Maddon still pleased after 'intense' loss to Giants
Even when the Cubs come up empty, manager Joe Maddon sees the glass as half full - at least.
The Cubs suffered some spillage on the basepaths and in the field Saturday as they lost 3-2 to the San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field, snapping their winning streak at five games.
It was an odd and at times sloppy game, but Maddon professed to having enjoyed the show. He can do that with a team sporting an 87-48 record.
"Intense game, it was a great game," he said. "You can nitpick it all you want. I loved that game. That's very similar to a playoff situation. Things don't always go right or according to plan."
From the first through the ninth innings, things were interesting in this battle of Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta and Giants lefty Madison Bumgarner.
To wit:
• The Giants scored a run in the first on a throwing error by third baseman Tommy La Stella, a late addition to the lineup.
• In the fourth, the Giants got a 2-out run after Joe Panik singled. A wild pitch and a passed ball moved Panik to third, and he scored on a single by Eduardo Nunez.
• Javier Baez's endless hustle got the Cubs a run in the fifth when he scored from second on Arrieta's infield hit toward third. When I asked Baez if he had an "OFF" switch, he replied: "I'm on all the time."
• Things got messy for the Cubs in the top of the sixth when Brandon Crawford singled with one out and stole second base as Panik struck out. Crawford then was able to steal third uncontested when Arrieta still had the ball. He scored on a wild pitch.
• In the bottom of the ninth, Anthony Rizzo - who had most of the day off - walked to lead off. Dexter Fowler sacrificed down the third-base line, but Rizzo was tagged out running past second base. Kris Bryant popped out to end the game.
"I thought I saw third open," Rizzo said. "Posey (Giants catcher Buster) Posey made a good dash there at the end, and I just got frozen."
The only play that seemed to bother Maddon was allowing Crawford to take third base unchallenged.
"I think the one thing you'd like to get back is Crawford going to third base unencumbered," he said. "That would be the one play. But otherwise, things are going to happen. You're going to have wild pitch or a passed ball. Rizzo's trying to be aggressive there, of course. You'd rather that he had not, but he did. That definitely had an impact, possibly, at the end.
"But I loved the intensity and the passion of the game. Why not? If we play with that kind of heart every night, I will take it every day of the year."
Baez had moved from second base to third for the top of the sixth. He was shifted over to the right on the Crawford play, but the Cubs said that didn't matter.
"Actually, I had him the whole time because he tried like two pitches before that," Baez said. "We have that play with (pitcher) Jon Lester to step off and throw it to the bag. I was there. I think he had two strikes. The fans were very loud, so Jake didn't hear me. I had him the whole time."
As for the ace pitchers, each lasted 6 innings, with Bumgarner improving to 14-8 with a 2.51 ERA and Arrieta falling to 16-6 with a 2.84 ERA.
Each starter threw 103 pitches, with Arrieta giving up 4 hits while walking two and striking out seven. Even with his record and sub-3.00 ERA, Arrieta may be the most scrutinized pitcher in the game, largely because it's tough to duplicate the Cy Young season he enjoyed last year.
"I hear it, but that doesn't affect my play," he said. "The mindset is the same. The objective is the same, just to execute a game plan and keep our team in the game and ultimately win the game. For me, the outing was average, but still good enough to keep us in the game. We just came up a little short, that's all.
"We're a really good team, so I like us against anybody."
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