Daniel Murphy: Daniel Murphy goes deep again in Game 1 win

He’s certainly stepping up his game at the right time, both for the Mets and for his own future. Trying to end a championship drought that dates to 1908, they remained four wins from winning their first pennant in seven decades.

By Saturday night, either LSU or Florida will have one loss.

The Mets tweeted out a video of pitcher Jon Niese sliding along the locker room floor.

“Daniel was a tough out all series”, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. “Give him credit. His stuff is always good, but the command was outrageous tonight”. “So this is probably more gratifying and sweeter, just because we went through the pitchers we did to get to this point”.

“I’m looking forward to not having to deal with this anymore”, Grandal told the newspaper.

Harvey threw to first for the out and immediately waved off Mets trainer Ray Ramirez, who came out to check anyway with manager Terry Collins before leaving Harvey in the game. “I know what he’s about, and he wants the baseball”.

Harvey shut down the power-hitting Cubs on four hits over 7-2/3 innings with nine strikeouts and was followed to the mound by closer Jeurys Familia, who registered the last four outs for the save.

Murphy connected off Jon Lester for his fourth homer of the playoffs and made a diving play at second base for the final out.

“The organization, since I’ve been here, has been through a lot”, Murphy said last night. “I was in the right spot”.

Cubs rookie slugger Kyle Schwarber hit a solo homer in the eighth inning.

The Mets took the lead for good in the bottom of the inning, when shortstop Wilmer Flores and Lagares each singled with one out. He gave up three runs in five innings in Game 3 of the NLDS, and could be shut down for the remainder of the NLCS after this series due to his Tommy John surgery recovery.

It was Murphy’s third homer against a left-hander in the playoffs – he had one during the regular season.

Heck, the only thing that the Cubs had on their side this year was the prediction from the 1989 classic “Back to the Future Part II” claiming that the Chicago team would win the World Series in 2015, a prediction that would be exceptionally cool if it actually happened.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, whose postseason was just ended at the hands of the New York Mets, will have to start working on offseason contracts. Harvey retired the first 12 batters he faced before hitting Anthony Rizzo with a pitch leading off that frame.

The Mets jumped in front 1-0 in the first. “Hopefully, we can do this two more times”, outfielder Michael Cuddyer said. The Cubs have a chance in this series, but keep in mind it will not be warm in New York for Games One and Two, therefore the ball won’t fly. While few if any of the Cubs or Mets players were even born then, it is still another headline to talk about. No Cubs pitcher has won three games in one postseason.

Murphy also scored the tying run in the fourth, taking advantage of a defensive lapse by the Dodgers, and drove in New York’s first run.