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Mets look for payback vs. Dodgers Wednesday
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 5/21/2014  at  5:50:00 AM
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LOS ANGELES DODGERS (24-22)

at NEW YORK METS (20-24)

First pitch: Wednesday, 7:00 p.m. ET
Line: Los Angeles -128, New York +118, Total: 7

After an easy win on Tuesday, the Dodgers and Mets continue their three-game series at Citi Field on Wednesday night

The Dodgers are once again playing below expectations to start the season and sit in third place in the NL West behind the Giants and Rockies. They are coming off a rough series loss to the Diamondbacks over the weekend, allowing 23 runs in a pair of defeats over the final two contests. Saturday was their big disappointment as they gave up 18 runs to an Arizona team that has struggled this year, and L.A. ace Clayton Kershaw lasted just 1.2 innings (7 runs, 6 hits) in the beatdown. Los Angeles was able to bounce back on Tuesday though, defeating the Mets 9-4 as both 1B Adrian Gonzalez and OF Yasiel Puig had three hits. The red-hot Gonzalez is now 8-for-12 with 2 HR and 4 RBI over his past three games. New York has not been playing well lately with losses in five of its past six games coming into this contest. The team has averaged just 2.3 runs per game over that time, including being shut out twice, but did have 11 hits in Tuesday’s loss. Three of those hits came from OF Curtis Granderson, who went 3-for-5 with a homer and two runs in the series opener. 3B David Wright (.285) has had a great month, hitting safely in 15-of-18 games on his way to a .316 average in May. Getting the call to start on Wednesday for Los Angeles will be LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (3-2, 3.00 ERA) who has not pitched since April 27 due to a sore shoulder. For the Mets, RHP Jacob deGrom (0-1, 1.29 ERA) will take the mound for the second time in his career as he made his debut against the Yankees last week. Being on the road is where the Dodgers have seemed more comfortable this year, putting together a solid 15-9 record in away games. Meanwhile, the New York is just 9-13 at home for the 2014 season. Since the start of 2012, L.A. has owned the Mets, going 10-4 in the matchup overall, and 6-1 when playing in road games. Juan Uribe (hamstring) re-injured himself on Tuesday night and a visit to the DL seems likely for the Dodgers third baseman.

Hyun-Jin Ryu looked like a stud to begin the season, allowing just five hits in his first two scoreless starts (12 IP) before blowing up and giving up eight hits and six runs in his third start. He bounced back in tremendous fashion, though, and pitched two more scoreless starts (14 IP), this time giving up a total of six hits. He has just three strikeouts in each of his past three outings, which could very well be a result of his sore shoulder. Ryu is coming back at the right time as he gets to face a below-average offense in the Mets and he has gone 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA (0.86 WHIP) while striking out 11 against them over two career starts. OF Juan Lagares is the only player on the Mets’ roster with an extra-base hit against Ryu, as he has gone 1-for-4 with a solo homer against him. New York’s offense is struggling as a whole though, having the second-worst collective batting average (.231), the fourth-fewest homers (31) and scoring just 177 runs so far (11th-worst) on the year. The Dodgers bullpen is now 4-11 with a 4.27 ERA and 1.44 WHIP, while saving 13-of-18 (72%) of games. Closer Kenley Jansen (4.12 ERA, 12 saves) has already blown two saves this season and has given up two homers in just 19.2 frames, but is one of the best strikeout men in the game with 33 already in that time.

Jacob deGrom earned his first start last week and received a loss despite pitching seven innings while allowing just one run on four hits and two walks with six strikeouts against the Yankees. He had never been a top prospect for this team in the past, but seemed to put it all together in Triple-A in 2014, going 4-0 with a 2.58 ERA and 1.28 WHIP while striking out just 6.8 batters per nine innings. deGrom is a hard thrower, as his average fastball hit 93.3 MPH in his debut and he will likely pound the strike zone with his large arsenal of pitches on Wednesday. He has obviously not faced the Dodgers yet in his career and doing so will be a daunting task, as they rank seventh in the majors in runs scored (201) while having the most stolen bases (52) in the league; the next best team has 37. OF Yasiel Puig leads the team in both batting average (.333) and RBI (36) while adding in nine homers and 10 doubles so far this year. Also, 2B Dee Gordon has been tremendous this season with a .301 average and a league-leading 25 steals, which is as least as many as 12 other teams. SS Hanley Ramirez has struggled to make consistent contact though, batting just .250, but is walking in 10.1% of his at-bats for a .333 OBP. The Mets relievers have combined to go 8-8 this season with a 3.74 ERA and 1.43 WHIP, and are horrible closing out games, being successful in just 8-of-16 (50%) of their save attempts. New York is hoping that 24-year old Jenrry Mejia (4.65 ERA, 1 save) can take over as the team's closer and he has 9.5 K/9 so far over 40.2 IP, but is walking too many batters (4.4 BB/9) and has already allowed five home runs, although all those came in his seven starts.


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