David Wright: Mets won't 'look past' Game 4
CHICAGO – The cramped visitors clubhouse in Wrigley Field contained all the excitement of a funeral parlor late Tuesday night.
A handful of New York Mets players ate and chatted in low tones. Others checked their cell phone messages in silence. Postseason hitting terror Daniel Murphy, wearing sweat pants and a relaxed look, rubbed in some lip balm as he walked by.
By Wednesday, those same tight quarters may be inundated with champagne and a bunch of grown men acting like jubilant second-graders, but not after taking a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series with a methodical 5-2 victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Baseball protocol must be observed, of course. But also, the Mets have been succeeding in the playoffs in workmanlike fashion, so there’s no reason to change just because they’re a mere win from the World Series.
Tuesday’s victory showed the Mets at their efficient best. Their starting pitcher, this time Jacob deGrom, stifled the opponents’ hitters. The bullpen wouldn’t even let them come up for air. The offense took advantage of whatever opening was available to score runs. And the Mets unleashed the remarkable Murphy on the world again.
The result put the Mets at the doorstep of their first trip to the World Series since 2000. The last time they won it was 1986.
“That’s what we have going on right now,’’ reliever Tyler Clippard said of the team-wide effort after throwing a scoreless eighth. “Everybody’s contributing and doing the little things right, getting those little runs you need to win postseason games. Right now the momentum is on our side. We have to keep it that way heading into tomorrow.’’
The go-ahead run in the sixth scored on one of those plays that seem to suggest the Mets have karma, momentum and good fortune all going for them.
With two outs and Yoenis Cespedes at third in a 2-2 game, reliever Trevor Cahill kept throwing Michael Conforto curveballs in the dirt trying to get him to chase for strike three. Conforto finally did, but the ball bounced away for a wild pitch, allowing Cespedes to score and Conforto to reach base.
It was the second time in postseason history the go-ahead run scored on a strikeout.
“I blocked like three before that,’’ Cubs catcher Miguel Montero said. “It was a tough one. It really hurts. I’ve blocked pitches like that many times and I didn’t block that. It really hurts because it was strike three.’’
The Mets had scored their first two runs on a double by Cespedes, who has now hit safely in 15 of his 18 career playoff games, and of course, a home run by Murphy, who put them ahead 2-1 in the fourth. They scored two insurance runs in the seventh with help from third baseman Kris Bryant’s inability to throw Murphy out on a slow chopper that went for a single.
The second baseman became the second player in postseason history to homer in five consecutive games. Carlos Beltran first did it with the Houston Astros in 2004. Murphy’s six home runs altogether this postseason, four coming off Cy Young Award-caliber pitchers, set a Mets record.
“I wish I could explain it; I would have done it like six years ago,’’ said Murphy, who hit a career-high 14 homers in the regular season. “This is just a lot of fun right now. Again, like I said, in between David (Wright) and Yoenis Cespedes right now I think is the best place to be (in the lineup).’’
The Cubs nicked deGrom for solo homers in the first and fourth, the second tying the game 2-2. But much like he did in Game 5 of the Division Series, deGrom battled through a tough first inning, when he threw 29 pitches, then found the command of his fastball that eluded him early on. Once the heater started working, he became untouchable, retiring hid final 11 batters through seven innings. Clippard and closer Jeurys Familia took care of the rest.
DeGrom is the first Mets pitcher ever to win his first three postseason starts, and all have been on the road. But in a stunning indication of how overwhelming New York’s pitching has been – and what may await the American League entry in the World Series – his seven innings of two-run ball rank as the team’s third-best start in this series based on ERA. Chicago has scored a total of five runs.
“He’s done that a couple of times throughout the year where he didn’t have his best stuff right away but he found it as the game went on,’’ catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “Nobody was panicking. We all believed in him.’’
Now, if there are still doubters out there, it may be time to start believing the Mets have all the elements of a World Series team. Well, except for any obvious swagger.
That may come with one more win.
“You can't look past tomorrow,’’ Wright said. “You have to continue to put your foot on the gas and try to play good baseball and take advantage of the type of baseball that we're playing and the type of pitching that we're getting.’’
If they do, the visitors clubhouse may have a distinctly different feel on Wednesday.
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