On Sunday at Citi Field, it was all about Thor hammers and billy goat namesakes. That is to say it was all about Noah Syndergaard, Daniel Murphy and the New York Mets.
Thanks in large part to Syndergaard's god-like arm and Murphy's infallible bat, the Mets cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs and grabbed a commanding 2-0 edge in the National League Championship Series.
As the scene shifts to Chicago for Game 3 on Tuesday, the Amazins couldn't have scripted it any better.
By now you've heard that the goat who was kicked out of Wrigley Field during the 1945 World Series—thus initiating the most famous livestock-based curse in professional sports history—was named "Murphy."
The Mets infielder of the same moniker doesn't have hooves, horns or a four-chambered stomach, but he sure can hit baseballs.
He hit one in the first inning Sunday, with one hand no less, that curled inside the right field foul pole for a two-run homer. It sent the Queens faithful into a frenzy, and it set the tone on a night that was all Mets from the word "go."
The kid with the flowing yellow locks named after a Marvel superhero/Norse deity made sure of that, firing crackling, high-90s fastballs and darting breaking pitches past the bats of the Cubs hitters. Before departing to a roaring ovation with two outs in the sixth inning, Syndergaard struck out nine batters, which is the same number he fanned in Game 2 of the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
That puts the 23-year-old right-hander in some elite company, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:
The bullpen made Syndergaard's gem stand up, handing him his first career postseason win. Along with Murphy, who finished 2-for-3 and has now gone deep in four straight postseason games, he's pushed Chicago dangerously close to the brink.
No, a 2-0 hole isn't a death sentence, not in a best-of-seven series with the next three games to be played in the friendly confines along Waveland Avenue in front of thongs of pensive-yet-hopeful fans.
But surely the Cubs were hoping for at least a split in the Big Apple, with playoff-tested lefty Jon Lester going in Game 1 and NL Cy Young contender Jake Arrieta taking the hill Sunday.
Instead, the Mets dispatched each of Chicago's top-of-the-rotation dragons, with Murphy cracking first-inning bombs against both.
On Tuesday, New York will have an opportunity to step on the Cubbies' throat. The Mets will turn to Jacob deGrom, arguably the biggest stud in their stable of power arms, while Chicago will hand the ball to Kyle Hendricks, who lasted just 4.2 innings and yielded three dingers in his only start in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals.
But let's get back to Syndergaard and Murphy for a moment and pause to appreciate what they've accomplished.
Syndergaard, a rookie tasting October for the first time, has logged 13 playoff innings spanning two starts and a clutch relief appearance in Game 5 of the NLDS. He's surrendered just four runs and six walks next to an eye-popping 20 strikeouts. On Sunday, going on two days' rest, he threw 101 pitches.
Even in a stacked rotation that features deGrom and Matt Harvey, Syndergaard is sparkling.
As for Murphy, he's now 10-for-28 with five home runs and eight RBI in the postseason. He's not the only Mets hitter who's contributed, so it's unfair to say he's single-handedly carrying the offense. But he's lugging a lot of the load.
"We all know when he gets hot, he can hit anybody, and he can do a lot of damage," manager Terry Collins said prior to Game 2, per Kristie Ackert of the New York Daily News. "And he's hot."
Still, despite Murphy's October output, the Mets apparently aren't planning to re-sign him when he hits the market this winter.
"He's been great, really great," an unnamed source told Ackert, "but it changes nothing."
That's a head-scratcher, and it's one the Mets brass may well revisit if Murphy keeps his Reggie Jackson impression going. At the very least, the 30-year-old infielder is seriously boosting his free-agent stock, as ESPN's Buster Olney opined:
There will be time to worry about next season soon enough. For now, the Mets are rolling. Their radar gun-singeing hurlers are exploiting the big-swinging Cubs' strikeout tendencies, as Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer outlined after Game 1.
And their lineup is getting the big knocks at the all the right moments. They did it in the NLDS against the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, and they did it Sunday against Arrieta, another one of the best pitchers in baseball.
Forget billy goats. Forget hammer-wielding gods. The Mets don't need legends or gimmicks. They have Daniel Murphy, Noah Syndergaard and a deep, confident roster. And as the NLCS heads to the Windy City, they have a stiff breeze at their backs.
All statistics current as of Oct. 18 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.
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