Well, the Cubs are down 2-0 in the series. Pretty disappointing. It is not impossible to come back, nor are such comebacks that rare, but still, it is not the position I expected to see after two games.
Game 2 was pretty much decided in the first inning, when Arrieta was not sharp and the Mets rode the first three hitters to a 3-0 lead. Granderson and Murphy have been carrying their team all through the playoffs and they continued to do so Sunday not, both at the plate and in the field.
Hard stuff dominates hitters under cold conditions, and it was no different in Game 2. Once the Cubs fell behind in the first inning, they appeared to be pressing. They did run up Syndergaard's pitch count, but their pitch selection wasn't all that great and the ump was giving him a lot of leeway on the outside corner.
Arrieta did not pitch that badly after the first three hitters, giving up only one run over the next five innings, but the damage was done. Psychologically, especially with a very young team, falling behind early is a big deal. It really changes hitters approach in big games, or at least it seemed to do so Sunday night.
The series comes back to Chicago Tuesday night. The weather forecast is pretty good for late October, so these games are likely to resemble games played under baseball conditions rather than football. This favors the Cubs in general, especially with the fans behind them.
The matchups for the next two games, however, do not necessarily favor the Cubs. They will send one capable pitcher and one pitcher who is awful against one very good pitcher and one capable pitcher.
Should the Cubs lose Tuesday, they are going to have to think about bringing back Lester on short rest rather than start Hammel in an elimination game. Sobering stuff.
As far as the offense goes, over the first two games, no one has been that hot in the sense that Granderson and Murphy have been. A lot of balls have been hit hard right at someone, but this isn't really an excuse. The one big disappointment has been Rizzo, who looks all out of sync and seems to be swinging at bad pitches more consistently than the rest of the team and going for the long ball every time.
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