Murphy Hits Mets to World Series

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Daniel Murphy, and the New York Mets finished a playoff sweep of the Chicago Cubs with a new generation of Amazins now heading to the World Series.

Murphy homered for a record sixth consecutive postseason game and the Mets brushed aside the Cubs 8-3 Wednesday night, capping a National League Championship Series in which New York never trailed.

Lucas Duda hit a three-run homer in the first inning and a two-run double in the second, silencing a sellout crowd of 42,227 at Wrigley Field desperately hoping for the beginning of an epic comeback in Game 4.

Not this time. Not with New York’s array of power arms, and Murphy swinging a hot stick that made him the MVP of the matchup.

Manager Terry Collins’ team advanced to the World Series for the first time since they lost to the crosstown Yankees in five games in 2000. They will face Toronto or Kansas City in Game 1 on Tuesday night — the Royals lead 3-2 in the ALCS.

The Cubs, meanwhile, still haven’t won the crown since 1908. Manager Joe Maddon’s wild-card bunch surged into this series, but was overmatched.

When Dexter Fowler looked at a called third strike for the final out, Jeurys Familia dropped to his knees in front of the mound and then hopped up for a hug from catcher Travis d’Arnaud. They were soon joined by the rest of their jubilant teammates in the infield grass at Wrigley Field.

A small, but vocal group of New York fans behind the visiting dugout then chanted “Let’s go, Mets! Let’s go, Mets!”

Right when it looked as if his historic streak was coming to an end, Murphy connected for a two-run drive to center against Fernando Rodney in the eighth inning. The second baseman raised his right arm as he rounded first after his seventh homer of the playoffs.

Murphy, who was tied with Carlos Beltran for the postseason homer streak, finished with four hits and batted .529 (9 for 17).

Duda doubled twice and d’Arnaud also homered for New York, and Bartolo Colon pitched 1 1-3 scoreless innings for his first playoff win since 2001, for Cleveland at Seattle. The 14 years, 12 days between postseason victories for the 42-year-old right-hander snapped the major league record of exactly 14 years for Milt Wilcox, according to STATS.

Colon, who made 31 starts this season, replaced rookie Steven Matz with two out in the fifth and runners on first and second. He struck out Kris Bryant swinging on a 3-2 pitch, preserving New York’s 6-1 lead.

Bryant hit a two-run homer in the eighth, but it was way too late for Chicago in its first appearance in the NLCS in 12 years. The Cubs shut out Pittsburgh in the wild-card game and eliminated rival St. Louis in the division series, but were unable to mount much of a challenge against the Mets’ talented pitching staff.

The Cubs also loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth, and only came away with one run on Kyle Schwarber’s grounder to first. Starlin Castro lined right to third baseman David Wright on a hard smash for the first out.

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Mets Close to World Dream

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The New York Mets are overpowering the Chicago Cubs. Now, they’re one win from their first World Series in 15 years.

Daniel Murphy homered in his record-tying fifth consecutive game in the postseason and Jacob deGrom pitched seven strong innings to lead the Mets over the Cubs 5-2 Tuesday night for a 3-0 lead in the NL Championship Series.

A cluster of New York fans gathered in the rain behind their team’s dugout after the final out and chanted “Let’s go, Mets!” And with a victory Wednesday night at Wrigley Field, the Mets will be playing for baseball’s ultimate prize.

Rookie Steven Matz gets the start for the Mets in Game 4 while Jason Hammel goes for the Cubs.

Yoenis Cespedes and David Wright each had three hits for the Mets. Cespedes scored the go-ahead run on a two-out wild pitch by Trevor Cahill on a strikeout of Michael Conforto in the sixth inning.

Murphy tied the mark set by Houston’s Carlos Beltran in 2004 with his drive off Kyle Hendricksin the third.

DeGrom followed up dominant starts by Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard in New York with one of his own. The NL Rookie of the Year held the Cubs’ big bats to just two runs and four hits. He struck out seven, walked one and retired his final 11 batters.

The righty with the flowing hair improved to 3-0 in his first postseason, with all of the wins coming on the road.

Kyle Schwarber had the towel-waving crowd shaking 101-year old Wrigley Field to its foundation in the first inning with his club-record fifth homer of the postseason. Jorge Soleralso had them roaring with his solo drive in the fourth. But Joe Maddon’s Cubs have just five runs in this series.

Barring an epic comeback, a World Series drought that dates to 1908 will continue. Only one other team has won a playoff series after dropping the first three games.

Theo Epstein’s Red Sox came back against the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL Championship Series and ultimately ended one long championship curse. Now, the team he constructed in Chicago, that stirred the imaginations of long-suffering fans, finds itself in a similar spot.

Cespedes broke a 2-all tie when he led off the sixth with a single against Cahill and scored from third with two out as Conforto swung at a 2-2 pitch in the dirt. The ball rolled to the backstop, allowing the runner to reach first and extending the inning.

