Padres Beat Mets With Dominant Pitching, Role Player Production

The San Diego Padres have accomplished the first of many difficult tasks in the 2022 postseason. The first one was having to travel across the country to face the 101-win New York Mets in a Queens-filled crowd who had two star pitchers waiting to test their newly revamped lineup. The only three game set in the 2022 Wild Card was so worth the thrill, well for Padre fans. San Diego will now be closer to home to face the Los Angeles Dodgers who have been known as their rival. However, the Padres will have to wait for an electric Petco Park crowd on Friday in which hopefully, the team is up in the series by that time.

Joe Musgrove walks off the mound letting out a scream of dominance after getting checked for any foreign substance under Mets manager Buck Showalter's request. Credit to the San Diego Union-Tribune for this image.

Wow! What a series! I will waste no time by saying this, it is not a matter of how talented a team is in the postseason, it is a matter of how hot a team can get at the right time in the postseason. Remember that. The 2022 San Diego Padres are getting hot at the right time and playing under Bob Melvin's command: By not just being themselves but giving it their all on every single play.

Many experts had slept on this team going into this three-game Wild Card format as there were many Mets selections. Let's feed off being the underdogs. People were salivating over the Mets starting pitching including future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer and ace Jacob deGrom to start off. Well, how about the Padres with Yu Darvish who earned N.L. Pitcher of the Month. How about Blake Snell who has been sensational in the second-half of the season. How about Joe Musgrove, the El Cajon kid who has been a hidden gem in this rotation. How did this Padres team advance? Dominant pitching yet again with timely hitting from players not just named Manny Machado and Juan Soto. Let's start with the Scherzer vs. Darvish opener.

Going into the opener, all eyes were on Scherzer who we all knew would be locked in going onto the mound. First thing I noticed after Profar singled to lead off the game was how much the Padres hitters were staying alive and fouling off pitches rather than swinging through thin air. Yes, Soto struck out but after a Machado fly ball to left field, Josh Bell batting from from the left-hand side against the righty Scherzer pimped a home run that went opposite field to put the Padres up 2-0 in the first. This deflated the Mets and quieted the crowd quickly. This was not just big for San Diego, but for Bell this was great to see. Bell is known to have a great history hitting against the Mets in the past and he showed up after struggling with the Padres since being dealt. Remember what I said, in the opening line, not only does it matter for when a team gets hot, players too.

The hot bat also goes to Trent Grisham. That is not a typo. The Gold Glover who batted .184 for the whole season homered in back-to-back games off two Cy Young winners and had great hits as well as a beautiful defensive play that arguably saved a run in the finale. Grisham without a doubt is the MVP of this Wild Card series besides our pitching performance. Hopefully this gets Grish back into his old-self in July 2021.

Another player who had Scherzer pay was Jurickson Profar who is not known for his slugging. After hitting a ball foul that had the distance, Profar yanked a pitch down and in to right field to open the floodgates and put the Padres up 6-0 in the fifth inning. Two at-bats later, and Machado took Scherzer deep to go up 7-1 as our captain flexed and jogged around the bases. Next thing you know, Scherzer gets flooded with boos as he gives up seven earned in just 4.2 innings. Maybe Scherzer was not himself as he stood away from his cutter and his fastball did not have the same bite to it, but in the end, the Padres made sure to get a victory to put pressure on the Mets.

Before going to Game 2, we can't skip over Yu Darvish and his performance. Seven dominant innings while either throwing unpredictable fastballs or 67-mph curveballs. Darvish had everything in his toolbox working. Getting the lead early before even stepping on the mound must have helped as well to calm any potential nerves. Glad to see Darvish carry his September success into the October postseason.

Trent Grisham (right) celebrates with Manny Machado (left) after hitting a solo home run off Jacob deGrom in the third inning of Game 2 to tie the score at one a piece. Credit to the HJ News for this image.

Despite the loss here, there were some positive signs in Game 2. First off, going to Citi Field for the first time let alone seeing a playoff atmosphere was awesome! Last second, I decided to go with a good friend of mine who loves the Mets. Don't worry Friar Faithful, he is a realistic fan with realistic expectations.

The biggest issue here was caught right away with Blake Snell on the mound. Snell was nitpicking the strike zone right away to a Mets offense that has phenomenal discipline just like San Diego. Snell issued six walks in just 3.1 innings and gave up two runs.

The Mets got things going early with a Francisco Lindor bomb in the bottom of the first. A Mets lead with deGrom? So weird to say. However, the MVP of this series in Trent Grisham got on a pitch down and away and took it for a ride to even the score in the third inning.

