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The Chicago Cubs dropped the first two games of their NLCS matchup with the New York Mets in Citi Field, but skipper Joe Maddon told reporters on Monday that no one was panicking just yet when asked if there any sense of desperation among his players. The focus, Maddon said, was on winning Game 3.
"I just rather attempt to go out and win tomorrow's game, that's it," Maddon explained.
"I don't want them to think about it in any other way, shape or form. It's about Tuesday. Again, I've been kind of repeating the same mantra the whole way through, we need to put together several one-game winning streaks. If we keep it one game at a time, we've a good shot of doing it.
"If you want to get into that result-oriented method of thinking, it's not going to play. So for me, for us, I'm really happy our guys have adopted that method.
"We'll come out tomorrow, we'll be ready to play. Our guys are always ready to play. Their prep is great.
"The camaraderie among the group cannot be better. It's impossible. So we'll go out and play tomorrow, and the expectation is to win one game at a time."
The Cubs took all seven regular season matchups with the Mets before dropping the first two games of their best-of-seven series.
In spite of the fact that they took a 2-0 lead and have Jacob deGrom on the mound tonight, opposite the Cubs' Kyle Hendricks, Mets' manager Terry Collins said his team would take nothing for granted.
"They don't get too far ahead of themselves," Collins told reporters.
"And I think that's why we've been as resilient as we have. When we've had an ugly game or lost three or four in a row, we don't get caught up in anything except for the next game, be it tonight or tomorrow or anything else.
"So they are certainly aware that we're coming to a different park. The Cubs play very well here. We haven't won a game here in two years, so we understand that it's going to be certainly a different atmosphere.
"But I don't think they get caught up in anything except trying to do what they do best, and that is go out and play the game right."
Game 3 of the NLCS gets started at 8:00 PM in Chicago...
Hendricks vs the Mets:
| Mets | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP | missG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lucas Duda | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .500 | .667 | 1.250 | 1.917 | |||||||||
| Curtis Granderson | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .167 | .333 | |||||||||||
| Daniel Murphy | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .167 | .167 | .333 | .500 | ||||||||||
| Juan Lagares | 5 | 5 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |||||||||||||
| Wilmer Flores | 4 | 4 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |||||||||||||
| Travis d'Arnaud | 3 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |||||||||||||
| Kelly Johnson | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | ||||||||||
| Jon Niese | 3 | 3 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | ||||||||||||
| David Wright | 3 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | |||||||||||||
| Michael Cuddyer | 2 | 2 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | ||||||||||||
| Kevin Plawecki | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .500 | .500 | 1.000 | |||||||||||
| Total | 43 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | .150 | .190 | .250 | .440 |
deGrom vs the Cubs:
| Cubs | PA | AB | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | SH | SF | IBB | HBP | GDP | missG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starlin Castro | 9 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .250 | .333 | .250 | .583 | ||||||||||
| Anthony Rizzo | 9 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .667 | 1.000 | |||||||||
| Chris Coghlan | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | .250 | .500 | .250 | .750 | ||||||||||
| Tommy La Stella | 5 | 5 | 3 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | ||||||||||||
| Kris Bryant | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .667 | 2.000 | 2.667 | ||||||||
| Chris Denorfia | 3 | 3 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | ||||||||||||
| Dexter Fowler | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 1 | ||||||||||
| Miguel Montero | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .333 | .667 | |||||||||||
| Jorge Soler | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | .000 | .333 | .000 | .333 | |||||||||||
| Jake Arrieta | 2 | 2 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | ||||||||||||
| Jon Lester | 2 | 2 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | ||||||||||||
| David Ross | 2 | 1 | 1.000 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Travis Wood | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | .500 | .500 | 2.000 | 2.500 | ||||||||||
| Total | 52 | 43 | 11 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 11 | .256 | .373 | .465 | .838 | 1 | 1 | 1 |