Miguel Montero let his frustration show through on the first question he was asked, correcting a reporter that the winning run in Game 3 of the NLCS scored on a wild pitch, not a passed ball.
The veteran catcher spent almost 20 minutes at his locker answering question after question from reporters, but he wanted to ensure everybody understood that it wasn't just a simple mistake.
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With a runner on third and two outs in the sixth inning Tuesday, Cubs reliever Trevor Cahill struck out New York Mets rookie Michael Conforto on a curveball that bounced in the dirt.
Montero had just blocked the three previous pitches in the dirt, but couldn't keep that one in front of him, allowing what wound up becoming the game-winning run to score, striking a dagger through the heart of the Cubs, who went down three games to zero in the series with the loss.
"It's a tough one," Montero said. "It really hurts. I've blocked pitches like that many, many times and I didn't block that one. It really, really hurt.
"It was strike three. But you know what? It happens. Part of the game. You can't block every ball. I wish you could, but you can't. Nothing I can do. I can't change it.
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"It wasn't an easy block, but I gotta do a better job than that."
Cahill has spent the last few seasons working with Montero, dating back to their Arizona Diamondbacks days, and the big right-hander said he had all the confidence throwing that curveball in the dirt again.
"He blocks that 99 times out of 100," Cahill said.
A reporter also asked Joe Maddon after the game if it was a smart idea for Cahill to go back to that curveball in the dirt, and the Cubs manager had his answer all ready:
"It was [a smart idea] because he struck him out," Maddon said. "So it was actually a pretty good pitch. Miggy's able to block that ball a lot, and he was very upset with himself.
"It's not an easy play, but it's a play that a catcher can make and he knows that. So, actually, it played well, we just didn't block the ball."
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The Mets wound up tacking on two more runs on some suspect Cubs defense in the seventh inning, but it was that crucial dropped third strike that wound up being a major point of discussion after the game.
Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes really made that dropped third strike a key play by getting a huge jump off Cahill and stealing third the batter before.
"It seems so easy from the outside," Montero said. "'Oh yeah, you gotta block that ball.' I know I gotta block it, but it's not as easy as it looks.
"I mean, it hurts. How many blocks did I have before that? That one went by and it really, really bothered me."