Cubs Hope Recent Trend Holds After Eliminating Cardinals

No doubt, you reveled in each and every home run that a Cubs player hit during the wild-card game against the Pirates, as well as in the division-series win over the Cardinals.

“They had two lefties that made us pay, and that really is the difference in the game”, Matheny said. “We’re feeling pretty good about ourselves right now. I can’t even put it into words”. The Cubs will play the victor of the Mets-Dodgers series, which will be decided by a Game 5 on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

The Cubs, founded in 1870, have not won a World Series since 1908.

Hopes are building that this will finally be the season when the jinx ends, although there was late drama to be endured.

With two runners on base and two outs in the second inning, Cubs manager Joe Maddon left starting pitcher Jason Hammel in to hit, and Hammel knocked Lackey’s first pitch up the middle for an RBI single. They just compete constantly, so to come out on top you feel a bit fortunate but I want to congratulate them on a 100-win season.

Before this season, the Cubs hadn’t reached the NLCS since 2003, when they lost to the Florida Marlins in a tight seven-game series.

Cubs fans are paying top dollar to watch their team try to make it to the World Series for the first time since 1945. Their magical playoff run continues to rally our city and bring out the true spirit of Chicago. The Mets took a 2-1 lead into Game 4 Tuesday night.

Reliever Kevin Siegrist gave up three of the long balls in the series in just three innings.

St. Louis equalized in the sixth after Jason Heyward and Jhonny Peralta hit back-to-back singles.

With both teams going to their bullpen early in this one, it seemed like the Cardinals would have the advantage as their bullpen was the best in the majors this year, but that turned out to not be the case in this one.

“The whole group showed great composure”, said Maddon.

St. Louis scored two in the sixth to tie it. But the rally ended with Tony Cruz – who drove in a run with a two-out double – getting thrown out at home by Jorge Soler trying to score on Brandon Moss’ RBI single to right.

Daniel Murphy homered to right field in the fourth, but the Mets were unable to add to that.

Los Angeles ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw struck out eight on three days of rest for the victory after losing five playoff decisions in a row.

“I definitely think the ballpark had something to do with this”, said Lackey, noting the Wrigley “friendly confines” factor. It’s not just 23-year-old Rookie of the Year favorite Kris Bryant and 26-year-old two-time All-Star Anthony Rizzo and 22-year-old obliterator of baseballs Kyle Schwarber.