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Curse of the Billy Goat 'Murphy' — who shares a name with Mets second baseman — still haunting championship-hunting Cubs.

While most every baseball fan knows the tale of the Curse of the Billy Goat, few realize the goat in question was actually named Murphy.

This year, the championship-hunting Cubs need to bag a pair of Murphy's.

There’s an old nemesis — Murphy, the infamous goat blamed for the curse of the Cubbies and a World Series drought dating to 1908.

And there’s a new tormentor — Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy, whose clutch play with the bat and on the bases propelled the Amazin’s into the National League Championship Series against the Cubs beginning Saturday.

Their shared Irish surname sent a shiver down the spine of Bill Sianis, whose great uncle Billy Sianis laid the enduring hex on the Cubs during the 1945 World Series after owner P.K. Wrigley banned the goat from his ballpark.

In 1984, the Cubs came tantalizingly close to the World Series for the first time in nearly four decades. They took the first two games of the NLCS, clobbering the Padres 13-0 in Game 1, and went to San Diego needing just one win to clinch the pennant.

It didn’t happen, as they lost all three games at Jack Murphy Stadium.

When Chicago won back-to-back World Series in 1907 and 1908 — still their only titles — Charles Murphy was the team’s co-owner.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/murphy-curse-haunting-cubs-article-1.2401124