Oct. 20--If any of the Mets' young pitchers hadn't garnered enough national attention this season, captain David Wright thinks their performances on the big stage have turned them into "household names" this October.
After Matt Harvey, 26, and Noah Syndergaard, 23, shut down the Cubs in the first two games of the National League Championship Series, the parade of pitching talent continues in Game 3 with Jacob deGrom, 27, the 2014 NL rookie of the year. Steven Matz, 24, is slated for Game 4 at Wrigley Field.
"What makes this team very good is the depth of the starting pitching," Wright said, "and it seems like every game you have an ace type on the mound, where a lot of teams just don't have that. Those are four young power arms that can get wins or stop losing streaks, and that's what makes them so special."
In his second major-league season, deGrom went 14-8 with a 2.54 ERA and 205 strikeouts in 30 starts totaling 191 innings.
He is in uncharted territory with 204 innings pitched entering Tuesday, but he said the adrenaline of pitching in the postseason is propelling him onward. In two playoff starts, he's 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 13 innings.
His victories over the Dodgers in the division series were impressive for different reasons. He breezed through seven shutout innings with 13 strikeouts in Game 1, then had to battle through his Game 5 victory, giving up two runs on six hits, walking three and stranding seven runners.
"That one was tough," deGrom said. "I didn't have any fastball command, and my curveball was my best pitch. So the second game was definitely a battle. I feel like it was more impressive just because it wasn't easy."
DeGrom went 0-2 with a 6.10 ERA in two starts against the Cubs this season, giving up four runs in each outing and not lasting beyond the sixth inning.
But like Syndergaard, who had very different results in his postseason start against the Cubs on Sunday, deGrom has improved after making some mechanical adjustments.
"I can repeat my delivery a little bit better now than I was earlier in the year," deGrom said. "We made some adjustments to where that front shoulder was leaning down instead of staying level over the rubber. In those starts (against the Cubs) I was getting beside the ball and it was staying flat in the zone instead of on top of it with good down movement."
The Cubs' David Ross and Kris Bryant didn't hesitate when asked if history matters when it comes to Tuesday's matchup.
"No," Ross said. "We beat the Mets a lot, too, before the playoffs. None of that plays a factor."
"It's a completely different ballgame, the playoffs," Bryant said. "I've noticed Harvey and Syndergaard pitched us completely different than they did the first few times we faced them, so you never know."
Harvey is on tap for Game 5, if necessary, despite dealing with a swollen and sore triceps from being hit with a line drive in Game 1. The Mets will reassess after seeing how he heals.
ckane@tribpub.com
