“Like any great love, it keeps you guessing
Like any real love, it’s ever changing
Like any true love, it drives you crazy
But you know you are wouldn’t change it for anything, anything, anything”
~Taylor Swift
Big weekend coming up, if you haven’t heard. Memorial Day. The Unofficial Start of Summer. My kids’ last day of school! Oh, also, there will be some pivotal baseball games played in Queens, and some new pitcher no one’s heard about.
I kid, of course. On Friday, Julio Urias, the top pitching prospect in the Dodgers‘ farm system, and the number two overall prospect in MLB, makes his first start against the New York Mets. Urias, just 19-years-old, has been called the second coming of Fernando Valenzuela. Time will tell if he lives up to the hype. But it has sent a huge ripple of excitement through the fans of the Dodgers, and I am excited to watch his career unfold.
Opposing Urias in Friday will be Jacob deGrom. He has a 3-1 record with a 3.07 ERA, while striking out 30 and walking 11 batters. He hasn’t been quite as dominate to start the year as he has been previously with the Mets, losing three of his last four starts. The Dodgers last faced him on May 10, when he gave up two runs in seven innings for a no decision.
Saturday brings us the matchup of Kenta Maeda vs. Noah Syndergaard. The last time those two faced off in Los Angeles, it did not go well for Maeda, who gave up two home runs to Syndergaard. Noah has become the premier pitcher on the Mets pitching staff this season, with a 5-2 record and a 1.94 ERA. He has 76 strikeouts against nine walks, and has back-to-back double-digit strikeout games. In his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers, he scattered six hits and did not issue any walks.
Sunday, in prime time, will be the repeat matchup of Clayton Kershaw against Bartolo Colon. The last time they met in Los Angeles on May 23, Kershaw shut Colón and the Mets down in a 5-0 win that included 13 strikeouts and only three hits. In his last start, Colón, who just turned 42 on Tuesday, struck out only two, but scattered five hits and two walks against the Washington Nationals. He has a win/loss record of 4-3 with a 3.44 ERA
Mets notables — The Mets have won five of their last six, and have hit 10 home runs in that time span. Yoenis Cespedes leads the league in both home runs and RBI. Lucas Duda is out at least four to six weeks with a stress fracture in his lower back. Closer Jeurys Familia is second in the NL with 16 saves.
It should be an exciting series. It will be the first time Chase Utley has been to Citi Field since the infamous takeout of Ruben Tejada in the playoffs last year. The Dodgers bring a four-game winning streak into New York, after sweeping the Cincinnati Reds in the beginning of the week. The Mets are also playing well, going 5-2 in their last seven games versus the Nationals and Brewers.
Welcome to New York, it’s been waiting for you.