Chicago Cubs not worried after getting swept
LOS ANGELES — Various members of the Chicago Cubs had the same response to the expected fan backlash over a sluggish start to the season.
We've reached the traditional Memorial Day milepost, and the Cubs are an underwhelming 25-24.
Even in Sunday's bright California sunshine, the holiday weekend was on its way to being a complete washout. The Cubs fell 9-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who swept this three-game series.
Making it worse for the Cubs was that they knocked Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw out of the game after just 4⅓ innings. But Cubs ace Jon Lester made it through only 3⅓, as he gave up 6 runs on a pair of 3-run homers.
So let the panic ensue.
“Oh, please, go ahead and freak out,” manager Joe Maddon said with a smile. “If you want to freak out, freak out.”
Third baseman Kris Bryant had a similar response.
“Sweet,” he said. “We're not panicking. Everybody has their thoughts. I guess it's just natural, just as humans. Even baseball players, when something bad happens, sometimes we speed it up and it ends up compiling on the things, and it just gets worse. There's none of that here.
“I don't see any reason to worry, especially given what we did last year. You can't really take anything for granted, I guess.”
Of course, what the Cubs did last year was win the World Series, including beating the Dodgers in the National League championship series.
This current bunch of Dodgers outscored these Cubs 18-4 in the series. All credit to the Dodgers, but the Cubs haven't been doing much to help themselves.
They rallied from a 6-1 deficit to chase Kershaw and make it a 6-4 game in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Javier Baez and a 2-run blast by Anthony Rizzo. Willson Contreras earlier hit a solo homer.
But the Cubs also left 11 men on base and were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They haven't had a run-scoring hit that has not been a home run since a week ago Sunday. The bulk of the scoring has come via the longball, with the odd sacrifice fly or run-scoring error tossed in.
On Sunday, the Cubs had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, but Baez had an undisciplined at-bat and struck out before Bryant struck out to end the threat.
“We've got to score the runner from third with less than two outs with something other than a home run,” Maddon said. “We're just hitting home runs to score runs. We have to become more efficient at just moving the baseball. I've been talking about it for three years now. I think that's a malady that not only afflicts us but also other teams.
“Young hitters, you have to get to the point where you move the baseball and make adjustments, middle of the field, opposite field. Get the home run out of your head. If it happens, it happens.”
Lester was coming off a complete-game victory in his previous start. He allowed a 3-run homer to Cody Bellinger in the second and another to Kiké Hernandez in the third.
Lester said he's not worried about the Cubs going on a big run.
“We just have to play,” said Lester, who fell to 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA. “You can't worry about a run. You can't worry about showing up and trying to go 9 before you throw a first pitch. You can't worry about trying to go 3-for-4 before your first at-bat. Worry about today. Obviously today's over but tomorrow we'll show up and worry about a task at hand.
“You can't worry about a run. You can't make runs happen. You can't make anything happen in this game. Sometimes it's better to kind of sit back and let things come to you. You're not pressing. You're not grinding. You're not doing things you don't need to be doing.
“We've got a good team. It's just a matter of showing up day in and day out and putting the work in. It'll come. It'll click. We've had spurts, and that's been great. We just have to worry about, first, tomorrow and go from there.”
Scouting report
Cubs vs. San Diego Padres at Petco Park
TV: ABC 7 Monday; Comcast SportsNet Plus Tuesday; WGN Wednesday
Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Pitching matchups: The Cubs' Kyle Hendricks (4-2) vs. Jarred Cosart (0-1) Monday at 3:40 p.m.; Eddie Butler (2-0) vs. Dinelson Lamet (1-0) Tuesday at 9:10 p.m.; Jake Arrieta (5-4) vs. Luis Perdomo (0-2) Wednesday at 2:40 p.m.
At a glance: The Padres are buried in last place in the NL West. They entered Sunday with a run differential of minus-68, worst in the league. Wil Myers entered Sunday leading the Padres with a .265 batting average. His full line was .265/.315/.510, with 11 homers and 29 RBI. Yangervis Solarte entered the day as the top OBP man, at .328. Former Cubs pitchers Clayton Richard and Trevor Cahill are on the Padres. Richard's 4.33 ERA is best on the team among qualifiers. Cahill is on the DL. Outfielder Matt Szczur, traded the Cubs to the Padres in early May, is at .214/.308/.321. The Padres were last in the NL in OBP and 14th in ERA entering Sunday.
Next: St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field, Friday-Sunday
— Bruce Miles