However, Snell's command came to bite back as the Mets went up 2-1 with a Nimmo RBI single. Profar later just kept a ball fair down the right field line and brought in Grisham to tie it at 2-2 off deGrom who did not look 100% as well with his command. So what went wrong? Well, Pete Alonso took a changeup from Nick Martinez and hit it all the way to Pluto. Next thing you know, I see the youngster in Adrian Morejon coming in to pitch. That was not my favorite move under Melvin as the game got out of hand with Morejon walking two and giving up four. When the Mets added on, it felt like Melvin 'gave up' and just had our best relievers saved for the finale which was true. As much as I was hoping to see a Padres sealed victory in person, Melvin put in Pierce Johnson after as well as Steven Wilson. This was to avoid sacrificing Luis Garcia, Robert Suarez, Josh Hader and any others you want to mention.

Oddly enough, with the Mets up 7-2, Showalter decided to bring in closer Edwin Diaz who threw 28 pitches in 1.2 innings. I gained confidence in the finale for three reasons: Melvin's bullpen selection to save the best for last, the Mets having to go to Edwin Diaz and more relievers and finally, despite the loss, the Padres having the potential tying run in Josh Bell come up with two outs and the bases loaded. Now onto the finale and man it is an earful to talk about!

Starting pitcher Joe Musgrove mocks the Mets dugout as he dominated all night despite the controversy in Mets manager Buck Showalter having the umpires check the right-hander for any foreign substance on his ears. Credit to USA Today for the image.

Baseball is a beautiful sport! What better way to close out a win or elimination game by having the local San Diegan start on the mound? Two talented pitchers in Joe Musgrove and Chris Bassitt had so much pressure to deliver for their squads. Bassitt, who has been 'Mr. Reliable' for the Mets has been hit hard in the past even with his time on the Athletics who of course was very close with Melvin. Musgrove on the other hand, has been fantastic despite some rough outings.

Despite Musgrove showing many if not all of his pitches to the Mets lead off hitter in Brandon Nimmo, that did not phase the El Cajon native. Musgrove lasted seven innings by throwing just 86 pitches (59 for strikes) and had only given up a base hit to Pete Alonso as well as one walk to Starling Marte while striking out five.

For the Padres offense, they had no time to waste in scoring in which the bottom of the order has stepped up yet again in this series. Catcher Austin Nola singled to left field that scored in the first two runs in the second. In the fourth, Trent Grisham kept swinging the hot shillelagh with a single up center field which added another run. With Bassitt being pulled early, that gave the Padres a chance to have the Mets bullpen take a blow. Machado brought in another hit and Soto put the icing on the cake with two big insurance runs in the eighth to give the Friars a 6-0 lead and win eventually as the pitching also was lights out.

Musgrove, who was cruising in the game suddenly turned over and realized that Showalter was requesting for a Musgrove to be looked at for a potential foreign substance before the bottom of the sixth inning started. Machado in the huddle with the rest of the infield, had a smile and slight chuckle as he was also in disbelief of what his former manager did. Let's face it, the Mets offense could not touch Musgrove and were desperate for some miracle to avoid the criticism of their cold bats.

After checking for any sticky substance, Musgrove struck out Tomas Nido and stared down Mets dugout, as he wiped his finger under his nose. Musgrove stated for the Mets, the substance check was the "last attempt to get me out of the game." He continued "It almost just lit a fire under me." Musgrove got out of the inning and tugged on his left ear walking off the mound and receiving boos from pained Met fans. Machado even was embracing the hate as he gestured for the crowd to get louder as the team realized they can feed off that energy. That whole sequence lit a fire under me and all of us fans too that is for sure! Once that happened, we can just tell that San Diegan was locked in and let out his emotions while making the Met hitters look foolish yet again.

An exciting way to end the series for sure! Celebrate with champagne yet again but of course, Melvin wants this team to regroup as many more celebrations are yet to come hopefully. First being the underdogs in Queens, the Padres took care of business with some flare. Now it is a date with the 111-51 Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers cruised past the N.L. West division by clinching it in early September and had the most wins in franchise history after surpassing 106 wins in which they recorded in 2021 and 2019. Right away many people will show the lopsided matchup statistics over the past matchups. However, postseason baseball wipes any past away. Look at Darvish's or Musgrove's past struggles in the postseason? Not anymore. Playoff baseball is different as the game basically becomes slow-motion. Every pitch will be just as important and the Padres who are potentially getting hot are facing a Dodgers team who has not played since Wednesday, October 5th. A series that goes five games maximum now, there is no room for error and this team knows that. May the best team win but do not underestimate the Friars going into this series. Get ready to give those "Beat L.A." chants.