FACING GREINKE

When I asked one NL hitting coach about Greinke, he laughed then said, “Good luck. For me, he is a modern [Greg] Maddux. He has really mastered how to pitch.” Greinke is the only righty the Dodgers will start. There is no sense in being patient. He is going to be near the plate and throw strikes. Be aggressive, don’t give him a free strike. His changeup is arguably the best in the game and the pitch he will turn to with runners on base. Some hitters move up in the box to try to handle the changeup before it dives.

Against lefties, Greinke will often try to get a quick strike with a get-me-over curve. Granderson has the fourth-most plate appearances (55) of anyone against Greinke, but is just 10-for-52, which means the Mets’ leadoff man is a combined 11-for-62 vs. Kershaw and Greinke. Both Kershaw and Greinke are experts at controlling the running game, and just to give an idea of Grienke’s heady-athletic combo, an NL bench coach noted that in obvious bunt situations, he often will throw a curveball to give himself time to race off to the third-base side to become a fielder to try to cut off the runner at second.

One other thing: Kershaw, and particularly Greinke, are good-hitting pitchers.