Maddon refuses to second-guess bullpen moves
SAN FRANCISCO - During the regular season, Cubs manager Joe Maddon will say from time to time that it's difficult to win a major-league baseball game.
It's even harder to sweep a playoff series.
The Cubs found that out Monday night during their 6-5, 13-inning loss to the San Francisco Giants. That prevented the Cubs from sweeping the Giants in three games.
"Listen, the unrealistic expectation would have been to win 11 straight games," Maddon said. "Come on. One of the biggest points I did make in our meeting before the series began was, 'Listen, something's going to go wrong.' Trust me, it's going to go wrong, and we have to maintain our composure and stay in the present tense, and we did.
"We came back in that game last night. We tied up and had opportunities after that. I thought we handled the moment extremely well. I thought it was a real great growth moment for us as a group."
No second guesses:
Joe Maddon said he had no second-guesses of himself for the way he managed his bullpen Monday.
Lefty Travis Wood finished the seventh inning and began the eighth by giving up a single to Brandon Belt.
Maddon then brought in Hector Rondon, who walked Buster Posey. With the Cubs clinging to a 3-2 lead at the time, Maddon went to closer Aroldis Chapman for possible six-out save.
It didn't work out. After Chapman struck out Hunter Pence, Conor Gillaspie tripled to the gap in right-center. Brandon Crawford followed with a run-scoring single.
Maddon said Gillaspie hitting the ball that hard was "the one anomaly moment.
"I'm not denigrating him," he said of Gillaspie. "You could see a knock, but that ball was crushed. That's it. Other than that, no. We laid it out. I liked what he had laid out with Wood on Belt. And hopefully Ronny on Posey and Pence and then at least hopefully two outs by the time it got to Gillaspie. And Chappie's the guy to get four (outs). But it just didn't play out that way."
A little patience, please:
First baseman Anthony Rizzo entered Tuesday 0-for-13 in the NLDS.
He drew a walk his first time up Tuesday, and that's something Joe Maddon wants to see.
"I just think that he's got to be more patient," Maddon said.
"Make them come to him a little bit more. I think they've chosen to not really challenge him right now. Just stay in the zone. He's got to just accept his walks."
Cursing the curses:
Pitcher Jon Lester said neither he nor his teammates pay attention to anything like goat curses or jinxes that supposedly afflict the Cubs.
"It's what you make of it," he said. "If we make a mistake, we're not going to blame it on a curse or anything else like that. We're going to blame it on ourselves and be accountable for it and move on to the next play or the next moment.
"Plus, I think we got too many young guys in there that don't even know what that stuff is, you know what I mean?
"So, it's almost better to play naive and just go out and worry about us, worry about the Cubs and not anything else in the past or, like I said, any animals."