http://chicago.suntimes.com/baseball/7/71/476817/cubs-say-enough-talent-enough-fight
<article id="post-476817" class="post-476817 cst_article type-cst_article status-publish hentry category-baseball category-cubs-baseball category-sports tag-andrew-mccutchen tag-anthony-rizzo tag-boston-red-sox tag-chicago-cubs-2 tag-joe-maddon tag-national-league-central-division tag-new-york-yankees tag-tampa-bay-rays pure-u-1" itemtype="http://schema.org/Article" itemscope="" data-archi-post-id="476817" data-archi-post-uri="/sports/7/71/476817/cubs-say-enough-talent-enough-fight" data-archi-post-title="Cubs say they have enough talent, but do they have enough fight?" data-archi-post-type="cst_article"><meta content="Cubs say they have enough talent, but do they have enough fight?" itemprop="name"><meta content="Cubs say they have enough talent, but do they have enough fight?" itemprop="headline"><meta content="" itemprop="description"><meta content="http://bullseye-prod.aggrego.org//wp-ag/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2015/03/Screen-Shot-2015-03-27-at-8.01.05-PM.png?o=eyJ3aWR0aCI6NTUzLCJoZWlnaHQiOjM1NywieCI6MC41LCJ5IjowLjV9&s=eOkm%2BZs6gihexBjgZm%2BLJlhFLOk%3D" itemprop="image"><meta content="http://bullseye-prod.aggrego.org//wp-ag/wp-content/uploads/sites/71/2015/03/Screen-Shot-2015-03-27-at-8.01.05-PM.png?o=eyJ3aWR0aCI6NjAwLCJoZWlnaHQiOjUwMCwieCI6MC41LCJ5IjowLjV9&s=b2Ps4busZY1dp9YtTRB2HORRz90%3D" itemprop="thumbnailUrl"><meta content="Sports" itemprop="articleSection"><meta content="http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/476817/cubs-say-enough-talent-enough-fight" itemprop="url"><meta content="Gordon Wittenmyer" itemprop="name"><meta content="" itemprop="jobTitle"><meta content="Sports" itemprop="genre"><meta content="Chicago Sun-Times" itemprop="publisher"><meta content="2015" itemprop="copyrightYear"><meta content="03/27/2015, 08:07pm" itemprop="dateCreated"><meta content="03/27/2015, 08:07pm" itemprop="dateModified"><meta content="03/27/2015, 08:07pm" itemprop="datePublished"><meta content="524" itemprop="wordcount"><meta content="0 UserComments" itemprop="interactionCount">
Sports
Cubs say they have enough talent, but do they have enough fight?
Posted: 03/27/2015, 08:07pm | Gordon Wittenmyer
Joe Maddon's Tampa Bay Rays brawl with Jon Lester's Boston Red Sox in June 2008 -- sparking the Rays to a 62-40 finish to a season that ended in the World Series
MESA, Ariz. – It may not be well recognized outside the Midwest, but the National League Central has produced five of the last seven NL MVPs, two of the last three NL home run champs, four of the last six league leaders in innings pitched and – perhaps not coincidentally – five of the last seven NL wild card teams.
In fact, every team in the division not named the Chicago Cubs has qualified for the playoffs within the last four years.
All of which leaves new Cubs manager Joe Maddon itching for the kind of fights his Tampa Bay Rays put up while scrapping for position in the division that used to be considered the best in baseball, the American League East.
“A lot of people thought we should be in another division,” Maddon said of his small-market, underdog Rays in the Yankees-Red Sox bracket. “No way, man. I want this NL Central to be considered the best division in baseball. I want it to be that strong. The stronger it is, the faster we’re going to get better.”
The Cubs believe they have some of the best young prospects in baseball coming through the system, but the Pirates already have their young core in place, led by the center fielder many believe is the best player in the National League. The Cardinals keep pumping homegrown talent onto a roster brimming with it, and even the little-market guys in Milwaukee and Cincinnati have a big-league edge on the Cubs in division talent at most positions.
