By Beth Harris

LOS ANGELES – After spending the primary seven years of his big league profession within the East, Jack Flaherty got here home. He joined a winning Los Angeles Dodgers team and helped create a chunk of playoff history.

Flaherty combined a three-hitter and the Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers tied the postseason record of 33 consecutive scoreless innings by defeating the New York Mets 9-0 within the opening game of the NL Championship Series on Sunday night.

“As I was warming up, I saw some family members out there that I've gone to games with before, so you can just relax a little bit,” he said. “I felt like I tried too much in the last few big games. Just allow me to be myself and just go out and pitch and trust my stuff and trust the guys behind me.”

Los Angeles is eliminated a wild Kodai Senga built a six-run lead within the second inning heading into the fourth, tying the scoreless record set by Baltimore Orioles pitchers in the primary 4 games of the 1966 World Series against the Dodgers.

Supported by shouts of “MVP!” MVP!” Shohei Ohtani was 2 for 4 with a walk while scoring two runs and driving in one other.

Mookie Betts added a three-run double within the eighth, marking the biggest shutout margin of victory within the Dodgers' postseason history and in addition the Mets' most lopsided postseason shutout loss.

“Our energy started with Jack,” Betts said. “Jack really gave us everything today.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Monday afternoon.

Flaherty allowed two hits over seven innings within the Dodgers' first scoreless postseason start of greater than seven innings since Clayton Kershaw's eight innings within the 2020 NL Wild Card Series.

“It was just a pitching clinic,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I thought he did a great job of filling the strike zone with his complete mix. Once we got a lead, he did a great job of just going after the guys and attacking. For us to get seven innings in a long series was huge.”

Flaherty left to a standing ovation from the sellout crowd of 53,503. The 28-year-old right-hander from nearby Burbank returned home from Detroit on the July 30 trade deadline and was an integral a part of a rotation hit hard by injuries.

“He has an aura,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said. “He’s super competitive, super focused.”

Flaherty got a hug from Roberts after which the pitcher hugged his mother, who was sitting behind home plate. Some of his friends from their Little League days within the San Fernando Valley were also in attendance.

“This game is a lot of fun and I've been lucky enough to play it since I was a little kid,” Flaherty said. “No matter how much pressure there is, I just tell the boys that it will be fun. We have to remember that sometimes.”

Flaherty retired his first nine batters, extending the Dodgers' streak of consecutive retired batters to twenty-eight, before striking out Francisco Lindor to steer off the fourth. New York's only hits against him were two singles by Jesse Winker and Jose Iglesias within the fifth. Flaherty struck out six.

“He was getting ahead with his fastball, and then the slider, the breaking ball and the slow curve threw us off balance, but he was getting ahead and making throws,” rookie Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He tried to force us to pursue him, which is what we did the first time by order. Then it was just his turn.”

Daniel Hudson and Ben Casparius each pitched one inning.

Lindor was 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout and Pete Alonso was hitless with a walk and a strikeout in three at-bats.

The Dodgers battled near elimination against San Diego and won the NL Division Series in five games, with shutouts in the ultimate two games.

They opened their quest for a record twenty fifth. NL pennant by chasing Senga after 1 1/3 innings of just his third start overall in a yr decimated by injuries. The Japanese right-hander walked 4 of his first eight batters in the primary inning, including three in a row in a 14-pitch span.

“He didn’t have it,” Mendoza said. “He didn’t have life on his fastball and had a lot of balls out of his hands, non-competitive pitches, especially the split. You could tell the balls were out of their hands the way they handled those throws.”

Senga walked the bases with one out in the primary game when only seven of his 23 pitches were thrown for strikes. Max Muncy hit a single up the center, hitting Betts and a limping Freddie Freeman, whose left foot touched the plate to guard his sprained right ankle. He stumbled into the arms of Betts, who was supporting the much taller and taller Freeman.

Ohtani chased Senga with an RBI single within the second and the Dodgers scored three runs within the fourth off reliever David Peterson, while Tommy Edman and Freeman had RBI singles.

NEXT

New York's Sean Manaea starts Game 2 after winning Game 3 of the NL Division Series against Philadelphia. It's the primary time the Dodgers have faced a lefty this postseason. The Dodgers haven’t said who will start a bullpen game for them.

