Chicago Cubs' Arrieta still on fire
Jake Arrieta is soaring through some rarefied air these days.
And here's the scary part.
"I don't know how good I can be; that's what I'm trying to figure out," he said Saturday after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 before 40,690 fans at Wrigley Field. "That's what I do every day between starts to prepare myself as best as possible to go out there and see what the results are."
The results can't get much better for Arrieta.
One start after pitching a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium, Arrieta worked 8 shutout innings against the Diamondbacks, giving up 4 hits while walking none and striking out seven.
He improved to 18-6 with an earned run average of 2.03. Arrieta leads the major leagues in victories, and the quality start was his 15th in a row, the most for a Cubs pitcher since Lon Warneke (17 straight) in 1933. Since June 21, the only time Arrieta lost was when Cole Hamels of the Phillies no-hit the Cubs on July 25.
In his last 14 starts, Arrieta has gone 12-1 with an 0.99 ERA.
Although he might get aced out in the Cy Young voting by the Dodgers' Zack Greinke and/or Clayton Kershaw, Arrieta is right there with them.
"It's as good as you're going to get on the major-league level," said Cubs manager Joe Maddon, whose team is 77-57. "Quality of pitches, durability, a guy that absolutely takes care of himself, not that other guys don't, but the way he gets after it training-wise for those moments … it's a tribute to the way he works, and his mental preparation is outstanding."
The Cubs hold a solid grip on the second wild-card spot in the National League, and they've refrained from talking about individual awards, but Maddon was asked if his guy deserves consideration for the top pitcher in the league.
"Absolutely, he has to be," the manager said. "There are other really good pitchers in this league, and we just faced some of them. He's with them. He's right with them. Criteria involved, that's going to be subjective based on who's going to apply the votes, but when you break him down right now, I know it's his manager talking … there's going to be good competition. It's going to be interesting to watch.
"Several guys are deserving, but I think our guy is right at the top."
Arrieta faced very little danger Saturday. He threw 25 of his 116 pitches in the first inning and cruised after that. The Cubs got a run for him on catcher David Ross' RBI groundout in the fourth and Dexter Fowler's homer in the fifth.
He permitted himself to talk briefly about being mentioned in the same breath as the other Cy Young candidates when asked about it.
"It means you're doing something right," he said. "So yeah, it's a good thing. But at the end of the day, I've said time and time again, all that's great, but if we do things in the playoffs, that's an even greater sense of accomplishment as a team. That's really what we're all focused on. The other things just kind of happen, take care of themselves. Winning ballgames is really our most important task at hand."
The D'Backs were duly impressed.
"Very good, probably the most dominant guy we've faced all year," manager Chip Hale said. "We knew before going into it, looking at video, that his stuff was as good as anybody's in the league this year. He's obviously on a good run, ... and he's a horse. (He) went 8 innings, threw hundred-something pitches, those are the guys you look for. He was very impressive."
The guy who caught Arrieta thought he was pretty good, too.
"He's right at the top, with the best, as far as stuff goes," Ross said. "He's only going to get better. I got to work with him in spring training until now. He's a No. 1. He's got some of the best stuff in the game. I know that for a fact; I've had to hit off him before. Yeah, he's up there at the top with the group of guys I've been able to catch."
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