Mets @ Dodgers June 22, 2017: Ryu for the four-game sweep

(Via)

The Dodgers are playing for a number of things today. They have a chance to complete their sixth sweep of the year, their first four-game sweep of the year, and their seventh consecutive victory.

The Dodgers worked their way back into first place last night, and this afternoon’s Diamondbacks victory over the Rockies guarantees that Los Angeles will end the day atop the NL West. A win tonight would make it a 1.5-game lead.

And, of course, there’s some potential for drama, what with last night’s installment in the seemingly never-ending People Get Mad At Yasiel Puig For Stupid Things saga.

Mets
Dodgers
7:10 p.m.
Los Angeles
CF
Granderson
2B
Forsythe
3B
Flores
SS
Taylor
LF
Céspedes
3B
Turner
RF
Bruce
1B
Bellinger
C
d’Arnaud
 CF
Hernández
1B
Duda
LF
Gutiérrez
SS
Reyes C Barnes
2B
Cecchini
RF
Puig
P
Matz (L)
P
 Ryu (L)

Hyun-Jin Ryu (4.35 ERA, 4.89 FIP, 5.30 DRA) gets another start following a shaky but ultimately solid outing of five innings and two runs in Cincinnati. It will be his first time facing the Mets since May of 2014, when he allowed two runs in six innings at Citi Field.

Steven Matz (3.21 ERA, 5.27 FIP, 5.70 DRA) has made just two starts this year. He missed the first couple of months of the season due to left elbow inflammation. In each of his starts since returning, Matz has gone seven full innings, allowing just one earned run against the Braves, but four earned runs against the Nationals.

Matz has two career regular-season starts against the Dodgers, one in 2015 and one in 2016. The 2015 start was just the second of his career, and he delivered six scoreless, two-hit innings. He was also good when he faced the Dodgers in May of last year, as he allowed two runs in six innings in a game the Mets ultimately won. In addition, Matz started Game 4 of the 2015 NLDS, in which was bested by Clayton Kershaw. (Now let’s never speak of that series again.)

Matz is the first left-handed starter the Dodgers have faced in a while (eleven games, to be exact), and the Dodgers are going with a righty-heavy lineup that excludes Corey SeagerJoc Pederson and Yasmani Grandal. But, in case you haven’t noticed, the Dodgers actually aren’t terrible against lefties this year. You may remember that the Dodgers’ .623 team OPS against lefties last year ranked dead last in baseball. Thus far this year, the Dodgers have a .767 OPS against lefties (versus a .781 OPS against righties), which is decently above the league average of .735.

As for whether or not there’ll be Puig-related drama tonight:

We’ll see. (As for Yoenis Cespedes hypocrisy … yikes.)

——

There wasn’t much baseball news today, besides a less-than-optimistic, although not especially detailed, update on Julio Urías:

There was also this tidbit about Jamie McCourt, which … well, it’s really more politics, but make of that what you will.

About Sarah Wexler

Sarah Wexler is a native Angeleno and longtime Dodger fan. She began blogging about baseball in 2012 on her Tumblr, New Grass On The Field, where she covered an array of topics but especially enjoyed exploring baseball history. She is now a reporter/producer for MLB.com. She earned her master's degree in Sports Management from Cal State Long Beach. She graduated from New York University in 2014 with a bachelor's in History and a minor in American Studies. She's an avid Springsteen fan, which is a big boost to her baseball writer cred.