Originally published: October 13, 2024 at 9:31 p.m

NEW YORK — As Carlos Mendoza talked Wednesday about how his bullpen plans change from moment to moment over the course of a nine-inning game, he needed to smile at the concept of ​​having a pregame plan and sticking to it.

“I don't think you ever come up with a game plan and stick to it,” the Mets manager said. “Every time you have to make an adjustment because the game evolves. … You have an idea, but then you have to make adjustments.”

Maybe Mendoza's boss David Stearns should heed this recommendation this season.

The Mets entered 2024 with a transparent, consistent plan, from ownership to the locker room. While they didn't have the lofty expectations of previous spring trainings, they thought they might be legitimate postseason contenders while preserving a sustainable window of future contention. And here they’re, days before the trade deadline, as legitimate postseason contenders who’ve preserved a sustainable window of future contention.

But after one other memorable win Thursday night, a 3-2 walk-off victory over Atlanta that felt like the alternative of so many nightmarish nights at Turner Field, possibly it's time for Stearns and the New York front office to get slightly greedy about 2024. Yes, the Mets can be buyers on the trade deadline. But let's make a case that the Mets should do greater than just sign a reliever in the subsequent week; that the Mets ought to be aggressive buyers like they last were in 2015 en path to an unexpected pennant.

The Mets are adequate

On the morning of July twenty sixth, let's do some blind resumes for the teams through the years.

OK, blindfolds off! What do these fairly similar teams all have in common? They all won the championship.

They were also pretty aggressive on the trade deadline. I ranked the 2018 Dodgers (Manny Machado) and the 2022 Phillies (David Robertson, Brandon Marsh and Noah Syndergaard) as all-in buyers—teams that traded significant capital for prospects for now. The 2019 Nationals signed three relievers, including the guy who would get the last out of the World Series. In 2021, Atlanta took 4 outfielders, including the MVPs of the NLCS and World Series. In 2023, Arizona traded a better to raised position itself for the postseason.

(The 2015 Mets, one other all-in buyer, were 50-48 by minus seven runs on July 26.)

No, the Mets lack the type of rotation and bullpen typically relied on in October. However, New York has an offense that seems built for the postseason. As demonstrated by losing Gerrit Cole twice last month, the Mets' lineup can hang with the perfect. Only Baltimore has hit more home runs for the reason that Mets' winning streak began on May 30, they usually rank fourth in major league home runs this season — ahead of all however the Dodgers within the National League. On Thursday, New York played a dominant Chris Sale because Francisco Lindor turned a Sale error into two runs for the Mets.

Home runs fuel the offense in October. The similarly productive but otherwise configured offense finished fifteenth within the league in home runs in 2022 after which watched Atlanta and San Diego hit more home runs in crucial games of the season. This Mets offense can use its power to come to a decision a brief series.

The National League is open

Here's a very important caveat: If I were covering the Pirates, the Reds, the Padres, or the Diamondbacks, I'd probably say the exact same thing. Because the National League is more open than it's been in years.

Los Angeles and Atlanta have been the highest two teams within the senior circuit over the past few seasons. Both are experiencing more turbulent regular seasons than they’re used to. The Dodgers proceed to have health issues of their rotation, a dynamic that doomed them last October. Atlanta's best hitter and best pitcher are out for the remaining of the season. The team's roster looks like an empty shell of what the Mets normally should take care of.

Although the Phillies have assumed the role of the NL's team to beat, they’re a team the Mets can beat quite well. They notably went 14-5 against Philadelphia in 2022 and even during a losing effort, they went 6-7 against it in 2023. This yr, the Mets are 2-4 against the Phillies. And notably, New York is 10-3 for the reason that start of the 2022 season when facing Aaron Nola or Zack Wheeler.

The timing is definitely right

It's very tempting for teams to control their window of competition – to be cautious this yr and gamble more later – but in doing so that they often miss out on the yr wherein they’ve a probability to win.

The 2015 Mets might have been more cautious: Syndergaard and Steven Matz were rookies, Wheeler was injured, the NL had several superb teams – so surely the Mets' best probability of advancing in October was later? As it turned out, this young rotation was never as healthy or as dominant because it was then, and the Mets' aggressiveness paid off with a pennant.

(In contrast, the Pirates never took the massive step of putting a superb team on top from 2013 to 2015. They still haven't won a postseason series since 1979.)

