http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/chicago-cubs-joe-maddon-party-hard-playoff-berth-092415
Joe Maddon says Cubs plan to party hard after clinching playoff berth
[h=3]FOX Sports[/h]
Sep 24, 2015 at 1:22p ET
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Sep 24, 2015 at 1:22p ET
When it's time to party, they will party hard.
That's what Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters Wednesday night, as the North Siders close in on their first playoff berth in seven years.
All signs point to the Cubs clinching a postseason spot by the end of the week, and Maddon is looking forward to the celebration.
"[It will be] As big as it could possibly be," Maddon said (via CSN Chicago). "You celebrate achievement all the time. So I love the fact that we celebrate every night. It has this bonding effect among the group. And then when you go beyond that, celebrate just a little bit harder."
Maddon, in his first year as Cubs manager, has used his unique managerial tactics to brighten up the clubhouse.
On Tuesday, Maddon brought a pink flamingo to his pregame news conference before the matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Joe Maddon says Cubs plan to party hard after clinching playoff berth
[h=3]FOX Sports[/h]
Sep 24, 2015 at 1:22p ET
+
Sep 24, 2015 at 1:22p ET
When it's time to party, they will party hard.
That's what Cubs manager Joe Maddon told reporters Wednesday night, as the North Siders close in on their first playoff berth in seven years.
All signs point to the Cubs clinching a postseason spot by the end of the week, and Maddon is looking forward to the celebration.
"[It will be] As big as it could possibly be," Maddon said (via CSN Chicago). "You celebrate achievement all the time. So I love the fact that we celebrate every night. It has this bonding effect among the group. And then when you go beyond that, celebrate just a little bit harder."
Maddon, in his first year as Cubs manager, has used his unique managerial tactics to brighten up the clubhouse.
On Tuesday, Maddon brought a pink flamingo to his pregame news conference before the matchup against the Milwaukee Brewers.
http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cu...r-another-shutout-i-have-no-solid-explanation
Another shutout? Even Joe Maddon is at a loss for words
play
Maddon attempted to 'shake it up' in Game 3 (1:48)
3:02 AM ET
Jesse Rogers
ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- The moment summed up Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon's predicament. It was the seventh inning of Tuesday's National League Championship Series matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his team was trailing 4-0. Maddon sent Jason Heyward to the plate to pinch hit for Addison Russell. A .105 postseason hitter replacing an .042 one. That's what it has come to for the Cubs.
"We're not hitting the ball hard," Maddon said after the 6-0 loss. "Obviously, I have no solid explanation."
No one does.
When an offense slumps, particularly its stars, finding a reason can be as tough as finding the solution. One thing feels certain: The number of players slumping at once isn't a coincidence -- and it's not all about Dodger pitching.
Anthony Rizzo struck out again and now has seven Ks this postseason to go with his .077 batting average. Harry How/Getty Images
"I think it's our hitting," Dexter Fowler (.179) said. "We've hit the best of the best. The past few days we just haven't been doing it."
But why? That's what every Cubs fan wants to know. Why now? They can't buy a big hit -- they were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since May 2014 and now trail 2-1 in their best-of-seven series. The slump could not have come at a worse time.
"Offensively, we haven't executed and put it all together and passed the baton," Chris Coghlan said. "We have to have more productive at-bats. There's not one solution."
If you're keeping track, the Cubs haven't scored since they rocked Wrigley Field in the eighth inning of Game 1 with Miguel Montero's grand slam followed by a Fowler solo shot. That feels like ages ago; the Cubs have managed six hits since then, including just four on Tuesday.
Maybe Game 3 changes if Russell comes through after Dodgers starter Rich Hill opened the door for a rally by walking two batters in the second. A passed ball moved them up a base, but the man who came through in the clutch so often this season has done anything but during the playoffs. Russell struck out -- granted it was on a nasty curveball -- and the offense did little the rest of the game. Hill was good; Cubs' hitting was not. That's the storyline of the postseason so far.
"One you get something on the board, you're like let's roll," Coghlan said. "Then it is contagious. We can pretend like it's not, but it is."
It's contagious both ways, and unfortunately for the Cubs, everything is working against them. It seems that Kris Bryant (.357) is the only batter who's having a good playoffs. Even Javier Baez came back to Earth, showing some shakiness in the field and going 0-for-4 at the plate.
So now what? Where do the Cubs go from here? Let's start by examining their attitude. For the first time since the start of the regular season, they're in a negative position, trailing in the series, but the locker room was anything but negative after the Game 3 loss. You can decide if that's a good thing or not. Maybe you'd like to see a table or two turned over, but that's not the Cubs' style under Maddon. Bryant quickly dismissed the notion of frustration setting in.
