Ego checked, Hammel gets start for Cubs in Game 4 of NLDS
Over the long grind of the season, even the best teams have blowups.
Thanks the presence of first-year manager Joe Maddon and a bunch of young, loose players, the Chicago Cubs experienced very little turmoil this year.
When Starlin Castro lost his starting job at shortstop in early August, he could have slid off the tracks. Instead, he wound up making a smooth switch to second base.
Starting pitcher Jason Hammel was not happy about getting a quick hook from Maddon in back-to-back August starts, but just like Castro he settled down and carried on.
“You check your ego at the door,” Hammel said. “Sometimes, yeah, you feel like you can go further, and Joe and I addressed that a long time ago. It's something that's in the past. I don't really want to comment on it.”
Hammel gets the ball in Game 4 of the National League Division Series Tuesday at Wrigley Field, with a win moving the Cubs on to the NL Championship Series.
With so much on the line, the veteran right-hander might be pulled early again should he struggle against the St. Louis Cardinals. If so — and Hammel hasn't pitched past the sixth inning since July 3 — he should handle the early exit better.
“We got to this (point) because of the 25 guys and a few other guys that have helped us this year, and Joe making decisions when he had to make decisions,” Hammel said. “It's not my role to say, you know, I can do this. Obviously I feel like I can, but he's the manager for a reason. He's going to make a gut check or a call on what he thinks is going to be the right move, and I commend him for that. Obviously I'm going to disagree sometimes because I'm a competitor, but we've been winning. That's all that matters to me.”
Like Hammel, Maddon said the earlier friction has faded.
“What happen in the past, that has nothing to do with anything,” Maddon said. “Those are things that are going on in that particular moment. Those moments are done and gone and you move on from there. I know he's ready to play.”
Hammel was 10-7 with a 3.74 ERA this season, but after going 5-4 with a 2.86 ERA in the first half while getting an All-Star Game push from Maddon, the 33-year-old pitcher was 5-3 with a 5.10 ERA in the second half.
“When you're not going right, it's hard to kind of get out of your own way,” Hammel said. “But in those moments you kind of have to tease yourself and almost trick yourself into thinking you are really good, even when you're not performing to what you know you can do. I've been in the game long enough that I know if you beat yourself up, you're going to set yourself further back.
“I've had success in my career. I go back to the success I've had, go check out some video but not worry about it too much.”
In his final start of the regular season, against the Reds on Oct. 1, Hammel pitched 5 shutout innings to get the win.
“I was talking to him and know that he is ready for the moment,” Maddon said. “He feels very good about it. He thought he had a great pen (Sunday). It's all there. I feel very good about it, actually.”
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