Center fielder Dexter Fowler, a veteran of both leagues before joining the Cubs in an offseason trade, said that talent gap has closed considerably.
“Playing them in years past, it’s been – not a pushover – but obviously they were rebuilding,” he said of the Cubs. “Now these guys are something to reckon with. To be part of it and see the process that’s going on is awesome.”
Now comes the hard part of the process. Getting results with that talent. Big-league performance. Winning.
Maddon knows it well – and well knows that part of it with a young team is about fight. Sometimes literally.
It wasn’t until his young Rays stopped getting pushed around by the $200 million big shots in the division that they started bloodying the bullies’ noses, and started their competitive turnaround.
They made headlines with bench-clearing incidents with the Yankees in spring 2008, then in June emptied the benches at Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Maddon, who started the Sox fight by yelling at their dugout during a pitching change, said that one was the game changer for the Rays.
They went 62-40 the rest of that season and wound up in the World Series.
“All that stuff’s necessary sometimes,” he said. “Nothing’s going to be given to you. You’ve got to take it – you’ve got to take it, man. That’s the whole thing.
“Leadership is not given. Leadership is taken. So with our players, if we’re going to have success within this division, we have to take it. Nobody wants to do us any favors, I promise you that.”
</article>
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Sports
Cubs say they have enough talent, but do they have enough fight?
Posted: 03/27/2015, 08:07pm | Gordon Wittenmyer
Joe Maddon's Tampa Bay Rays brawl with Jon Lester's Boston Red Sox in June 2008 -- sparking the Rays to a 62-40 finish to a season that ended in the World Series
MESA, Ariz. – It may not be well recognized outside the Midwest, but the National League Central has produced five of the last seven NL MVPs, two of the last three NL home run champs, four of the last six league leaders in innings pitched and – perhaps not coincidentally – five of the last seven NL wild card teams.
In fact, every team in the division not named the Chicago Cubs has qualified for the playoffs within the last four years.
All of which leaves new Cubs manager Joe Maddon itching for the kind of fights his Tampa Bay Rays put up while scrapping for position in the division that used to be considered the best in baseball, the American League East.
“A lot of people thought we should be in another division,” Maddon said of his small-market, underdog Rays in the Yankees-Red Sox bracket. “No way, man. I want this NL Central to be considered the best division in baseball. I want it to be that strong. The stronger it is, the faster we’re going to get better.”
The Cubs believe they have some of the best young prospects in baseball coming through the system, but the Pirates already have their young core in place, led by the center fielder many believe is the best player in the National League. The Cardinals keep pumping homegrown talent onto a roster brimming with it, and even the little-market guys in Milwaukee and Cincinnati have a big-league edge on the Cubs in division talent at most positions.
Center fielder Dexter Fowler, a veteran of both leagues before joining the Cubs in an offseason trade, said that talent gap has closed considerably.
“Playing them in years past, it’s been – not a pushover – but obviously they were rebuilding,” he said of the Cubs. “Now these guys are something to reckon with. To be part of it and see the process that’s going on is awesome.”
Now comes the hard part of the process. Getting results with that talent. Big-league performance. Winning.
Maddon knows it well – and well knows that part of it with a young team is about fight. Sometimes literally.
It wasn’t until his young Rays stopped getting pushed around by the $200 million big shots in the division that they started bloodying the bullies’ noses, and started their competitive turnaround.
They made headlines with bench-clearing incidents with the Yankees in spring 2008, then in June emptied the benches at Fenway Park against the Red Sox. Maddon, who started the Sox fight by yelling at their dugout during a pitching change, said that one was the game changer for the Rays.
They went 62-40 the rest of that season and wound up in the World Series.
“All that stuff’s necessary sometimes,” he said. “Nothing’s going to be given to you. You’ve got to take it – you’ve got to take it, man. That’s the whole thing.
“Leadership is not given. Leadership is taken. So with our players, if we’re going to have success within this division, we have to take it. Nobody wants to do us any favors, I promise you that.”