"Not at all," he said. "Super calm. No one throwing stuff. On the outside, you would think that's what's going on because it's fun to hit, but there is no panic. Nothing in here."
It's probably a good thing because hitting is about the only activity in sports where trying harder or even getting mad usually doesn't work. You can say enough is enough, but this isn't playing defense in basketball where it's all about effort. This is a mental grind.
"We're just not hitting the ball well," Maddon stated. "We're doing the same kind of routines, the work is the same, the batting practice is the same, or the lack of it is the same, and we're just not getting the results right now. There is really no excuse. We just have to pick it up quickly."
That's the thing about the playoffs. You can't come out of it slowly. It can't take a week. It has to happen now. Easier said than done, but it has been done. And now the ‘P' word is going to be thrown around. Is the pressure at the plate mounting?
"I've seen it before," Fowler said. "You go in ruts then snap right back out of them."
Fowler is going to have to take charge, as should Anthony Rizzo (.077), and if Heyward could pile up a few hits, that wouldn't hurt either. It's too much to ask Baez or Willson Contreras or even Russell to carry the team. Youth has to show up in a bad way once in a while, and perhaps that's what's happening with a few players. That leaves no excuses for the rest of the team.
"You have to be able to push back mentally as much as anything right now," Maddon said. "Because when it comes down to work, you don't need any more batting practice or video study or data information. You just have to mentally hang in there and keep pushing back until you get it. It's just about hard contact."
The Cubs are hitting .185 this postseason, which might actually be spun into a positive if you're so inclined. How are they still in this series with those numbers? And if they've been that bad, shouldn't a 107-win team show up in a positive way at some point? Maybe not. Tuesday's loss arguably was a reminder of last season's four-game sweep in the NLCS to the New York Mets. Nothing was happening at the plate, and Clayton Kershaw or Noah Syndergaard weren't on the mound.
"We're better than this," Coghlan said. "I think 3-1 [in the series] feels a lot different than 2-1. You still feel like this isn't going to be a runaway thing."
That was the hope inside the locker room, that this is going to be a long series and the past two games are bumps in the road. It's the positive spin, but the only one they could come up with on short notice. What else is there to say after even a few lineup changes didn't make a difference?
"Belief is very powerful, and we all have that here," Bryant said. "The peaks and valleys sometime make you go crazy, but we have more games to play."
That's about as philosophical as Bryant gets, but this is the time of the year when it might be needed most. The Cubs are not done. Down 2-1 is hardly the time to lose faith -- though something has to change at the plate. That much is obvious.
"If you can't hit, you can't score runs," Fowler said. "Period."
Another shutout? Even Joe Maddon is at a loss for words
play
Maddon attempted to 'shake it up' in Game 3 (1:48)
3:02 AM ET
Jesse Rogers
ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES -- The moment summed up Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon's predicament. It was the seventh inning of Tuesday's National League Championship Series matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and his team was trailing 4-0. Maddon sent Jason Heyward to the plate to pinch hit for Addison Russell. A .105 postseason hitter replacing an .042 one. That's what it has come to for the Cubs.
"We're not hitting the ball hard," Maddon said after the 6-0 loss. "Obviously, I have no solid explanation."
No one does.
When an offense slumps, particularly its stars, finding a reason can be as tough as finding the solution. One thing feels certain: The number of players slumping at once isn't a coincidence -- and it's not all about Dodger pitching.
Anthony Rizzo struck out again and now has seven Ks this postseason to go with his .077 batting average. Harry How/Getty Images
"I think it's our hitting," Dexter Fowler (.179) said. "We've hit the best of the best. The past few days we just haven't been doing it."
But why? That's what every Cubs fan wants to know. Why now? They can't buy a big hit -- they were shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since May 2014 and now trail 2-1 in their best-of-seven series. The slump could not have come at a worse time.
"Offensively, we haven't executed and put it all together and passed the baton," Chris Coghlan said. "We have to have more productive at-bats. There's not one solution."
If you're keeping track, the Cubs haven't scored since they rocked Wrigley Field in the eighth inning of Game 1 with Miguel Montero's grand slam followed by a Fowler solo shot. That feels like ages ago; the Cubs have managed six hits since then, including just four on Tuesday.
Maybe Game 3 changes if Russell comes through after Dodgers starter Rich Hill opened the door for a rally by walking two batters in the second. A passed ball moved them up a base, but the man who came through in the clutch so often this season has done anything but during the playoffs. Russell struck out -- granted it was on a nasty curveball -- and the offense did little the rest of the game. Hill was good; Cubs' hitting was not. That's the storyline of the postseason so far.
