CHICAGO -- So how can the Chicago Cubs get back into their National League Championship Series with the New York Mets? Neutralizing the hottest player in baseball would be a good place to start.

"This is as hot as I can remember a hitter," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said Monday of Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy. "The guys he's doing it against are the best in the game. We have to slow him down. There's no other way around it."

Murphy is on a playoff tear, having homered in four consecutive games and five overall this postseason. He set the tone for the Mets in both Games 1 and 2, hitting first-inning home runs off Jon Lester and Jake Arrieta, respectively. Just days earlier he took Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw deep in helping the Mets to a division-series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 30-year-old Murphy been unstoppable.

"The guy is just really seeing the ball well," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said. "He knows what he's doing at the plate. I think he definitely is premeditated what he'd like to do. He's very good about not missing his pitch when he sees it. I know the ball has to look like at least a softball right now, at least, maybe more to the beach-ball variety."

Murphy has hit a variety of pitches out of the park, from fastballs to cutters to a curveball down at his shoes that he crushed off of Arrieta to give the Mets what proved to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead in the first inning of Game 2. He's also hitting balls which have landed inside the playing field, producing a .357 batting average and a seven-game postseason hitting streak.

"He's locked in," catcher David Ross said. "We're going to put ourselves in the best scenario to win whether that's pitch to him or pitch around him."

So what should the Cubs do? It's not as if Arrieta gave Murphy the ball on a platter. Pitching around him is easier said than done unless the Cubs just intentionally walk him, as they did later in Game 2. That means facing Yoenis Cespedes, also not an easy task.

"Sometimes the best thing to do is pick your spots," said right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who gets the Game 3 start Tuesday night at Wrigley Field with the Cubs trailing 2-0 in the series. "See when guys are on base, when they're not, when you can pitch around him. Regardless, when he comes up, you've definitely got to be careful. You can't make any mistakes with him."

Hendricks is a sinker/changeup pitcher, and after seeing what Murphy did to Arrieta's curveball, Hendricks' game plan is simply to keep the ball away.

"That one yesterday [Sunday] was down, but it was coming towards [him] and he just got to it. So hopefully I can stay on the edges more and keep it down with him."

The Cubs haven't faced a hitter this hot the entire season. Murphy is changing the complexion of the playoffs in a way few have done in the postseason. He's halfway to almost single-handedly winning two playoff series for the Mets. Can he be stopped?

"He's obviously feeling sexy right now," Ross said. "We're going to try and change that."