For the Mets, it's also fair to ask: exactly which yr are they waiting for? Injuries to some key young players this yr mean that New York won't go into 2025 spring training with the plan to provide a talented rookie a starting spot. The full integration of players like Jett Williams, Drew Gilbert, Luisangel Acuña and Ryan Clifford won't occur until 2026 – by which era Lindor can be 32 and Brandon Nimmo 33, nearing their prime.

The goal is to open a sustained window of competition and create real opportunities to win divisions, divisions and championships. The Mets are there. The two players they signed long-term are having the perfect years of their careers. Their most significant first baseman will not be here next yr.

The window of conflict is already open.

What does that mean?

Let's face it: This is where most columns of this type end. There is every argument for trying, now it's Stearns' job to make something of it.

But I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that the present shape of the deadline market makes it difficult to get into. Teams just like the Pirates and Reds and Padres and Diamondbacks are all still within the National League, and the variety of sellers is lower than usual. The best starter more likely to be traded may not give you the chance to begin way more often this season. The best reliever more likely to be traded has a walk rate you wouldn't easily get at blackjack.

It's harder to create a deadline blueprint like I do for the offseason because acquisition costs in trades are much harder to forecast than salaries on the open market, so I'll accept suggestions which might be more in keeping with an all-in approach.

1. Deal Garrett Crochet to the White Sox with the understanding that they sign him as a pitcher out of the bullpen in 2024. On Thursday, it was reported that Crochet would favor to stay in a starter's roster for the remaining of the season (albeit with limited innings) unless one other team trying to sign him signs him to a contract extension.

As I argued Thursday morning, the Mets could use a long-term star. Here's a 25-year-old left-handed All-Star who leads the league in strikeouts and is excited about a long-term contract extension. All of this feels good. (As with Wheeler, Crochet's likely umpiring salaries for the subsequent two seasons are depressed by his lack of availability thus far in his profession, so a long-term contract extension would cost less relative to the luxurious tax than it otherwise would.)

Trade Crochet, extend his contract, and make him a multi-inning reliever with scheduled assignments for the remaining of the sport. Imagine him coming in behind your right-handed starters within the postseason, serving as a one-man bridge to Edwin Díaz. Put him back within the rotation in 2025 and beyond. That could be definitely worth the sizable package of young talent it might require, because it might mean the Mets wouldn't should jump into the deep end of the starting pitcher market this winter to search out a free agent already in his 30s.

2. If Crochet is simply too much, mix a rotation improvement – mainly a pitcher who misses more bats than the present starters – with two recent additions within the bullpen and one for the bench.

Jack Flaherty from Detroit and Yusei Kikuchi from Toronto come to mind within the rotation. Flaherty will cost so much, but he too might be a viable option for re-signing.

For the bullpen, a left-handed, high-hitting pitcher ought to be a priority. Move past Tanner Scott and search for his teammate Andrew Nardi or Andrew Chafin of the Tigers, who has been a goal for years. Another pitcher who can go multiple innings could also help keep the group fresh. Cincinnati's Buck Farmer or Detroit's Alex Faedo could work there.

The final player can be a flexible backup who could protect the Mets from regression or injury at various positions. Detroit's Andy Ibañez, Tampa Bay's Amed Rosario, Toronto's Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Oakland's Abraham Toro could fill that role.

During a recent Q&A, Bobby Valentine was answering an issue about his antics while managing the New York Mets. Valentine recalled a time when he wore a fake mustache and sunglasses within the dugout – and got caught. That happened 25 years ago.

The one who asked the query? A 9-year-old fan.

“His mother and father probably didn't even know each other, but he wanted to know anyway,” joked Valentine. “I was amazed at the legs of that minute and a half of my life.”

There are loads of baseball fans who weren't alive on June 9, 1999, but are someway accustomed to one among Valentine's most infamous (or famous, depending on the person) moments. He was ejected through the twelfth inning of a 14-inning game against the Toronto Blue Jays – but he would Returning to the Shea Stadium dugout in a disguise.

This disguise is now a fun topic for Valentine and Orel Hershiser, who played a key role in attempting to hide Valentine. And 25 years later, it's still something that many laugh about – young and old – and something that helped make Valentine a fan favorite.

The mustache? Valentine said he found black Eye Black stickers within the training room and placed them the wrong way up under his nose.

“I looked in the mirror and it looked pretty good,” Valentine said. “And then Orel said, 'They'll never know,' when he saw me. The rest is history.”