"One you get something on the board, you're like let's roll," Coghlan said. "Then it is contagious. We can pretend like it's not, but it is."
It's contagious both ways, and unfortunately for the Cubs, everything is working against them. It seems that Kris Bryant (.357) is the only batter who's having a good playoffs. Even Javier Baez came back to Earth, showing some shakiness in the field and going 0-for-4 at the plate.
So now what? Where do the Cubs go from here? Let's start by examining their attitude. For the first time since the start of the regular season, they're in a negative position, trailing in the series, but the locker room was anything but negative after the Game 3 loss. You can decide if that's a good thing or not. Maybe you'd like to see a table or two turned over, but that's not the Cubs' style under Maddon. Bryant quickly dismissed the notion of frustration setting in.
"Not at all," he said. "Super calm. No one throwing stuff. On the outside, you would think that's what's going on because it's fun to hit, but there is no panic. Nothing in here."
It's probably a good thing because hitting is about the only activity in sports where trying harder or even getting mad usually doesn't work. You can say enough is enough, but this isn't playing defense in basketball where it's all about effort. This is a mental grind.
"We're just not hitting the ball well," Maddon stated. "We're doing the same kind of routines, the work is the same, the batting practice is the same, or the lack of it is the same, and we're just not getting the results right now. There is really no excuse. We just have to pick it up quickly."
That's the thing about the playoffs. You can't come out of it slowly. It can't take a week. It has to happen now. Easier said than done, but it has been done. And now the ‘P' word is going to be thrown around. Is the pressure at the plate mounting?
"I've seen it before," Fowler said. "You go in ruts then snap right back out of them."
Fowler is going to have to take charge, as should Anthony Rizzo (.077), and if Heyward could pile up a few hits, that wouldn't hurt either. It's too much to ask Baez or Willson Contreras or even Russell to carry the team. Youth has to show up in a bad way once in a while, and perhaps that's what's happening with a few players. That leaves no excuses for the rest of the team.
"You have to be able to push back mentally as much as anything right now," Maddon said. "Because when it comes down to work, you don't need any more batting practice or video study or data information. You just have to mentally hang in there and keep pushing back until you get it. It's just about hard contact."
The Cubs are hitting .185 this postseason, which might actually be spun into a positive if you're so inclined. How are they still in this series with those numbers? And if they've been that bad, shouldn't a 107-win team show up in a positive way at some point? Maybe not. Tuesday's loss arguably was a reminder of last season's four-game sweep in the NLCS to the New York Mets. Nothing was happening at the plate, and Clayton Kershaw or Noah Syndergaard weren't on the mound.
"We're better than this," Coghlan said. "I think 3-1 [in the series] feels a lot different than 2-1. You still feel like this isn't going to be a runaway thing."
That was the hope inside the locker room, that this is going to be a long series and the past two games are bumps in the road. It's the positive spin, but the only one they could come up with on short notice. What else is there to say after even a few lineup changes didn't make a difference?
"Belief is very powerful, and we all have that here," Bryant said. "The peaks and valleys sometime make you go crazy, but we have more games to play."
That's about as philosophical as Bryant gets, but this is the time of the year when it might be needed most. The Cubs are not done. Down 2-1 is hardly the time to lose faith -- though something has to change at the plate. That much is obvious.
"If you can't hit, you can't score runs," Fowler said. "Period."
Yeah too bad the guy can't take some AB's, we could use the help.
I don't see how you can blame him that the weight of a city is on these kids' shoulders. Let's hope they get it figured out.
Cubs have struggled with the slow curve. Get a fastballer today in Urias. Maybe that will turn things around.
I don't see how you can blame him that the weight of a city is on these kids' shoulders. Let's hope they get it figured out.
Cubs have struggled with the slow curve. Get a fastballer today in Urias. Maybe that will turn things around.
I like Urias and the kid is going to be a stud. But, if nothing else, he's had some command issues. If we can actually take some pitches, he can give us some free baserunners, then we only need to find a hit, instead of 3 consecutive hits. Will be another nailbiter, and Dodgers will throw out their lefty barrage again against Lackey. Need the vet to be a vet and the kid to be a kid.
Also, don't want to see Russell benched. I hear some "experts" calling for that but don't want to substitute all our guaranteed D for the hope of some O. Soler was an adventure out in right yesterday. I can't handle that in the infield.
Also, don't want to see Russell benched. I hear some "experts" calling for that but don't want to substitute all our guaranteed D for the hope of some O. Soler was an adventure out in right yesterday. I can't handle that in the infield.
