Maddon moving Rizzo around
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Saturday he made sure to check with an umpiring supervisor before using one of his signature plays the night before.
In Friday night's 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants in Game 1 of the National League division series, Maddon moved first baseman Anthony Rizzo in and over toward second base in the third inning with Conor Gillaspie on first and pitcher Johnny Cueto up.
Second baseman Javier Baez moved over to first base. Rizzo had to get a regular fielder's glove to play, in essence, shallow second base. Either way, things turned out OK for the Cubs as catcher David Ross picked Gillaspie off first base, throwing to Baez.
Lefty Jon Lester was on the mound for the Cubs, and he has had problems throwing to the bases. So the Cubs are doing what they can to negate other teams' running games, even if it means having first baseman Rizzo charge in from a different spot on an expected bunt play.
Maddon said he talked with umpire supervisor and former ump Randy Marsh.
"I wanted to get this out of the way before the game began, so we talked before the game," he said. "It's a really ambiguous rule. It's a semantic rule, the fact that the first baseman being the guy with the first baseman's glove, being the nearest man to first base. Thus, he gets to wear that glove because of the advantage of wearing the glove.
"For me, Rizzo is still the first baseman. I don't care where you put him. Just like (Kris) Bryant is still the third baseman when he goes in the slot (on the right side of the infield when the Cubs use a shift). Rizzo is still the first baseman when you have a shift on a right-handed hitter and he's playing 35 feet off the line. So it has something to do with the guy playing closest to first base.
"The argument is the guy with that particular glove has to be the guy closest to the first-base bag."
Of course, the Cubs can pull these plays off because they have such a good defense.
"Riz is fine with the other glove, and we're fine with the other glove," Maddon said. "I would imagine by next year there's going to be a more definitive definition of this.
"Riz doesn't mind standing 50 feet away from the hitter. You have to have somebody who doesn't mind doing that and a catcher like David (Ross), all of our catchers actually, especially with Jonny Lester, the different things we're able to do in an attempt to control the running game."
Using all three:
Joe Maddon says he'll attempt to get all three of his catchers at least one start in the NLDS. After David Ross started Game 1, rookie Willson Contreras was behind the plate for Kyle Hendricks' start Saturday night in Game 2.
It's possible left-handed hitting Miguel Montero will catch Jake Arrieta in Game 3 Monday at San Francisco, even though lefty Madison Bumgarner will pitch for the Giants.
"I like having Willson's athleticism out there, too," Maddon said. "I'm trying to use all of them. We'll see what happens on Monday with Bumgarner. We haven't decided that yet. Think of it in these terms with Bumgarner: Does it really matter if the (batter) is right- or left-handed? Does it really matter? So you just try to figure that out as best you can."
This and that:
The Cubs left for San Francisco after Saturday night's game while the Giants were not scheduled to leave until the morning. Both teams will work out Sunday at AT&T Park … The Cubs' Javier Baez on Friday became the 12th player to homer in a 1-0 postseason game and the third to do so in the team's final at-bat, according to Elias ... Historian Ed Hartig noted that Friday's 1-0 Cubs victory was the team's first 1-0 win in the postseason since the 1906 Cubs beat the White Sox in Game 4 of the World Series.