After this morning’s 5-4 Kansas City Royals victory over the New York Mets, game two of the 2015 Major League Baseball World Series will begin tonight at 8:00pm E.T., and it has potential to be fantastic. The pitching matchup will feature Mets’ ace Jacob deGrom, and Royals’ “ace” Johnny Cueto. Since July 26, the day the Royals acquired Cueto from the Cincinnati Reds, Cueto has gone 5-8 with a .354 ERA and 71 strikeouts, while deGrom has gone 7-2 with an ERA of 2.30 and 112 strikeouts. Needless to say, deGrom has been the better pitcher during this period, but that does not mean he will have an easier time tonight than Cueto.
deGrom: As dominant as deGrom has been so far in the 2015 postseason , he has not had an easy time. Putting himself in a numerous amount of sticky situations, deGrom seems to be mistake away from blowing/giving up the lead to the opposing teams. Sure, he has a low postseason ERA, but he has been throwing a lot of pitches per game. While I do not personally care about how many pitches someone throws in a particular game, it makes a difference how a manager goes about using his bullpen. Being that tonight’s game will be played in an American League park, switching to the bullpen will not be as easy for Mets’ manager Terry Collins to do. There will be no opportunities to pinch hit for the pitcher, and there will also be an extra batter in the opposing team’s lineup. When deGrom finds himself in trouble, he can usually look in the batter’s box or on deck circle and see a pitcher getting ready to “hit”. However, with the designated hitter in play during tonight’s game, there will be no easy out for deGrom when he is in trouble. Also, deGrom relies on the strikeout, and has a K/9 ratio of 12.2. However, the Royals are not a team who strike out too often, so he will certainly have to readjust to that and pray for the best.
Cueto: Despite his struggles since coming over to the Royals, it is important not to rule out Cueto during tonight’s game. Cueto has had success against the Mets in his career, and the numbers sure do show it! According to the stats on ESPN.com, there are only three Mets who have hit over .300 in their career against Cueto. As a team, the Mets are batting .250/.385/.712 against him with 5 home runs and 16 RBI’s. Also, it is important to note Cueto’s ability to change his windup between every pitch. Although some link this to issues concerning his control, it will certainly have an effect on the Mets, because they are a young, power hitting team who rely on the timing of the opposing pitcher. Cueto also has the ability to come out and dominate, and in a situation such as this, there is no reason for him not to do so. This could very well be his last start before hitting the free agent market, and he will want to show teams all around Major League Baseball exactly what he can do.
Last night’s game was fun, but tonight’s game will be even more so. The pitching matchup has potential to be a baseball fan’s dream. Neither deGrom nor Cueto will give in, and this may end up coming down to which bullpen can limit the opposition more. There is no clear winner looking at tonight’s matchup, so it will definitely be a great one to watch!
These two teams are very close, but I prefer th Royals “work the pitcher” approach over the Mets new “swing hard in case you hit it” approach. In August, when the Mets were hot, it wasn’t their homeruns that were impressive but their batting average. They were just looking to hit everything hard, and with it came the homeruns.
It was great to see Murphy not change his approach just because he has had a homerun bonanza lately. But it seems to me that when no one is on, the Mets revert to swinging for the fences and therefore deny a rally from forming more often than not. Cespedes seems to swing that way all the time, but that’s for a different article.
If the Mets bring a more line drive approach, they will kill Cueto.
Before Colon came in, the Mets had 11 hits and 2 walks with 1 HR.
The Royals had 8 hits and 3 walks and 2 (well, 1 true) HRs.
I think you are way over analyzing this thing and what they are doing is working. The only difference yesterday was that Colon put the leadoff man on in each of his 3 innings, and sooner or later, he was bound to let one of those men score. Each time the Mets had a threat in the late innings, it was usually with 2 outs.
Fair enough. I just saw too many at bats against what I deemed much weaker pitching that didn’t have a chance, specifically Madson and Young.
Both teams played well and the Royals got a few breaks, so it happens. But…
Young had a very good year this year. Better than Niese or Colon. Madson has been horrendous in the postseason, but was also very good in the regular season. He could be running out of steam since it’s been forever since he’s had a healthy season.
If any team had the weaker pitchers at the end, it was the Mets. Frankly, if i’m a Royals fan, i’d be pissed that it took 3 tries to get a run off Colon.
Last night’s game made me want to puke. More than the the outfield miscue or Familia’s blown save, Wright striking out twice against mediocre pitchers with men on base was a killer. If he even mustered a single in either spot we probably win. I wish our Captain had a little more Derek Jeter in him.
David is a shell of his former self. This isn’t a character issue; it’s physical. He can’t throw overhand and he has lost bat speed. My hope is that he can gut out this WS, enjoy some flashes, and not hurt the team too badly.
In 2016, the Mets will need one hell of a Plan B.