The New York Mets will be hosting the Chicago Cubs this weekend in a National League Championship Series that no one saw coming back in April. Lester rarely throws to first base, and when he does, the throws are not particularly good.
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Murphy, who set a career high this season with 14 homers, launched another one into the second deck in right field for his fourth of the postseason.
“Obviously what he went through in the last month has been hard for him because deep inside, this guy is a tremendous competitor, and he loves to be – he loves to be in the big game”, Mets manager Terry Collins said on Friday”.
The Mets move ace Matt Harvey up to start Game 1, after previously scheduled Game 1 starter Noah Syndergaard pitched an inning out of the bullpen in Thursday’s Game 5 NLDS Mets victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was loudly cheered by a small group of blue and orange-clad Mets fans when he came on the field after the game.
The Mets face a tall order, but that has not stopped team management from bragging. “After the season I might get one”, he said, “but right now I’m good”. Murphy, a lefty batter who hit only one homer off a southpaw in the entire regular season, now has two homers off Clayton Kershaw and one off Jon Lester in October alone.
The Mets went ahead in the bottom of the inning, when shortstop Wilmer Flores and Lagares each singled with one out.
The Mets built another run in the seventh when Lagares singled, went to second on another Harvey bunt, stole third and scored on Granderson’s sacrifice fly.
Los Angeles failed to capitalize with two runners on in both the second and third.
And they eventually got to Harvey – with Schwarber knocking him out of the game when he hit Harvey’s 97th pitch halfway to LaGuardia Airport. According to The New York Times, General Manager Sandy Alderson says his team is different now, compared to when it faced the Cubs earlier in the season, packed with more experienced pitchers and power hitters. Right-hander Jeurys Familia allowed a walk and a hit while getting the final four outs for his third postseason save. Then Travis d’Arnaud homered off the center field apple in the sixth.
Kershaw, the reigning NL MVP and a three-time Cy Young Award victor, was tagged with his franchise-record fifth straight postseason defeat in this year’s opener against the Mets before bouncing back with a dominant performance to win Game 4 in New York and force the best-of-five series back to Dodger Stadium.
“He was outstanding”, said Maddon. “We just have to be able to generate a few offense against their pitching”. While being dubbed as the underdogs, the Cubs battled through the series they were not expected to win.
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While the Wild Card Cubs are looking to reach their first World Series in 70 years, the NL East champion Mets also hunger for a first title in 29 years. He allowed 44 stolen bases, seven more than any other major league pitcher. Marty McFly’s time-warp into the year 2015 depicts the Cubs winning it all, though the sweep came against an unnamed Miami team.
