Mets now know the formula to beat the Dodgers

Two out of four in Hollywood against the Los Angeles Dodgers was impressive. Taking two out of three against them and only losing a one-run game secured it. The New York Mets know the formula for beating the Dodgers.

The mighty Dodgers have held the best record in the National League for most of 2022. Only the Mets have come close to challenging them but unable to reach their win total, New York has taken a backseat.

This has made for seven games against the Dodgers where the Mets were viewed as somewhat of an underdog despite the pitching matchups. The Dodgers do have a nice selection of starters to choose from anyway. But it was the Mets who figured out the way to beat the Dodgers.

The way you can beat the Mets is the way they beat the Dodgers

How do you beat the Dodgers? You outpitch them. It’s as simple as that.

The Dodgers might have a starting lineup of recognizable names. However, many of those players are having terrible seasons. Max Muncy is batting .184 and Cody Bellinger is hitting just .204. Regular left fielder Chris Taylor has only a .224 batting average, too. Joey Gallo seems to fit right in with the bottom of this lineup.

The Dodgers are good. Real good. They just aren’t as non-stop with firepower as it may seem. A couple of down years have given opposing pitchers an easier time. We’ve seen the Mets hand over a few games with the same issue at the bottom of their lineup with Eduardo Escobar leading into either catcher James McCann or Tomas Nido.

Los Angeles has far more power. What happens when the other team’s pitchers don’t give up home runs to them? Or at the very least, doesn’t allow enough base runners where the home runs make that much of a difference?

It was during the two wins to finish off the three games when we see Buck Showalter manage like it was the postseason. After seven from Jacob deGrom, he asked for one from Adam Ottavino and then three more outs from Edwin Diaz. Things didn’t change much more on Thursday. Starter Chris Bassitt gave the Mets six which meant calling upon Trevor May for the seventh. Because the eighth led with Freddie Freeman, Diaz got the call an inning earlier to get through the heart of the order. This allowed Ottavino to come in to close things out versus the bottom two and Mookie Betts at the top.

This is how it’s done. Get as much from your starters as you can. Score a little bit more. Shut the door.

Between the two rotations, it’s hard to like the Dodgers more than what the Mets can throw out there. Tyler Anderson is having a great year but matched up against deGrom, Max Scherzer, or any other pitcher the Amazins have to offer, it’s not even close.

How do you defeat the Dodgers? With as few pitchers as possible pitching as many innings as they can and only a little more offense than they can muster.

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