DOUBLE TROUBLE
Lucas Duda, lefty killer? The Mets knew Duda would start mashing home runs, and he hit a pair to lead Thursday’s 50 win over St. Louis. But it’s how he has strafed lefthanded pitching — turning a shortcoming into a strength, with a little help from Keith Hernandez — that bodes well for the rest of the year.
“I thought he was going to heat up,’’ manager Terry Collins said. “I wasn’t concerned about him. I’ve been telling him ‘ The fact you’re hitting the ball all over the place, we’ll take those, because you’re going to end up running into enough fastballs or enough pitches that you’re going to hit some home runs.’
“This guy is so big and strong that — especially when it starts to warm up — he’s going to hit a bunch.’’
In the sixth inning, Duda crushed an 88 mph fastball from Jaime Garcia so hard right fielder Jason Heyward only gave an obligatory step or two.
“Garcia threw the ball well … he just left it up, and I hit it out,’’ said Duda, who followed with his fifth homer of the season, a threerun shot in the eighth off reliever Randy Choate.
“It’s like a shotgun off of his bat,’’ Michael Cuddyer said. “Too many times that phrase ‘It’s a different sound off his bat’ gets thrown around. With him, it is. It’s a deep explosion off his bat.’’
The fact both of those explosions came off lefties can’t be overstated, clubbing as many Thursday as he had all last year.
After hitting just .180 with two homers against southpaws in 2014, Duda has flipped the script. He has hit .409 with four homers, and admits he has tried to put exMet Hernandez’s advice into practice.
“Essentially, just kind of stay short and take what they give you. I’ve tried to apply that. … [To hear it] and to apply it, two different things. It’s hard to apply that. It’s a process,’’ said Duda, adding his own experience has helped. “I know the depth of the pitches they like to throw in certain counts, just seeing them more often [helps].’’
Duda called Hernandez in the winter and asked to work with him at first base before spring training started. The conversation turned to hitting, and the SNY analyst and former NL MVP gave Duda some helpful analysis.
“He didn’t do well against lefties last year. The basic thing was what I’m sure what anybody would tell him, he had to lay off breaking balls, bad breaking balls,’’ said Hernandez, who downplayed his impact. “He’d find himself — if he laid off bad breaking balls — to be ahead in the count.
“I just told him basically my experiences against lefthanders over 17 years, what lefthanders are trying to do, what they like to do. So it was nothing to do with any alterations of swing, or anything changing in him mechanically. It was all just how I approached lefthanders.’’