The Mets have used a simple formula to get past the Dodgers and 3/4 of the way past the Cubs:
- Combine great starting pitching with a shutdown ninth inning.
- Wait for Daniel Murphy [1] to do something awesome.
It’s worked pretty well … but the Mets are adding ingredients to the recipe.
We’ll get back to the latest legends of Murphtober and the work of Jacob deGrom [2] in a moment, but first, the new ingredients.
In Game 3 against L.A., Yoenis Cespedes [3] launched a ball into the Citi Field night that threatened the International Space Station — perhaps the longest, loudest, exclamation-pointiest homer I’ve ever seen at our park. After that, though, Cespedes looked like every swing was an attempt at a sequel, with underwhelming results.
Until tonight.
Tonight Cespedes lashed a ball up the gap to give the Mets a first-inning lead, just missed a home run in the third, slapped one past second in the sixth, and hit a scorching line drive that ate up Kyle Schwarber [4] for a single, however generously scored, in the seventh. Oh, and he stole third with one out in that wacky sixth and then tormented Trevor Cahill [5] and Miguel Montero [6], scooting home on Michael Conforto [7]‘s strikeout that bounded off between the Cubs’ on-deck circle and the big 14 for Ernie Banks [8] to give the Mets the lead.
Another potent addition to the mix: David Wright [9]. I’d had a feeling Wright would come around: He was working good counts and controlling the strike zone. But the small sample sizes of the postseason can be cruel as well as kind: Sometimes you’re not around long enough for the numbers to even out. So it was great to see David collect three hits, with a pair of identical line singles over shortstop and a hustle double down the left-field line. If the Mets can add a couple of hot bats to the insanity that is Murphtober, well, look out anybody and everybody.
Not that we aren’t pretty close to that point already. DeGrom had a somewhat similar game to the finale in L.A., albeit with fewer hairsbreadth escapes, which was just fine with me — he was searching for his fastball early and dealing with constant traffic, but toughed it out until the fastball clicked and let him zip through a couple of final innings.
And Murph? Well, my goodness, what can you say at this point? The latest home run was the headline-grabber, but the more impressive feat was that trip around the bases in the seventh. He ground out a tough at-bat against Travis Wood [10], then busted his butt to first on a little bounder to Kris Bryant [11], turning the Cubs third baseman’s brief feel for the seams into an infield hit. When Schwarber couldn’t corral Cespedes’s liner Murph went from first to third, never stopping on a ball that landed at Schwarber’s feet. Then he got a great break on Lucas Duda [12]‘s high bounce to Anthony Rizzo [13], sliding home an inch ahead of Montero’s tag. Seeing the ball well is one thing, but Murph essentially willed himself through 360 feet of basepaths there.
That inning also erased the sour taste of the weird ending to the sixth. Conforto’s run-scoring strikeout may well join the decades-long litany of head-shakery for Cubs fans, but Wilmer Flores [14]‘s roller into the ivy threatened to do the same for our side, with a hard-earned run snatched away — properly according to the Wrigley Field ground rules but appallingly according to common sense. After having disposed of a parade of Cy Young [15]-caliber pitchers, were the Mets really going to be undone by vegetation?
The heroics of Murph & Co. made that but a passing bit of paranoia. De Grom turned in a strong final inning, Tyler Clippard [16] worked around a Dexter Fowler [17] double, and Jeurys Familia [18] completed his task [19] before the encroaching rain threw a joker into the deck.
And so, tomorrow. A ballyhooed New York team that’s playing golf right now could tell you that taking the first three in a best-of-seven is no guarantee of anything. Nothing is to be taken for granted. Nothing. But young fireballer Steven Matz [20] gets the ball, while Murph and Cespedes and Wright and the rest of the gang get the bats, and Familia will be ready for the call. And that’s a formula that’s worked pretty well so far.