Murphy homers off Arrieta in first

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Daniel Murphy homered off yet another ace. Noah Syndergaard turned in one more outstanding outing from the Mets’ collection of studly young starters.

Power, pitching, plus some dazzling defense are falling into place for New York. The Mets breezed past the Chicago Cubs 4-1 Sunday night for a 2-0 lead in a surprisingly one-sided NL Championship Series.

Jake Arrieta, baseball’s most dominant pitcher since the All-Star break, had not even settled in when Murphy homered for the fourth straight game, a two-run drive just inside the right-field pole in a three-run first inning.

Given the quick lead on a chilly night, Syndergaard kept the bats of Chicago’s young sluggers on ice with shutout ball into the sixth inning.

Curtis Granderson robbed Chris Coghlan of a likely home run with a leaping grab at the center-field wall, swiped a pair of bases and scored two runs for the Mets.

After beating Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke, Jon Lester and Arrieta, the Mets are two wins from reaching their first World Series since 2000.

New York starts NL Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom when the series resumes Tuesday night at Wrigley Field.

Chicago goes with Kyle Hendricks, part of the less-than-imposing back end of its rotation. If the long-downtrodden Cubs are to reach the World Series for the first time since 1945, they must first force the best-of-seven NLCS back to Citi Field next weekend.

After homering off Kershaw, Greinke and Lester, Murphy added his fifth home run of the postseason, giving him eight RBIs in seven games.

Long, blond locks flowing out the back of his cap, Syndergaard seems to be taking on a bit of the cockiness of Game 1 winner Matt Harvey. He gained the nickname Thor — the Norse god known for his fierce storms — after he tweeted a photo of himself in costume doing squats on Halloween two years ago.