Seventh win in a row has Chicago Cubs, fans buzzing
There's a nice heady buzz going around Wrigley Field these days, and it has nothing to do with $9 drafts.
First-round draft picks? Now we're talking.
Your Chicago Cubs are on a winning run here as they head to the South Side for a big weekend series against the White Sox.
Their 9-2 victory Thursday over the Milwaukee Brewers gave them a sweep of the three game series and extended their winning streak to seven games overall. The Cubs have won 13 of their last 14 and have a record of 65-48.
Yes, there is a lot of baseball left to play even as the young Cubs close in on the Pittsburgh Pirates and the top wild-card spot in the National League.
But these players seem to be enjoying themselves and feeling heady without getting too full of themselves.
“I don't see 'full of ourselves' at all,” said manager Joe Maddon, who sets the tone for just about everything around these parts. “I just see ready to play. You look at these guys. Nobody's out there feeling like they have anything wrapped up. They come to play every day, the guys do, and the veterans will not permit them to not have that kind of appearance.
“It's a nice mix right now. The vibe's good. We got to keep it going. What can I say, man? We're playing well. We're pitching it, catching it, getting some knocks. We're playing well.”
The Cubs battered the Brewers around pretty good on a day when the wind finally blew out, at 14 mph out of the southwest.
That helped a barrage of home runs in the fifth inning, when Dexter Fowler hit a 2-run shot, followed by a big blast from rookie Kyle Schwarber. One out later, old hand Anthony Rizzo — at all of 26 years old — belted one to center field for his team-leading 22nd of the year.
For good measure, Schwarber added a 2-run homer in the seventh, and Chris Denorfia got into the act in the eighth.
“Right now, it feels like we're in a playoff game every day,” said Schwarber, the Cubs' first-round draft pick last year and a kid who has all of 31 games of big-league experience. “That's the mindset that we need to have, that we're playing in the playoffs every day and there's no breaks. We're playing like that right now. And we've got to continue to play like that.”
Veteran pitcher Jon Lester has been through a few playoff chases. He evened his record at 8-8 with a 3.21 ERA. One of the reasons the Cubs gave Lester a six-year, $155 million contract last winter was to provide leadership in addition to solid starts.
He likes what he sees from the kids.
“It's good to see how these guys have developed and really kind of come into their own, not letting the stage get too big for them,” Lester said. “They're just having fun playing baseball, and it's been kind of a breath of fresh air for me to be around these younger guys and see how they go about their business.”
That's not to say it's been all happiness and light. Maddon, the master motivator, twice has ruffled the feathers of veteran pitcher Jason Hammel by pulling him from games more quickly than Hammel would have liked. But Maddon says the creative tension is OK as long as it's not destructive.
“That's going to happen all the time,” he said. “Every good team I've ever been around, you're going to have that. You can't keep everybody happy every moment of every day. And that's OK. It's a good thing because he (Hammel) is such a competitive fella. I know, as we move this thing forward, he's going to play really big for us down the stretch.
“I have no problem with any of that stuff. I'm used to it. It's part of the job. Part of the job is you have to do what you think is right on a nightly basis. You can't worry about hurting somebody's feelings a little bit. You just have to do what you think is right and then you move on.That's how it plays sometimes. I do think it's good for the group to have a little edge.”
• Follow Bruce's baseball reports on Twitter @BruceMiles2112.