NEWSLETTER
Not really looking forward to seeing everyone talk about how, “You know, when the Red Sox finally won it all, they first had to come back from 3-0 … ”
Tonight’s loss looked a lot like the other losses in this series. There were things you could discuss, beefs you could pick, breaks that could have gone the Cubs’ way. But, at the end of the game, it was still clear that the winning team was also the team that played the game better. The Mets beat the Cubs tonight.
Things were uncomfortable right from the get-go, with the Mets scoring in the first, and the Cubs responding with a Kyle Schwarber solo homer … that could have been a two-run shot if the strike zone hadn’t been so conspicuously expansive for Dexter Fowler’s at bat right before. It was a story throughout the night, and I’ll take a look at the zone tomorrow. It sure felt really, really bad, but I’ve been wrong before. It also limited Jacob deGrom’s work in the first inning, which was the only time the Cubs really had a Mets pitcher on the ropes.
Daniel Murphy hit his obligatory homer, and the Mets took the lead in the top of the 6th when, after stealing third base, Yoenis Cespedes scored on a two-out strikeout of Michael Conforto. Yes, that’s a thing that happened, as the pitch got by Miguel Montero. After that, the Mets would have plated another run on a double by Wilmer Flores (past an ill-advised-diving Jorge Soler), but the ball got stuck in the ivy. Conforto had to go back to third, Mets fans raged about one of the oldest, most famous ground rules in baseball, and deGrom flew out to end the inning.
The Mets added a couple more later on when the Cubs’ gloves failed them, and the bats stayed silent. What was an exciting game for 5.5 innings became completely dull and lifeless. That was probably the saddest part. The game never felt like it ended. It just kind of faded away.