Conforto was forced to stay at third when Wilmer Flores’ drive rolled to the ivy in right field was called a ground-rule double. That drew a heated argument from Mets manager Terry Collins, who came back out to protest some more after he returned to the dugout.

The Mets added two more runs in the seventh on an RBI single by Cespedes and groundout by Lucas Duda off Justin Grimm that made it 5-2.

Hendricks went four innings for Chicago, allowing two runs and five hits.

Never before had the Cubs played this late on the calendar at Wrigley Field. And they did not start this one on a smooth note.

Singer Wayne Messmer had to deal with a faulty microphone before delivering his rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The Cubs quickly fell behind 1-0 when Wright singled and scored on Cespedes’ two-out double in the first. But Schwarber brought the crowd back in a big way in the bottom half when he drove a 3-2 fastball the opposite way to left-centre for a solo homer.

It wasn’t quite as impressive as the shot he hit to the top of the right-field videoboard that helped knock out St. Louis in Game 4 of the NLDS. That ball got encased by the Cubs where it settled.

This one probably won’t. But still, with his fifth home run of this postseason, Schwarber broke the franchise record set by Alex Gonzalez and Aramis Ramirez in 2003.

Murphy, who connected 14 times during the regular season, made it 2-1 in the third when he drove a 2-1 sinker from Hendricks out to centre. Besides tying Beltran’s record, he also set a Mets mark with his sixth postseason homer.

Soler, who came in batting .455 in the playoffs, tied it in the fourth when he drove his third homer of the postseason to right-centre.

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Rays Run Riot at Yankees

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Up by nine runs in the late innings, the Tampa Bay Rays wound up needing their closer to finish off this latest victory.

"It's not always an oil painting," manager Joe Maddon observed.

Masterpiece or not, here's a portrait of a winning team: From last place a month ago to now leading the tough AL East.

Jeremy Hellickson retired Yankees newcomer Alfonso Soriano with the bases loaded to preserve an early lead and the streaking Rays tagged CC Sabathia once again, beating New York 10-6 Friday night.

The Rays have won 20 of 23 and took sole possession of the division lead for the first time since June 10, 2012. Recently seven games behind, Tampa Bay moved a half-game ahead of Boston.

"Of course there's gratification in it, but there's no complacency," Maddon said. "It's always good to validate what you're doing."

Ben Zobrist, Yunel Escobar and Evan Longoria doubled during a six-run burst in the second inning, and James Loney later homered and drove in four runs as the Rays got way ahead in the seventh.

"We were playing such a great game tonight. Not a good game, a great game," Maddon said. "Unfortunately, we let them up a little."

"You don't want an under-duress moment after you're up 10-1 and have to sweat one out," he said. "That's not cool."

Well supported all season, Hellickson (10-3) won his sixth straight decision. Fernando Rodney, the Rays' fourth pitcher in a three-run ninth, got the last out for his 25th save.

"It's not hard to win games when I'm getting eight, nine, 10 runs a game," Hellickson said.

Trying to add power, the Yankees acquired Soriano from the Chicago Cubs before the game, trading a minor league pitcher to get the seven-time All-Star and lots of cash to cover much of his contract.

Soriano got his chance to make a sudden impact, batting with the bases loaded, two outs in the third and the Yankees trailing 6-1. With Tampa Bay's infield overshifted to the left side, he ran the count full before lofting a routine fly to right that ended the inning.

The 37-year-old Soriano, who began his career with the Yankees in 1999 and drew a big ovation in his return, went 0 for 5, scored once and drove in a run. He got an RBI with a bases-loaded force out in the ninth.

"It's a good day for me today to have a chance to put on the uniform again," he said.

"I hope we have a better chance tomorrow," he said. "It's a tough day tonight."

Soriano did more on defense, catching a fly to start the game, making a throw that helped nail a runner and running down a foul ball.

Hellickson gave up one run and four hits in six innings, retiring his last nine batters and sending the Yankees to their seventh loss in 10 games. He also flashed a fast glove, snaring Ichiro Suzuki's liner right in front of his face.

Sabathia (9-9) was booed early and was hit hard for the third straight start, allowing 22 runs over 14 innings in that span. He got a true Bronx cheer when he struck out Loney while escaping a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third.

Sabathia joined Chien-Ming Wang as the only Yankees pitchers since 1935 to allow at least seven runs in three straight starts.

"I feel like throughout my career I've been able to kind of avoid and pitch out of the big innings. Here lately I haven't been able to make a pitch," he said.

"We're right in the middle of this thing and if I can help us out, I feel like we would be doing a lot better. But getting no help from me is making it tough," he said.

The Rays have been particularly prickly for Sabathia. He is just 4-11 in 23 starts against them, including four this season, since joining the Yankees.

A two-out walk to eighth-place hitter Jose Lobaton set up Sam Fuld's RBI single in the second and Desmond Jennings followed with a bunt single that catcher Austin Romine threw away for another run. Longoria delivered a two-run double and scored on Wil Myers' single.

Loney had an RBI single in the fifth and hit a three-run homer in the seventh off Adam Warren.

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