Dodgers 8 Mets 0 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Series status: Dodgers lead 2-1 in best of seven NLCS
WP - Michael Kopech (1-0)
LP - Luis Severino (1-1)
Seat on the Korner: Walker Buehler
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Today's Seat on the Korner goes to Dodgers starter Walker Buehler, who looked like the Walker Buehler of old -- one of the best pitchers in the game -- instead of the one who struggled as he returned after missing almost two years with his second Tommy John surgery. Buehler lasted only four innings, and pitched in and out of trouble over that span, but he always seemed to be in total control over the Mets. His pitching line of three hits, six strikeouts and no runs over 90 pitches doesn't fully reflect how well he pitched. How imporant was his performance? Buehler was the starter the Mets needed to get to a) to continue the momentum from the Game 2 win and b) because the next two days, they will face Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty.
Need to Know
Since the League Championship Series moved to its seven-game format in 1985, the winner of the third game has advanced to the World Series just under two-thirds of the time, including each of the last two years.
The win evened the Dodgers' record in Game 3 of a postseason series to 28-28 and dropped the Mets' record to 15-6.
Max Muncy's ninth-inning home run tied him with Justin Turner and Corey Seager for the most in Dodgers' post-season history, 13.
J.D. Martinez got the start at DH instead of Jesse Winker. He went 0-for-2 with two walks.
Today was the 55th anniversary of the Mets's first world championship, the 1969 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
Jose Quintana takes the mound for the Mets in Thursday's game, also an 8:08 first pitch. Yoshinobu Yamamoto takes the mound for the Dodgers, letting Mets fans see What Might Have Been.
Turning Point
Even during the regular season, it's important to answer in your next at-bat after the opposition puts up a crooked number. Mutiply that by 10 when it's the playoffs. And the Mets had the chance to do just that in the bottom of the second after the Dodgers scored two in the top of the frame (see below). They loaded the bases with one out on a JD Martinez walk, an infield single by Jose Iglesias and a walk to Tyrone Taylor. Up stepped Francisco Alvarez, whose questionable decision-making might have cost the Mets a run in the top of the inning. The at-bat called for some controlled swinging; a sacrifice fly would have halved the deficit and a single would have tied the game. But Alvarez, never known for his plate discipline, signaled from the first pitch that he was trying for a five-run homer, swinging so hard that his bat went flying toward the Dodgers dugout and reminding everyone why the protective screens were extended to the foul lines to protect the paying customers. Alvarez then froze up, keeping the bat on his shoulder for the next four pitches and striking out looking. After Francisco Lindor stuck out to end the inning, it was essentially all over for the Mets.
Three Keys
Bad Karma or Bad Fielding in the Second?
The Dodgers put up a two-spot in the second, but the Mets could -- and probably should -- have escaped without allowing a run. Max Muncy walked to start the inning. Teoscar Hernandez then chopped one in front of the plate. Francisco Alvarez made the inadvisable decision to try forcing Muncy at second instead of getting the sure out at first, but threw wild and Muncy was safe. After Gavin Lux grounded out to pitcher Luis Severino -- who made the right decision and took the out at first -- Will Smith hit a ball that glanced off Severino's glove, allowing Muncy to score. Tommy Edman hit a fly ball that Tyrone Taylor made an unbelievable catch on, sliding behind Starling Marte and avoiding a collision. Hernandez scored on the sacrifice fly. Severino then struck out Kike Hernandez to contain the damage. Had Alvarez made the right decision or nailed Muncy; had the ball landed in Severino's glove instead of glancing off of it, it might have been a different story, but, hey, Susan, that's baseball.
Dodgers Go Yard on Mets Relievers
Reed Garrett replaced Luis Severino with two outs in the fifth and got out of the inning, but in the sixth, he gave up a two-out single to Tommy Edman, balked Edman to second and then gave up a two-run homer to Kike Hernandez. In the eighth, Tylor Megill yielded a three-run homer to Shohei Ohtani, whom previous Mets pitchers had contained (some would say Ohtani was due, but it hurt nevertheless). In the ninth, Megill -- by then in the position of eating innings and saving the back end of the bullpen for Wednesday -- grooved one to Max Muncy to put a cherry on top of what had become a Dodgers rout.
Dodgers Bullpen Lives Up to It Reputation
The Dodgers vaunted bulpen -- by reputation the best in baseball, notwithstanding the Mets' seven runs in game two's bullpen game for Los Angeles -- silenced the Mets' bats over the final five innings, allowing only one hit (Starling Marte's single in the sixth) and striking out seven. All told, the Mets struck out 13 times in the game. The Mets have scored in only three of the series' 27 innings so far, not a recipe for success.
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