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Mets rookie Steven Matz will live his boyhood dream in World Series Game 4
As kids, we all dream big, imagining ourselves as heroes in one form or another.
For Long Island native Steven Matz, the dream was to someday pitch for the New York Mets, which he amazingly achieved this season. Now the rookie left-hander will take the dream one step further, starting a critical Game 4 of the World Series for New York on Saturday night at Citi Field. And fittingly enough his day started right where many of those dreams were replayed over and over in his mind.
[Five key moments from the Mets' 9-3 win in World Series Game 3]
Matz, 24, was able to spend the night in his childhood bedroom, eat breakfast with his parents, and make the drive to the ballpark from his parents' home. It's a routine he's gotten used to since returning from an injury in September, but it's a routine he couldn't have imagined possible. Even in his wildest baseball dreams.
"This is where you want to be in baseball. This is the dream,".Matz said before Game 3 on Friday. "So, yeah, definitely have. This is what you write up in your backyard when you're playing Wiffle ball."
"It's awesome. I will be staying home. I did that pretty much ever since I came back from getting hurt. Yeah, so I just commute. We're on off hours, so there's not much traffic. It's not too terrible. It's been pretty awesome to be able to do that."
Childhood dreams and daily routines aside, the Mets are showing a great deal of faith in Matz by committing this start to him. Manager Terry Collins said it wouldn't change regardless of the circumstances, and it hasn't. Despite the Mets losing two games in Kansas City, nothing about his rotation has changed. It speaks to the confidence Collins' has in all of his young starters. It also speaks to the impact Matz has made in just seven big league starts, all of which came this season. Matz finished the season 4-0 with a 2.27 ERA over 35.2 innings.
Above all else though, it positions Matz to be a hero if he helps New York even the series.
If ever there was a dream set up for a young boy turned major league player, this would be it. But it's not just the player's dream that is coming true on Saturday. Matz's father, Ron, will be sitting in section 114 with the rest of his family watching his son try to bring a World Series championship to their team, in their home area.
"It's been pretty exciting," Ron Matz said Friday as his son assembled with the rest of the team along the foul line to be introduced before Game 3. "Just a couple of months ago, we were seeing him in Vegas, and now, Game 4 of the World Series. It's just crazy."
As for who will be more nervous?
"He's been fine. Steve is pretty low-key. He doesn't show much emotion. I know he's been running crazy with all the travel and adjusting to everything, being in the big leagues. But he's been fine."
As Steven Matz also noted on Friday, his father is in charge of handling ticket requests for Game 4. If the game itself didn't have him nervous, sorting that out will surely do it.
"While everything is going on, you really don't sit and think about it," Ron Matz said. "You just enjoy the ride and hope he stays healthy and does his thing."
The ride is just getting started, but it's already been a wild one for his son. For as long as Steven Matz puts on a major league uniform, the spotlight will never be brighter and the circumstances never more meaningful than Saturday's stop at Citi Field.
[World Series Game 4: Five things you need to know before first pitch]
It's a matchup Matz could fare very well in, as the Royals have struggled for long stretches against left-handers Dallas Keuchel and David Price in the postseason. Matz isn't in that category yet, of course, but he's a very good pitcher capable of locking down a lineup. The key will be slowing down the Royals in every way possible, especially on the bases, and finishing innings. Any time the Royals see a crack in the door, they tend to race through it.
It wouldn't be a dream come true without the challenge. Now the question is: Will the dream continue, and will Matz's ride home be as pleasant as the drive in, or will the relentless Royals put up a road block and move to within one game of a World Series championship?
We'll all be watching to find out.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
