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Cubs, Mets Notes; Blue Jays Blast Royals, Trim Series To 2-1

>>Mets Send deGrom To Hill Looking For 3-0 Lead Against Cubs

Kris Bryant, Kyle Schwarber and Jason Hammel played hacky sack with a baseball, and manager Joe Maddon chatted amiably with his players and staff as he made his way around Wrigley Field on Monday afternoon.

 width=Down 2-0 to the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series, the Chicago Cubs are sticking with what worked for them during a breakthrough season.

It might not matter if the Mets continue to pitch as well as they did in New York. Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard shut down Chicago's powerful lineup in the first two games of the series, putting New York in an ideal position to make it to the World Series for the first time in 15 years - a quaint little drought compared to the Cubs' seven mostly empty decades since they last played in the Fall Classic.

According to STATS, the winner of the first two games of a best-of-seven series in the baseball playoffs has advanced 83 percent (63 of 76) of the time, and the Mets have Jacob deGrom heading to the mound for Game 3 on Tuesday night.

DeGrom is coming off a pair of impressive victories in the NL Division Series, albeit for different reasons.

The 27-year-old was dominant in Game 1 at Los Angeles, striking out 13 while pitching seven scoreless innings in New York's 3-1 win. Then he came back for Game 5 and worked six effective innings despite not having his best stuff.

The Game 3 starter for Chicago, is more dependent on location for his success. The Dartmouth graduate threw six shutout innings in each of his last two starts of the season, but was yanked in the fifth inning of his Game 2 start at St. Louis in the division series.

Job No. 1 for Hendricks against New York is stopping Daniel Murphy, who is one away from matching Carlos Beltran's record of homering in five straight postseason games.

 width=>>Mets Say Swelling in Harvey's Right Shoulder Is Concern

A scary moment for right-hander Matt Harvey during Game 1 of the NLCS has become a lingering source of concern for the New York Mets. And it's got nothing to do with innings limits or Harvey's status as a post-op Tommy John patient.

Harvey struck out nine, allowing two runs and four hits over 7 2/3 innings in New York's 4-2 victory, but was hit on his right arm by a Dexter Fowler line-drive in the top of the sixth inning. Harvey recovered nicely to throw out Fowler at first base and stayed in the game for 10 more batters. Harvey said afterward that he "felt fine" but also that the ball "dented" his arm in the tricep.

Two days later, continued swelling in the area has the Mets making backup plans if, for any reason, Harvey doesn't feel ready to go for a potential Game 5 on Wednesday. They lead the Cubs 2-0 in the best-of-7 series.

Manager Terry Collins described Harvey as being "pretty sore and pretty swelled up" at a press conference before the Mets worked out at Wrigley Field late Monday afternoon. He also suggested that Bartolo Colon and Jonathan Niese should be standing by, just in case:

Harvey has a 2.84 ERA in two playoff starts after going 13-8 with a 2.71 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 189 1/3 innings during the regular season.

The 202 innings Harvey has logged is the fifth-most ever in a season for a pitcher coming back from Tommy John. John Lackey has worked the most post-TJ innings -- 215 1/3 -- in 2013.

>>Blue Jays Survive Late Kansas City Comeback, Trim Series To 2-1

Troy Tulowitzki and Josh Donaldson each homered in a six-run third inning, and Toronto's bats broke out at home for an 11-8 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Monday night that trimmed the Blue Jays' deficit to 2-1 in the AL Championship Series.

Ryan Goins also connected and had a two-run single, one game after his misplayed pop fly set off Kansas City's winning rally Sunday.

Veteran knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will try to get the Blue Jays even in the best-of-seven series Tuesday afternoon. He faces Kansas City's 6-foot-10 right-hander Chris Young in Game 4.

In the first ALCS game in Toronto since 1993, Tulowitzki connected for a three-run shot off Johnny Cueto, and Donaldson hit a two-run drive off Kris Medlen as the Blue Jays hit their first home runs of the series.

Cueto failed to retire a batter in the third inning, allowing eight runs and six hits in the worst postseason start of his career.

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