</article>
WC GAME TONIGHT
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-84629938/
No matter how playoffs end for Cubs, something memorable will happen
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Paul SullivanChicago TribuneRecent Columns
1 of
Kris Bryant on Cubs proving people wrong
9:00 pm, October 6, 2015
The Cubs arrived at PNC Park for Tuesday's wild-card game workout ready for anything that came their way.
So when a local TV reporter asked Anthony Rizzo which team had more pressure on them, Rizzo calmly responded: "Not us. We have zero pressure."
"So that would be them, then?" the reporter asked.
Correct.
"This is a fun situation," Rizzo said. "This is something everyone should enjoy. We're going to give our best. We're ready to go have a good time."
They're already off to a good start, fun-wise at least.
Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta has been busy messing with Pirates' fans on Twitter, riling up the town like he was promoting a heavyweight boxing match.
"It's all in good fun," Arrieta said. "I don't mean anything negative toward anybody. It's kind of a build-up to the game. You have two very passionate fan bases. … Just a neat way to start interaction within the fan bases. It's something I like to do."
Jon Lester said whatever it takes to get Arrieta in the right mindset is OK by the rest of them.
"If that's the way he goes about it and gets himself ready, he's my teammate and I'll be behind him no matter what," Lester said. "There's nothing better than a little good trash-talking once in a while. It's all in good fun. We all know these fans are going to be amped up.
"That why you play 162 (games), to get here and to see that aura of the stadium change from a game in July that possibly doesn't matter, to this one (Wednesday) night."
Expect the unexpected when you watch the Cubs in the postseason.
It's a rare occurrence, and it's easy to miss the small moments while looking at the big picture.
"Sometimes you shouldn't bother trying to explain the moment," reliever Terry Mulholland said after the Cubs won the 1998 tiebreaker game against the Giants. "You just have to enjoy it."
Agreed. I've been a part of the Tribune's Cubs playoff coverage for six appearances since 1984 and have seen enough crazy things to last a lifetime.
I climbed a tree on Waveland Avenue for Game 2 of the 1984 NLCS to interview a fan watching the game from a branch, then watched Cubs fans ripping a Padres' jersey off a man and burning it outside of Murphy's Bleachers.
Mark Grace almost single-handedly carried the Cubs' offense in the 1989 NLCS, hitting .674 with eight RBIs, only to have Giants star Will Clark hit .650 with eight RBIs to lead San Francisco to a 4-1 triumph in the best-of-seven series.
We all cringed in '98 as center fielder Brant Brown dropped a fly ball with two outs in the ninth to lose a crucial stretch drive game in Milwaukee, prompting President Andy MacPhail to wail: "Now I've seen everything." But the Cubs managed to get into the wild-card tiebreaker game and, after beating the Giants, Brown proclaimed: "I'm the big fish that got away."
In 2003 I saw Kerry Wood sneak into a hallway at Turner Field after clinching the Cubs' first playoff series victory since 1908 to call ailing broadcaster Ron Santo, who could not travel.
"We love you Ronnie," Wood said. "We wouldn't be here without you."
And in '08, reporters waded through the flooded visitors' dugout at Dodgers Stadium after a Cubs' player busted the water pipes with a bat after the Dodgers' sweep.
Whether the Cubs are one-and-done or go a long way this postseason, there are going to be more of these moments — good, bad or bittersweet — that won't soon be forgotten.
Pirates third baseman Aramis Ramirez experienced three postseasons as a Cub, and always heard someone come up with an excuse afterward.
"Whoever wins the World Series has to be hot in the playoffs," Ramirez said Tuesday. "I don't think the best team wins all the time. So I don't think the billy goat or Bartman had anything to do with that."
Rest assured the Cubs will be ready. Rizzo said their confidence level is "through the roof" whenever Arrieta pitches, while veteran backup catcher David Ross predicted the young Cubs' players won't show signs of nerves.
"Those guys are used to the spotlight," Ross said. "They're young heroes in Chicago already."
It's time to create some new memories.
