Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets Watch FREE Live Streaming Online Major League Baseball Monday Night from Citi Field at 7:10 PM ET
Coming off another dominant performance last week, Los Angeles' Zack Greinke has proven nearly unbeatable thus far.
That doesn't bode well for the slumping New York Mets, who have already had enough trouble with the Dodgers.
Greinke takes the mound opposite Jonathan Niese as the visiting Dodgers go for a three-game sweep of the Mets on Thursday night.
Greinke (7-1, 2.03 ERA) has been superb through his first nine starts, striking out 61 and walking 12 over 53 1/3 innings. The 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner pitched well again Friday, throwing eight innings of five-hit ball in a 7-0 win at Arizona.
"In '09, I just felt nasty to where I could tell them what's coming and they still didn't have a chance," Greinke told MLB's official website following his longest outing of the year. "Now I'm average to above average (stuff) and not where I was, but I mix it up and keep the hitters guessing."
Greinke has yielded two runs or fewer in 21 consecutive starts dating to last year, the longest such streak in the majors since at least 1914. He is 11-1 with a 1.86 ERA in his last 15 on the road.
Greinke hasn't faced New York (20-25) since scattering five hits over seven innings in an 8-0 road win with Milwaukee in 2012. He would appear to have another favorable matchup against a Mets team that's a major league-worst 5-14 this month.
New York has dropped three straight and six of seven after falling 4-3 on Wednesday.
The Dodgers finished with just five hits, but all went for extra bases.
Puig, who collected three hits in Tuesday's 9-4 series-opening victory, is batting .408 with seven homers and 23 RBIs over the last 19 games. Gonzalez is 9 for 16 in the last four.
The Dodgers will try to stay hot against Niese (2-3, 2.54), who didn't have his best stuff in Friday's 5-2 loss at Washington. The left-hander yielded five runs -- three earned -- and eight hits over a season-low four innings.
"I'm not sure what happened," manager Terry Collins said. "He certainly wasn't in a very good rhythm when the game started, I didn't think. We know Jon Niese is a guy, that if things don't go good, he's one of those guys who will step up and put an end to it."
Niese has gone 1-2 despite a 2.59 ERA in four home starts while receiving a combined five runs of support. He is 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA in four outings versus Los Angeles.
The game will be live streaming on mlb.mlb.com/mlb/subscriptions/index.jsp?...mlbtv
