The Mets have found their big game starting pitcher. His name is Jacob deGrom.
That’s not meant to disrespect Matt Harvey, who is undoubtedly someone any team in baseball could trust in a must-win game.
But trust typically comes with some level of doubt.
There is no doubt with deGrom. Ever.
After all, if it weren’t for his counterpart on Sunday in Zack Greinke – who deGrom out-dueled for 7 2/3 innings – he would probably be the odds on favorite to win the 2015 National League Cy Young Award.
But alas, his ERA is pedestrian in comparison to Greinke, who gave up runs for the first time in 45 innings, a span of about six weeks.
But Sunday was a big, must-win game for the Mets. It was the difference between a 3-7 run and a 4-6 run since the All-Star break. It was a game against the game’s finest pitcher in 2015, and gaining a game in the race for the top of the National League East.
But perhaps most significantly, the Mets actually got to Greinke and held a two-run lead into the ninth inning.
It was deGrom’s job to make it stand up. He knew he had to be as close to perfect as he could be, and he was.
“I knew coming into today it would probably be a close game. I wanted to go out there and just put up zeroes and give us a chance to win,” the star pitcher said at his locker after Sunday’s game.
And, he reveled in yet another big spot for his club.
“I’m definitely enjoying it,” deGrom said after the game.
He had his patented stuff working for him once again on Sunday. His fastball was electric and he was keeping the Dodger hitters off-guard by moving in, moving it out, moving it up, and moving it down, but never once centering it over the middle of the plate.
“Reading some swings, they weren’t catching up to the fastball early on,” he explained. “So, I stuck with it.”
He did indeed throw fastballs predominantly on Sunday.
But perhaps the biggest keys to his outing on Sunday was his change-up and slider. He only threw nine balls with those two pitches combined, the Dodgers swung at 25 of the 35 change-ups and sliders he threw, but only put 11 of them in play, and reached base on only one of those pitches.
That’s a testament of the downward movement and fantastic arm action on his change-up, and the tight slider he’s able to bend on the outside corner down against the right-handed hitters with consistency.
He doesn’t waver despite the increased pressure to perform at a high level with each start. As the schedule winds down, the games become that much more important, yet his demeanor, approach and ultimate execution seem to have the same consistency with each outing, evident by his now minuscule 2.05 ERA, second in the game behind only Greinke, who saw his ERA rise to 1.37.
DeGrom may not win the ERA title in 2015, but he has sure earned his stripes as being one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the unquestionable ace of this staff.
But he’s not the ace because of the stats. That’s too easy of an argument to make anyway.
The stats are representative of the pitcher he is, the mound presence he has, and the consistent dominance he brings to each start. It’s that which makes him a very special pitcher, and the guy the Mets would easily hand the ball in a win-or-go-home scenario if they had any control over it.
But even if they needed him to pitch the club to a win-or-go-home scenario, he’s as close to automatic as any pitcher can be.
He’s that good right now.
Just Mets 