June 9, 1999: @Mets Manager Bobby Valentine is ejected within the twelfth inning. Wearing dark sunglasses and a fake mustache, he sneaks back to the team bench at Shea Stadium. #LGM pic.twitter.com/fMgSiyJ5yu

– MetsRewind (@metsrewind) June 9, 2024

The Mets were tied 3-3 with Toronto within the twelfth inning that June night, and Blue Jays infielder Craig Grebeck was at bat while outfielder Shannon Stewart was on first base. On Stewart's try to steal second base, the Mets called a pitchout. Catcher Mike Piazza took Pat Mahomes' pitch wide out and attempted to throw Stewart out. However, Piazza was awarded a catcher's balk for going too far in front of the plate when he threw.

Valentine left the dugout to query umpire Randy Marsh and was ejected. After the ejection, Valentine considered how he could get messages from the clubhouse to the dugout. A standard practice for a disqualified manager was to observe the sport on television and assign a “runner” to relay messages to the acting manager. Hershiser offered to be the runner, Valentine said, but the ability at Shea required climbing stairs, making Hershiser's offer to relay messages in a timely manner unrealistic.

“Then Hershiser said, 'Why don't you come into the dugout with me?'” Valentine said. “Then he threw me a pair of glasses and the hat.”

Hershiser said he wasn't sure who got here up with the thought of ​​using disguise as an answer, but he wasn't attempting to dispute the choice.

“I don't know what his version (of the story) is,” Hershiser said. “It was like, if you're going to do this, you better cover up as much as you can. If he said I gave him the hat, then I believe him.”

Hershiser was tasked with blocking the referee's view of Valentine, with Mahomes assisting. Valentine said a camera filming players within the dugout “got him.”

Hershiser, who now works as an analyst for the Los Angeles Dodgers, was accustomed to the relay system. He had seen it in motion as a pitcher for the Dodgers when manager Tommy Lasorda was thrown out of games.

It's a shaggy dog story for Valentine now, especially since the Mets ultimately won the sport on a walk-off hit by Rey Ordóñez within the 14th inning. But the ejection wasn't funny on the time, Valentine said. He was fined $5,000 and suspended two games for the stunt.

“And (Hershiser) never wanted to pay half the fine – and he made more money than me,” Valentine said, laughing. “Find that out.”

“Nobody forced him to do it,” Hershiser replied. “We just helped or complemented our manager's idea.”

In addition, there was not much to laugh about with the Mets in late May and early June 1999. General Manager Steve Phillips had fired pitching coach Bob Apodaca, hitting coach Tom Robson and bullpen coach Randy Niemann after eight consecutive losses, so Valentine was left with a newly formed coaching staff and worries about his own job.

The Mets, nonetheless, managed to show things around, winning six of seven games after the June 9 victory, which was actually the team's fourth in a row. The Mets went 17-10 that month and finished the regular season with a 97-66 record. They beat the Arizona Diamondbacks within the NLDS before losing to the Atlanta Braves within the NLCS.

Twenty-five years later, Valentine said he hadn't heard much embellishment of the story. But he had heard stories that he had a dressing up ready at every stadium, which wasn't true.

When you hear people of all ages – even 9-year-olds – still talking about it, it means it was indeed a special moment.

“I think it's about making people laugh,” Valentine said. “I'm glad the lightness helps today, and I guess it helped then, too.”

To at the present time, 43 years later, Darryl Strawberry still has a nickname for his 1981 season with the Class A Lynchburg Mets.

“I call it,” Strawberry said by phone last week, “sucking season.”

The sucking season was essentially the most difficult of Strawberry's life on the time. It was the season he failed on the baseball diamond for the primary time. It was the season he first heard racist insults from the stands. It was the season he was on the verge of quitting baseball and hanging up his jersey for good.

And when Strawberry's No. 18 is retired June 1 at Citi Field, it's only fitting that amongst his honored guests might be the 2 individuals who got him through the poor season: manager Gene Dusan and teammate Lloyd McClendon.

“Everyone looks at success, but I look at the people who had a big influence on me,” Strawberry said. “There is no way I would be on the field after my number was retired if it wasn’t for people like her who supported me through the most challenging and difficult times when I was young.”

---

The first month of Strawberry's first full season in pro ball had not gone well. It's hard enough for any player to fail for the primary time on the sector. Strawberry had several additional attentions on her.

