‘Intense’ Jesse Winker making loud case in Carlos Mendoza’s critical DH decision
LOS ANGELES — The all-time Mets postseason leader in triples was a bit dumbfounded.
“I didn’t have that on my bingo card,” Jesse Winker said in the aftermath of Friday’s Game 5 win, in which he smacked his second triple of the playoffs to help send the NLCS back to Dodger Stadium. “That’s crazy. Wheels, I guess. I don’t really know what to say about that.”
Wheels Winker, who after a pair of postseason triples became the only Met ever with multiple three-baggers in October — after eight MLB regular seasons with three total — has been the Mets’ best hitter this month, which sounds as if it will be rewarded with another start in Sunday’s Game 6.
Manager Carlos Mendoza cautioned during Saturday’s workout that he wants to wait to see whom the Dodgers will start in a bullpen game, but “as of right now” Winker will be his DH.
While the triples might be incidental, the hard contact and 1.203 OPS has been promising for a player who has made a strong case to start the rest of the series at designated hitter.
Winker has alternated starts with J.D. Martinez, who typically has started against lefties and occasionally has started against righties.
The lefty-swinging Winker has been shielded from lefties, and the Dodgers only carry one southpaw on their roster — yet Martinez received starts in Games 3 and 4 against the Dodgers, in which he reached base in half his plate appearances but because he walked four times.
Martinez’s bat has looked slow throughout the end of the season, posting a .639 OPS in eight playoff games.
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Mendoza has still given looks to a 37-year-old who has a lengthy resume of hitting, has been with the club all season and is well respected within a clubhouse in which his hitting knowledge is invaluable.
But Winker, a deadline addition who reached in three of four plate appearances Friday including an RBI triple snuck inside the first base line, continues to pound opposing pitching.
And does so at times theatrically. After scoring from first base in the third inning Friday on a Starling Marte double, Winker dove home and dramatically rose in a pose as he stared into a Queens crowd that has grown to love him.
“He’s an intense guy. He’s going to show emotions,” Mendoza said. “And I don’t see that he’s disrespecting the other team because he’s usually towards our team. But I could see a guy from the other dugout, he probably is not going to like as much.“But he’s a great guy. He’s a great human being. He cares. He’s a competitor. And he’s going to give you good at-bats. Intense guy that wants to win.”
The Dodgers are expected to throw a bullpen game in Sunday’s Game 6 and likely would have righty Walker Buehler for Monday’s Game 7, if necessary.
The matchups favor the Mets’ all-time postseason triples leader, and at least for Game 6, it sounds as if Winker has earned his way to a start.
