Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard: 3 runs in 6 innings at best, hardly dominant.

Harvey, deGrom, Syndergaard: should they have already been shut down? Thursday, October 29, 2015

Through game three of the finals, top three Met starters:

10/30/2015		previous	Pct
	2015	high	above
Harvey	208	178	16.85%
deGrom	216	179	20.67%
Syndergaard	199	133	49.62%

Noah Syndergaard won game three of the finals against Kansas City and has now pitched 50% more innings than in any of his previous seasons.  Despite throwing his first pitch high and tight for intimidation, Syndergaard allowed one run in the first inning.  Met captain David Wright hit a two run homer in the bottom of the first but Syndergaard allowed two more runs in the second.  That's hardly a good start.  To his credit Syndergaard reversed what Matt Harvey and Jacob deGrom had done in the Met losses in games one and two, in which they pitched four good innings, then faltered.  Syndergaard pitched four shutout innings and Met batters scored 9.  In the first two games the Mets scored 4 (one a gift) in 14 innings, then only one.

All runs earned:
Harvey: 6 innings, 3 runs
deGrom: 5 innings, 4 runs
Syndergaard: 6 innings, 3 runs

Nothing special.  Can the Mets win with mediocre starting pitching?  Obviously it depends on whether the Royals can produce something better.  The Royals may have missed the designated hitter (DH) bat of Kendrys Morales playing in a National Conference park.  Different rule in different park: how charming ... and bush.

Game three starting pitchers:
Noah Syndergaard: Born: August 29, 1992 in Mansfield, TX
Yordano Ventura: Born: June 3, 1991 in Samana, Samana, Dominican Republic

Ventura is a little older and with two years in the Major Baseball League, while Syndergaard is a rookie.  In 2014 Ventura pitched these innings: 183 plus another 32 in the tournament, including two starts (12 innings, 2 runs) against the Giants who won the finals in seven games.  Ventura started finals games 2 and 6 in 2014, both Royals wins in Kansas City, so his start in New York in 2015 was his first in the finals on the road.  In 2015 Ventura has 163 innings plus another 14 in the tournament, including his 3.66 innings in game three against Syndergaard and the Mets.

So fatigue should not have been a problem for Ventura.  Probably nervousness facing a hostile crowd of wild front runners, who just three months ago were excoriating the entire Met organization.

So now what?  Starting pitchers in game four:
Chris Young (Royals) v. Steven Matz (Mets)

Volquez

Then back to game one starters for game five tomorrow, the last of three in New York: Matt Harvey v. 32 year old Edinson Volquez, who was told after being removed from game one that his father had died. Volquez is in his 11th season and threw his most regular season innings in 2015 (200) and another 23 so far in the 2015 tournament. Volquez is in uncharted innings waters, as is Harvey.