The New York Mets offense exploded Monday night in Game 3 of the National League Division Series as it dropped double digits on the Los Angeles Dodgers in a 13-7 win at Citi Field. With the victory, the Mets grab a 2-1 series lead, leaving them one game away from the National League Championship Series.
According to Bleacher Report Insights (h/t B/R's MLB account), the 13 runs are the most allowed by the Dodgers ever in a playoff game.
The trade for Yoenis Cespedes is regarded by many as a major turning point in the Mets' season. By acquiring the veteran slugger, New York added the kind of power that had been missing in its lineup before the trade deadline.
Cespedes strengthened that narrative after he hit .287 with 17 home runs, 44 runs batted in and a .604 slugging percentage in his 57 regular-season games with the team.
On Monday, the 29-year-old had his best performance of the series so far, finishing 3-for-5 with three runs batted in and three runs scored. His massive three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth may still be trapped in earth's orbit:
ESPN Stats & Info supplied some of the impressive details from Cespedes' blast:
His home run capped off a three-inning stretch for the Mets in which they turned a three-run deficit into a 10-3 lead.
Matt Harvey found himself in trouble after allowing three straight singles to start off the second inning. With the bases loaded, Yasmani Grandal singled to right, which plated Justin Turner and Andre Ethier. Carl Crawford also came home following an errant throw by Curtis Granderson.
Allowing three runs—only two of which were earned—in an inning-plus of work wasn't an optimal start for the Mets ace. SportsPickle offered this helpful insight:
Harvey settled down, though, sending the next three Dodgers batters down in order to end the inning.
And that brief outburst proved to be Los Angeles' only real offense of note as Harvey exited after five innings, allowing just the two earned runs on seven hits and striking out seven.
The Mets hitters went to work in the bottom of the second. A Travis d'Arnaud single and a Granderson double gave the home team a 4-3 lead. An inning later, d'Arnaud hammered a two-run home run to get New York ever further out front, which was, needless to say, a positive development for ESPN.com's Adam Rubin:
The Mets tacked on four more runs in the fourth. Daniel Murphy began the scoring with an RBI single, and Cespedes provided the fireworks one batter later. The fans inside Citi Field really started enjoying themselves once Cespedes crossed the plate for the 10th run, calling out Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley, per ESPN's Linda Cohn:
Utley appealed his two-game suspension following his hard slide into Ruben Tejada in Game 2, but Dodgers manager Don Mattingly left him out of the lineup for Game 3. Missing out on Monday's game was a smart decision in retrospect.
BuzzFeed's Lindsey Adler considers the beef between Utley and the Mets officially over:
The Dodgers will like their chances of extending the series Tuesday since they'll have their ace on the mound. Clayton Kershaw will face off against Steven Matz.
Of course, starting Kershaw is far from a guarantee in the playoffs. He's 1-6 in 12 career postseason appearances with a 4.99 ERA. His issues in October continue to be one of the more confounding aspects of baseball today.
SB Nation's Grant Brisbee attempted to get into the three-time Cy Young winner's mind ahead of Game 4:
Another loss won't change the fact that Kershaw is the best pitcher on the planet, but in order to truly cement his legacy in the game, he'll need to buck his recent playoff trend.
Meanwhile, the Mets know as well as anybody how quickly a promising future can turn sour. The 1986 World Series-winning team looked like a dynasty in the making. But the Mets reached the playoffs just once more in the ensuing 12 seasons.
The 2015 Mets have a number of young players, especially on the pitching staff. They should be built to contend for years, but some stars will get hurt, leave or fail to pan out as expected. New York must do everything it can to capitalize on its title window this postseason.
Postgame Reaction
While Cespedes deserves a lot of credit for the Mets' Game 3 win, Granderson set the table at the top of the order, going 2-for-5 with two doubles and five runs batted in. He more than atoned for his error in the second inning.
"This guy is the same way everyday," said Mets manager Terry Collins, per the team's Twitter account. "He doesn't look for headlines. He just loves to play."
As if the prospect of going up 2-1 in the series weren't enough of a motivating factor for the Mets players, they also wanted to exact a measure of revenge on the Dodgers for Utley's Game 2 slide on Tejada.
"The greatest retaliation is winning the game," said Michael Cuddyer, per Rubin.
"I think everybody feels badly for Ruben, but what’s done is done," added David Wright, per Marc Carig of Newsday. "The only thing we can do now in support of Ruben is going out there and getting back the way that we know how to get back, and that’s winning two games here."
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