Maddon says he owes Chapman 'really nice steak dinner'
Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is fond of talking about his days in the minor leagues. That's where baseball foundations are made.
Maddon brought a little of that into Thursday night's 4-3, 11-inning victory over the Cardinals at Wrigley Field.
Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman, known for his 100-plus-fastball and frequent strikeouts, recorded a 1-2-3 ninth inning on three pitches, getting a pair of lineouts and a groundout.
The three-pitch inning brought with it a reward.
"He gets a steak dinner for that. When you're in the minor leagues, you actually give a pitcher a steak dinner for a four-pitch inning. Normally, if the first two are outs, the hitter normally takes a pitch. You try within four pitches to get three outs, and you get a steak dinner. He got it in three, so I've got make it a really good steak dinner.
"He did not have any idea what I was talking about. I said, 'You have a steak dinner.' He wanted to go pitch again. I said, 'No, no, that's it, you're done. I'm going to owe you a steak dinner because you got three outs on three pitches.' So I tried to have (catcher Miguel) Montero have him understand that."
On Friday morning, Maddon said he's probably get Chapman a gift certificate.
Paying it back:
All eyes were on Cardinals pitchers Friday and whether they might hit a Cubs batter in retaliation for the Cubs' Mike Montgomery hitting Matt Holliday Thursday night and putting him out for the season with a broken thumb.
The Cubs said the hit-by-pitch was accidental.
"That's an absolute accident," Joe Maddon said. "It (retaliation) just depends on your philosophy within, how you've been raised, what you think is the right way to do things. We all have different parents, so some people react to situations one way and some others just based on your parenting. For me, truthfully, if that had happened to us, there's no reason to, it's purely an accident. You know when something is intentionally done or not. So it really comes down to parenting."
The Cubs' Matt Szczur was hit in Friday's second inning by Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, but it did not look intentional. Chris Coghlan was hit by reliever Jerome Williams in the seventh, but he trotted to first base without incident.
Bringing back Legion week:
Joe Maddon said he'll bring back his American Legion week next week. During Legion week, players show up closer to gametime and don't put themselves through a lot of pregame work. The idea is to enjoy the game and stay fresh.
Maddon hasn't had to do much to loosen up his players, who are on a run of success.
"I've been pretty boring lately, and I kind of like that," he said. "My routine has been really good. I really do try to stay out of the way. You can just tell by the conversations. Their confidence is up. They don't need to be patted on the back as much. I've always felt that I could only screw them up right now by talking to them."
Welcome back:
Pitcher Trevor Cahill arrived at Wrigley Field Friday. Cahill has been rehabbing a knee injury at Class AAA Iowa. He is tentatively scheduled to pitch in one of the games Tuesday in the day-night doubleheader against Milwaukee. The Cubs have not yet activated him. Joe Maddon said it's also possible lefty reliever Mike Montgomery could start.
"I haven't see him yet," Joe Maddon said of Cahill. "I've just heard about it. I've heard there's been a sighting. We're not ready to announce anything yet. He might have gotten lost. He was driving around Chicago, might have gotten lost, saw Wrigley Field. Maybe he wanted to see a major-league baseball game. I'm not prepared to talk about it yet. I was surprised he was here."