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          New York Mets

          Mets ace Matt Harvey gets Game 1 matchup against Cubs

          • Adam Rubin, ESPN Staff WriterOct 16, 2015, 06:36 AM
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              Adam Rubin has covered the Mets since 2003. He's a graduate of Mepham High School on Long Island and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He joined ESPNNewYork after spending 10 years at the New York Daily News.
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          LOS ANGELES -- Talk about an Amazin’ matchup: New York Mets ace Matt Harvey will start Game 1 of the National League Championship Series against Chicago Cubs left-hander Jon Lester on Saturday at 8:07 p.m. ET at Citi Field.

          “Huge honor. Huge honor,” Harvey said while getting doused with Champagne in a jubilant visitors’ clubhouse after the Mets ousted the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 3-2 win on Thursday. “I’m very excited about it. I was a little disappointed in my last start, so getting another chance to go back out there and start us off right is everything I wanted.”

          Harvey allowed three runs (two earned) on seven hits and two walks in five innings in an eventual 13-7 win against the Dodgers in Game 3 at Citi Field.

          “We’re all excited to get back home,” Harvey said. “I love pitching at Citi Field. This is obviously as far as we’ve gone and I’ve ever gone. The excitement is there. We have New York behind us.”

          The Mets and Cubs are widely viewed as up-and-coming teams by different means. Chicago has the young nucleus of position players (albeit with Cy Young candidate Jake Arrieta and Lester, too). The Mets have a staff of young aces.

          The Mets went 0-7 against the Cubs in the season series. But all those games were completed by July 2. In the last game between the teams, Darrell Ceciliani, Eric Campbell and Johnny Monell all started for the Mets.

          Since then, the Amazin’s have added Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe, Kelly Johnson, Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed via trade and promoted Michael Conforto from Double-A Binghamton. They also have David Wright back from injury. Uribe is likely out for the NLCS with a chest injury.

          “It’s a completely different team,” Harvey said. “We have a different mentality. We have a lot of different pieces. We have heart. We have drive. We’re not looking at what we did during the season. … It’s going to be tough for them to play at Citi Field, where it’s been rocking.”

          Said general manager Sandy Alderson: “The Cubs won 97. We won 90. And the difference in the two records was the 0-7 we had against the Cubs. This is a different team. The young pitching we have has a little more experience. The offense is better. But they’re a very good team. They have great pitching and an outstanding young lineup. It’s going to be a great series. We’re happy they’re on the way to New York.”