 2 of the NLCS but the series has just been……ugh.

The Dodgers stomped the Mets so completely in all facets of Game 1 that the Mets Twitter account had no highlights to post. None. @Mets literally just said hello then goodbye 3 hours later.

The Dodgers followed a similar script in Game 2. After announcing they’d use nothing but relievers, they opted to keep all their best bullpen guys on the bench, for reasons that are still unclear to me. They lost a winnable game 7-3, but at no point was it tense or exciting because LA didn’t seem much interested in trying their hardest.

Then Game 3 came along, and Big Game Walker Buehler summoned the best pure stuff he’s had in three years.

If you were wondering if Buehler was good last night or if the Mets simply choked (which is a fair question), “Pitching Ninja” Rob Friedman reported that Buehler has only thrown four sweepers in his career with over two feet of horizontal break. He threw all four last night. Here’s the video from Friedman:

To be fair, MLB discovered “sweepers” in the last few years the same way they discovered “oblique strains” twenty years ago. The sweeper wasn’t really all the rage the last time Buehler was healthy, and now it is. It’s possible that last night we saw what Buehler’s career might look like going forward now that three major arm surgeries have stolen his f—k you fastball. He mixed his slider, sweeper, and curve to throw four scoreless innings against a very tough lineup.

What I’m saying is the Mets did not Met. Buehler was nasty, and when he gifted New York base runners via walks, they couldn’t cash in. I was particularly impressed by the two ridiculous curveballs Buehler threw to strikeout out the almighty Francisco Lindor with the bases loaded in the second.

Luis Severino was just as good for the Mets as Buehler was for the Dodgers, but the Mets infield defense was sloppy behind him. The Dodgers chased him from the game with two outs in the 5th, then destroyed the Mets mediocre bullpen for six runs.

Back when I wrote my series preview I had three questions that have wound up being the keys to all three games so far.

1) Could the Dodgers get length from Jack Flaherty in Game 1? They did, and they won.

2) How would the Dodgers pitch to Fransisco Lindor with emerging star Mark Vientos hitting behind him for protection? Well, they IBB’d him to load the bases for Vientos in the second inning of Game 2. He hit a grand slam and the Mets won as a result.

And 3) Would the Mets figure out a way to stop the Hernandi? The answer so far is no. Kiké Hernandez is leading the Dodgers with a .333 postseason batting average and a .983 OPS. He also hit the homer that sealed Game 3 for the Dodgers, despite batting ninth. He is a playoff monster.

Now, I have one question that will probably determine whether the Mets have a chance to make it to the World Series or their magical season ends this week: can they hit the pitcher who flirted with them last December then picked the Dodgers instead?