Mets get better of 2 plays at plate
NEW YORK — Get over it, get some sleep in the city that never sleeps and come back ready for Game 2.
That’s all the Cubs could do after a 4-2 loss in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series to the New York Mets.
“We need to have a short memory, go home [to the team hotel] and go to sleep and come back, rejuvenate and get it tomorrow,’’ catcher Miguel Montero said. “Gotta move on.’’
The Cubs did lose Game 1 of the NLDS to the Cardinals and roared back with three straight victories. So they have that going for them.
“That’s the best thing about this is it’s a seven game series,’’ Montero said. “But obviously you want to win right out of the gate.
“They’re playing good baseball. We hit the ball good, too, so nothing you could do, man.’’
With right-hander Matt Harvey outpitching Jon Lester and holding the Cubs’ bats in check, every Mets run looked big. The lead was stretched to 4-1 when Juan Lagares led off the Mets’ seventh with a single, was bunted to second by Harvey, stole third and scored on a short fly to Kyle Schwarber in left field.
Schwarber appeared to have a play on Lagares, but Montero — who had entered at catcher for David Ross on a double switch — caught his throw behind the plate and had to move up to make the tag, which was late.
“I didn’t want to catch it on the short hop,” Montero said. “It was a tough play to actually stay on the plate and make a tag. The throw had some life on it, and I’m pretty sure if I had stayed on the plate it would have looked even worse — I wouldn’t have caught it.’’
Cubs manager Joe Maddon saw that in a similar light. The Cubs didn’t look altogether sharp — Starlin Castro looked slow getting out of the batter’s box on a double and perhaps would have scored had he reached third in the fifth. He was thrown out at home by left fielder Yoenis Cespedes trying to score from second on Javy Baez’s single.
But Maddon had no qualms with how his club played.
“I thought that we were fine, absolutely fine,’’ Maddon said.
“[Harvey] was just absolutely on top of his game tonight.
“If Harvey wasn’t pitching, it would have looked a lot better. His stuff is always good, but the command was outrageous tonight. Therein lies the game, because Jon pitched well, too.’’