You knew it was going in a bad direction in the first inning. Brandon Nimmo smoked a ball to right field on the fourth pitch of the game, and the normally solid fielding Jason Heyward dropped it and then crawled after it like he had just shotgunned an AMF cut with Jagermeister. (Google it.) Starling Marte, Francisco Lindor, and Pete Alonso coming up, should be a good start, right?
Well, not if Clayton Kershaw starts throwing curveballs with a 5’7″ break, which is just a couple of inches short of the height of the average American male.
After the lead-off three-base error, Clayton Kershaw strikes out the side. pic.twitter.com/19Bjub2psm
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) April 19, 2023
Good lord.
Of course, immediately following that filth in the bottom of the first, J.D. Martinez whacked a hanging slider out of the park for a 2-0 Dodger lead, and Mets fans who made the trip to Dodger Stadium were off the the lines for Greek fries for the rest of the game.
Tylor Megill wasn’t all that bad, giving up three runs in five innings, two on the hanging slider to Martinez, and one more on a fat fastball to … Martinez! There was a lot of traffic on the bases against him (seven hits and four walks), but he got outs when he needed them against everyone else except J.D.
Meanwhile, the only AMF’s in the ballpark were the ones that Kershaw was dealing all night to the Mets, striking out nine batters in seven innings, including one big one in the 7th. With two outs Mark Canha, in an incredible display of concentration against a future Hall of Famer with the game all but lost, singled after a 13 pitch at-bat, fouling off pitches that would have raised Babe Ruth from the dead with the sole purpose of killing him again. Then Jeff McNeil singled to bring Tommy Pham up to the plate as the tying run. This is what Kershaw did:
Clayton Kershaw with an emphatic yell after his ninth strikeout of the night 🗣️
He’s going for his 200th career win.
🎥 @SportsNetLA pic.twitter.com/A6EnrZtiqu
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) April 19, 2023
Adios, MF’ers.
Having forced Kershaw from the game with a high pitch count after seven, the Mets hoped to touch up the bullpen. But with Evan Phillips on the mound, Francisco Alvarez on first, and Brett Baty pinch hitting for Tomas Nido, Baty hit a screamer headed for the outfield. But Miguel Vargas made a leaping catch and doubled off Martinez at first base. After that, it was back to the Greek fries line as there was nothing to prevent Kershaw from picking up his 200th career win, Of those 200, 11 of those have now come against the Mets (against no losses), so that’s 5.5% of his wins coming against a team he only faced 4.1% of the time.
Maybe the AMF’s that Kershaw poured down our throats will wash down those Greek fries.
Today’s Hate List
- J.D. Martinez
- Miguel Vargas
- Max Muncy
- Evan Phillips
- Damon Severson
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