Francisco Lindor, who knows about postseason pitching, surveyed what the Mets are about to face.
“You’re going to get everyone’s best punch,” Lindor said Thursday before the Mets practiced at Citi Field. “We’re going to get theirs. We’re going to give them ours.”
The problem is, the Padres’ first right hook has been a powerful one.
Yu Darvish has been nearly unhittable against the Mets both this season (0.64 ERA in 14 innings) and during his 10-year career (2.56 ERA).
The right-hander presents a challenge unlike many others, relying more on an ocean-deep arsenal rather than two or three crafted offerings. In two starts against the Mets this season, Darvish threw six distinct pitches, all of which he commanded at different speeds.
During a June 7 Padres win in San Diego, Darvish’s best pitch was a cutter, which the Mets swung at 15 times and missed eight. During a July 22 Padres win at Citi Field, Darvish’s splitter was most effective, inducing whiffs on six of the Mets’ 12 swings.
“He has so many different pitches,” Padres manager Bob Melvin said before Darvish and Max Scherzer face off in Friday’s Game 1 of the wild-card series. “He never stops. He never says, ‘OK, these are the pitches I’m going to use and I’m comfortable with and feel good about.’ He can do stuff on the fly.
“Even at the end of the season, he was working on a few different type pitches because he was facing teams in our division multiple times and wanted to give them different looks.”
The Mets may see tweaked sinkers, sliders, four-seamers or curveballs. Whatever they have seen thus far has left them frustrated.
This year, Lindor is 0-for-6 against Darvish. Jeff McNeil is 0-for-4. Brandon Nimmo is 0-for-5 with two strikeouts. Eduardo Escobar is 1-for-6.
Alonso is 1-for-3 against Darvish this season, missing most of one game after the four-time All-Star drilled him in the hand.
“There’s really good hitters over there,” Darvish, who holds a career 2.00 ERA in four starts at Citi Field, said through an interpreter. “I feel like I was maybe able to particularly command my pitches, locate my pitches [in the two starts against the Mets this season].”
Lindor called the 36-year-old Darvish “one of the best pitchers in the game.” The Mets will match with another one of the best pitchers in the game, and they realize every base runner will count.
“The margin of error is very small. To beat him, you’ve got to have a good starting effort by your guy,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Runs are going to be at a premium. You get a chance to cash something, you need to try to push it across.
“Guys with great track records have games where they’re not as good as they have been in the past.”