The previous summer he had been the primary selection at Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, where his coach had called him “the black Ted Williams” in Sports Illustrated. While his signing bonus wasn't a record, it was greater than double that of the previous No. 1 pick.

And he was a black man playing in a town in southern Virginia. When he struggled on the sector, he heard it from the Carolina League crowd. Home games, away games, all of the games – Strawberry has seen the worst.

“They called me all sorts of curse words and said negative things,” Strawberry said. “You’re talking about the Deep South. I thought, ‘This is crazy.’ I grew up in Southern California and growing up we never had to experience anything like that.”

“Listen, it was 1981. Society as a whole didn't fully accept us – black people,” McClendon said. “They used to pass the hat to anyone who hit a home run. We hit home runs and got nothing.”

In early May, Strawberry desired to take his bat to the stands, he said. Instead, he took his racket home.

“I just checked out,” he said. “I disappeared.”

“He left for a few days,” Dusan said. “It was worrying that he left. I had a feeling he would come back. I knew he would come back.”

Instead of chasing after Strawberry, Dusan gave him space. He didn't even tell higher-ups within the Mets' front office.

“If I did that today, they’d fire me,” he chuckled. “It was different in the early 80s.”

Two days later, Strawberry returned to the park, thanks largely to his relationships with Dusan and McClendon. Strawberry and McClendon had met the yr before at rookie ball in Kingsport, Tennessee, once they were rooming together during their first summer within the South and had one another's backs.

“I guess we had to protect each other,” McClendon said.

And McClendon had been out at the beginning of the 1981 season in Lynchburg due to a broken hand he suffered in spring training. But when Strawberry left the team, McClendon's rehab period became much shorter.

“When I saw him in the park, I was happy,” Strawberry said, “to see a face and someone of color like me.”

Dusan arranged for the 2 to live together again, though McClendon had married.

“You have to take care of him,” McClendon recalled Dusan saying, “because he’s not going to make it if you don’t.”

“I don’t know if I was old enough to be a mentor at the time,” said McClendon, who was 22 this season, “but I was definitely a friend and a voice he could talk to. “Whatever wisdom I had, I tried to pass it on.”

And Dusan's tough-minded approach as a manager was exactly what Strawberry needed at that time. The day Strawberry returned to the club, Dusan wasn't exactly glad.

“I'm glad you're back. I'm glad you're healthy,” he told the player. “We have to go to work.”

From that day on, Dusan recalled, Strawberry was the most effective player he had ever coached.

“He was there every day for extra hits,” Dusan said. “As soon as he applied, he was the man.”

There was a reason Strawberry was at all times there for extra punches.

“Let me put it this way: Gene was a pain in the ass for Darryl and me, in a good way,” McClendon said. “When we were on the road, he would wake us up every morning at 8 a.m. and we would have to go to the ballpark. I guess he saw something special in both of us. He definitely saw it in Darryl.”

“Gene Dusan was like a father figure to me that I didn’t have. He embraced me to overcome some adversity early on,” Strawberry said. “I became part of his family. It was just very personal for me.”

How much of an element of the family? Strawberry helped babysit Dusan's children.

“Geno kept me going and focused on not looking up and interacting with the people up there (in the stands),” Strawberry said. “That really helped me because I really didn’t want to play another minute there.”

“He taught us so much not just about baseball, but about life in general and how to go about your business,” said McClendon, who went on to officiate greater than 1,100 major league games. “You stand up, live by your word and learn to be a man of honor. It was pretty cool.”

For Strawberry, suckling season stays a very important a part of his story. This first experience of adversity helped him get through the numerous subsequent difficult times he endured, whether self-inflicted or not. It was a learning moment, he said, one which at all times happens when his children want to provide up something during a difficult time.

In 1982, when Strawberry filled in for Dusan at Double-A Jackson, Miss. played, he broke through with 34 home runs, 45 stolen bases and an OPS of over 1.000. Two years after the Suck season, Strawberry was the National League's rookie of the yr.

“I made the right decision to fight through the adversity and believe,” Strawberry said. “I am forever grateful for that and for real people. These are real people. These are not people who sugarcoat everything about you. But the people who showed me how to overcome.”

“It’s hard to believe,” Dusan said as he watched the variety of the teenager he managed go into retirement. “I appreciate how he feels about me. I’m happy with him.”