So what, Curtis Granderson couldn’t throw somebody out too? That was about the only way he didn’t torture the Cubs on Sunday when the Mets took a dominating 2-0 lead in the NLCS.
Granderson did it with his bat, with his glove, with his legs as the Mets beat the Cubs and Cy Young Award favorite Jake Arrieta, 4-1, in Game 2 at Citi Field.
Granderson started the assault leading off the first for the Mets against Arrieta and driving a single through the shift into right field. He promptly scored on a David Wright double. Before the celebrating of that score was done, the Mets added a two-run Daniel Murphy homer for a 3-0 lead, an uprising that started with Granderson’s hit.
“It’s very important to get out early as best you can, especially when you’re going up against guys like that. All the guys we’ve faced have been Cy Young-caliber, top-notch pitchers,” said Granderson who drove in two runs in the Mets’ Game 1 victory against Jon Lester Saturday.
But he was just getting started playing Kick The Cubbies.
In the second inning, the Cubs, down 3-0, arose in unison as Chris Coghlan drove a Noah Syndergaard pitch to deep right. Granderson went to the wall, timed his leap and reached above the orange line atop the wall to rob the homer.
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“A combination of things helped make that catch the way it was. One, you’ve got a team over there with the Cubs that drive the ball and hit the ball out of the ballpark so I’ve got to play deeper. We’ve got Noah, who’s a power pitcher,” Granderson said.
“Obviously you add that combination, some guys are going to hit the ball very far. I’m playing back to start.
“I didn’t have to go too far because the fence, I was there. I was able to time it up, reel it in. I didn’t have to jump too high, but I was able to bring it back,” said Granderson.
He might have ho-hummed it. But the joint went wild.
“It was huge. It was a great catch by Grandy,” said manager Terry Collins. “Both sides of the ball, you’ve got to play this game on both sides.”
He has. And on the running side too, which he added with a pair of stolen bases in the third. Granderson, who is 9-of-24 (.375) with seven RBIs and three runs scored in seven postseason games, walked and stole second. One out and an intentional walk to David Murphy later, he stole third and scored on Yoenis Cespedes’ single to deep short.
“It was one of the things that we had discussed before the game. If the opportunity presented itself, let’s see,” said Granderson. “But you obviously don’t want to run into outs there. Actually the stolen base from second to third, Murph actually was at first base going, ‘Go on the second pitch.”
He went. He made it. He eventually scored, showing just one more way to blister the Cubs.