Are you ready for whatever?
psullivan@tribpub.com
Twitter @PWSullivan
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-84629938/
No matter how playoffs end for Cubs, something memorable will happen
| |
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</tbody>
Kris Bryant on Cubs proving people wrong9:00 pm, October 6, 2015
The Cubs arrived at PNC Park for Tuesday's wild-card game workout ready for anything that came their way.
So when a local TV reporter asked Anthony Rizzo which team had more pressure on them, Rizzo calmly responded: "Not us. We have zero pressure."
"So that would be them, then?" the reporter asked.
Correct.
"This is a fun situation," Rizzo said. "This is something everyone should enjoy. We're going to give our best. We're ready to go have a good time."
They're already off to a good start, fun-wise at least.
Starting pitcher Jake Arrieta has been busy messing with Pirates' fans on Twitter, riling up the town like he was promoting a heavyweight boxing match.
"It's all in good fun," Arrieta said. "I don't mean anything negative toward anybody. It's kind of a build-up to the game. You have two very passionate fan bases. … Just a neat way to start interaction within the fan bases. It's something I like to do."
Jon Lester said whatever it takes to get Arrieta in the right mindset is OK by the rest of them.
"If that's the way he goes about it and gets himself ready, he's my teammate and I'll be behind him no matter what," Lester said. "There's nothing better than a little good trash-talking once in a while. It's all in good fun. We all know these fans are going to be amped up.
"That why you play 162 (games), to get here and to see that aura of the stadium change from a game in July that possibly doesn't matter, to this one (Wednesday) night."
Expect the unexpected when you watch the Cubs in the postseason.
It's a rare occurrence, and it's easy to miss the small moments while looking at the big picture.
"Sometimes you shouldn't bother trying to explain the moment," reliever Terry Mulholland said after the Cubs won the 1998 tiebreaker game against the Giants. "You just have to enjoy it."
Agreed. I've been a part of the Tribune's Cubs playoff coverage for six appearances since 1984 and have seen enough crazy things to last a lifetime.
I climbed a tree on Waveland Avenue for Game 2 of the 1984 NLCS to interview a fan watching the game from a branch, then watched Cubs fans ripping a Padres' jersey off a man and burning it outside of Murphy's Bleachers.
Mark Grace almost single-handedly carried the Cubs' offense in the 1989 NLCS, hitting .674 with eight RBIs, only to have Giants star Will Clark hit .650 with eight RBIs to lead San Francisco to a 4-1 triumph in the best-of-seven series.
We all cringed in '98 as center fielder Brant Brown dropped a fly ball with two outs in the ninth to lose a crucial stretch drive game in Milwaukee, prompting President Andy MacPhail to wail: "Now I've seen everything." But the Cubs managed to get into the wild-card tiebreaker game and, after beating the Giants, Brown proclaimed: "I'm the big fish that got away."
In 2003 I saw Kerry Wood sneak into a hallway at Turner Field after clinching the Cubs' first playoff series victory since 1908 to call ailing broadcaster Ron Santo, who could not travel.
"We love you Ronnie," Wood said. "We wouldn't be here without you."
And in '08, reporters waded through the flooded visitors' dugout at Dodgers Stadium after a Cubs' player busted the water pipes with a bat after the Dodgers' sweep.
Whether the Cubs are one-and-done or go a long way this postseason, there are going to be more of these moments — good, bad or bittersweet — that won't soon be forgotten.
Pirates third baseman Aramis Ramirez experienced three postseasons as a Cub, and always heard someone come up with an excuse afterward.
"Whoever wins the World Series has to be hot in the playoffs," Ramirez said Tuesday. "I don't think the best team wins all the time. So I don't think the billy goat or Bartman had anything to do with that."
Rest assured the Cubs will be ready. Rizzo said their confidence level is "through the roof" whenever Arrieta pitches, while veteran backup catcher David Ross predicted the young Cubs' players won't show signs of nerves.
"Those guys are used to the spotlight," Ross said. "They're young heroes in Chicago already."
It's time to create some new memories.
Are you ready for whatever?
psullivan@tribpub.com
Twitter @PWSullivan
