Mets gear up for Padres’ Yu Darvish who has had their number

Francisco Lindor, who is aware of about postseason pitching, surveyed what the Mets are about to face. 

“You’re going to get everybody’s finest punch,” Lindor stated Thursday earlier than the Mets practiced at Citi Subject. “We’re going to get theirs. We’re going to present them ours.” 

The issue is, the Padres’ first proper hook has been a robust one. 

Yu Darvish has been almost unhittable in opposition to the Mets each this season (0.64 ERA in 14 innings) and through his 10-year profession (2.56 ERA). 

The precise-hander presents a problem not like many others, relying extra on an ocean-deep arsenal reasonably than two or three crafted choices. In two begins in opposition to the Mets this season, Darvish threw six distinct pitches, all of which he commanded at completely different speeds. 

Throughout a June 7 Padres win in San Diego, Darvish’s finest pitch was a cutter, which the Mets swung at 15 occasions and missed eight. Throughout a July 22 Padres win at Citi Subject, Darvish’s splitter was only, inducing whiffs on six of the Mets’ 12 swings. 

“He has so many alternative pitches,” Padres supervisor Bob Melvin stated earlier than Darvish and Max Scherzer face off in Friday’s Recreation 1 of the wild-card sequence. “He by no means stops. He by no means says, ‘OK, these are the pitches I’m going to make use of and I’m comfy with and be ok with.’ He can do stuff on the fly. 

“Even on the finish of the season, he was engaged on just a few completely different sort pitches as a result of he was going through groups in our division a number of occasions and needed to present them completely different seems.” 

The Mets might even see tweaked sinkers, sliders, four-seamers or curveballs. No matter they’ve seen so far has left them annoyed. 

This 12 months, Lindor is 0-for-6 in opposition to Darvish. Jeff McNeil is 0-for-4. Brandon Nimmo is 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. Eduardo Escobar is 1-for-6. 

Alonso is 1-for-3 in opposition to Darvish this season, lacking most of 1 recreation after the four-time All-Star drilled him within the hand. 

“There’s actually good hitters over there,” Darvish, who holds a profession 2.00 ERA in 4 begins at Citi Subject, stated via an interpreter. “I really feel like I used to be possibly capable of notably command my pitches, find my pitches [in the two starts against the Mets this season].” 

Lindor known as the 36-year-old Darvish “among the finest pitchers within the recreation.” The Mets will match with one other among the finest pitchers within the recreation, they usually notice each base runner will depend. 

“The margin of error may be very small. To beat him, you’ve bought to have a very good beginning effort by your man,” supervisor Buck Showalter stated. “Runs are going to be at a premium. You get an opportunity to money one thing, it is advisable attempt to push it throughout. 

“Guys with nice monitor data have video games the place they’re inferior to they’ve been previously.”