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Levine: Cubs' Jon Lester 'Feeds Off' Dodgers' Mind Games, Big Stage

By Bruce Levine--

LOS ANGELES (CBS) -- A proven big-game pitcher, Cubs left-hander Jon Lester found the right formula going into his start in the pivotal Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday evening.

With the advice of his manager and catcher looming large as the opposing Dodgers tried to play mind games to disrupt his rhythm, Lester fired seven innings of one-run ball to earn the win in Chicago's 8-4 win in Dodger Stadium, which gave the Cubs a 3-2 series lead.

"We told him to concentrate on throwing the ball to home plate," Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, in reference to the Dodgers taking huge leads on the pitcher who hates throwing to the bases.

"That is the one thing I tried to convince Jon of from spring training on. I told him everybody is worried about you throwing to first base. So are you. Everybody is worried about a bunt, and so are you. I said to him, The one thing you do better than any pitcher is throw the ball to the plate. Let's concentrate on that.'"

Maddon wanted the concentration of Lester to be on something positive, and the point was taken. When the Dodgers tried to psych out Lester with a bunt by Joc Pederson in the second inning, Lester fielded it and threw an ugly one-hopper to first for the out. He shot a quick glare toward the Los Angeles dugout, then kept the dynamic and focus between himself and catcher David Ross the rest of the night.

"I tried to keep him focused on the positive," Ross said. "We have been doing this together for a long while now. We try to keep things in perspective and find out where his focus is. My job is to help him out there focus on the right thing. We have a really good defense behind them. There has been a lot thrown at us all year. So we were prepared for it all tonight. He just needed to make his pitches, and he did a great job of that."

Lester allowed five hits and one walk while striking out six. The Dodgers stole two bases, one of which helped plate their first run of the night, but all in all, Lester stayed in control.

He's now 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in three postseason starts this year.

"There is always plotting going on," Maddon said. "Like I said before the game, the most important thing is that Jon throws the ball well to home plate. Why would I want him to get caught up in minutiae of everything else. I tell him always to do what you do best. Why would I want him to get mentally infiltrated with trying to hold runners? In the end, we were happy the way he just went out and pitched."

Lester is now the only pitcher in postseason history to go 3-0 in Game 5s of series that were tied 2-2. He's going to continue to stick with what's worked.

"We had been dealing with that stuff (trying to rattle Lester) all year," Ross said. "He feeds off of that emotion and understands they are trying to attack his weakness. At the same time, they also gave us a lot of easy outs. I really think Jon feeds off of it."

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.

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