IMHO, we cannot afford to carry two dead bats for defensive purposes right now. Not the way we're struggling.
So I would like to see either Heyward or Russell benched tonight. Normally would be an easy decision for me considering my feelings on Heyward, but lefty on righty and he has had good success against Urias in a very limited sample.
Tough decisions. I'm glad I don't get paid to make them.
he has to find a way to keep his team loose, they're tight
maybe he has been trying things behind the scenes, or maybe he's not good at that right now
I don't think lineup changes and pitch hitting for Addison are moves that keep a team loose, I think it makes them think.
although maybe Addison will respond going forward
PS: I think Maddon is one of the best in the business, and I'm not trying to tell him how to manage. Just voicing my opinion
maybe he has been trying things behind the scenes, or maybe he's not good at that right now
I don't think lineup changes and pitch hitting for Addison are moves that keep a team loose, I think it makes them think.
although maybe Addison will respond going forward
PS: I think Maddon is one of the best in the business, and I'm not trying to tell him how to manage. Just voicing my opinion
Agreed on the keeping it loose part.
As far as lineup changes, I liked the shake up last night (well before I saw what it produced on the field). Thought all the moves made sense.
He's just a manager. A very good one, but the players still have to hit.
LOL at fag boy JC. Couldn't wait to start running around the forum like a child the second the Cubs ran into some adversity - poking and prodding, prodding and poking. Can't voice a cogent argument for why Maddon is overrated. Just saying it because some Cubs fans made fun of his dad once at a game. Literally.
The Dodgers are only halfway home, he may be eating some crow before it's all said and done.
Understand your point on the how lineup changes might make things tight in the clubhouse Willie.
However, I truly believe that it has no effect in that department. It's just a bunch of kids going out and playing baseball. I don't think anyone's getting their egos bruised here.
Plus it's kind of a rock and a hard place situation. He doesn't want to show panic, I get that, but at the same time if the lineup is not hitting and producing, you can't wait too long to make adjustments or you have to answer to that.
If he didn't change a thing and the Cubs didn't score another run, you don't think he'd have to answer the "why didn't you shake things up before it was too late" questions?
Idiots like JC and Greenbacks would be in here bumping this, talking about how Joe is overrated cause he DIDN'T react when it was needed.
However, I truly believe that it has no effect in that department. It's just a bunch of kids going out and playing baseball. I don't think anyone's getting their egos bruised here.
Plus it's kind of a rock and a hard place situation. He doesn't want to show panic, I get that, but at the same time if the lineup is not hitting and producing, you can't wait too long to make adjustments or you have to answer to that.
If he didn't change a thing and the Cubs didn't score another run, you don't think he'd have to answer the "why didn't you shake things up before it was too late" questions?
Idiots like JC and Greenbacks would be in here bumping this, talking about how Joe is overrated cause he DIDN'T react when it was needed.
Nah, I won't be "eating crow" if the cubs come back to win. Show me where I said the series is over and I'll tell you you're right. but you ain't gonna find it because I said no such thing.
I bumped the L thread because I love it when the cubs and their scum fans lose. but I never once even hinted that this series is over. Greenbacks is the only idiot that did that and the moron is going to end up jynxing the Dodgers.
As for madden, I've said he's overrated for years. Nothing new there.
I do appreciate that the cubs have given me a reason to watch the mlb playoffs. and I think it's funny to see cubs fans already jumping ship and framing this as "the future is bright" bs. a team hasn't won in 100+ years lolol but the future is bright. and giving up on their team only down 2-1 just further instills that culture of losing that the cubs have mastered.
You can't have it both ways Justin.
Here you lecture us on how Cubs fans should be humble, as they have not won a WS.
http://www.therxforum.com/showthread.php?t=988245&page=5&p=11669734&viewfull=1#post11669734
So if we acknowledge adversity, we are jumping ship?
And let me guess, if we blew it off and were outwardly confident and vocal that they were still going to win, we aren't being humble enough.
Can't win, eh?
I asked you for advice on how to be a better fan. I was instructed to be more humble. So I am reacting exactly as you suggested. Now I'm a ship-jumper. Hahaha.
BTW you have some amazing talents to be able to make generalizations about tens of millions of Cubs fans based on what half a dozen people post at the RX, and a group of rotten apples you ran into at a game once.
Who's giving up? People are acting like it's do or die this year and it's not all all. Barring a sniper in the clubhouse, we'll be here next year, and the following year, and the following year...and did we just resign Epstein for 5 more years?...oh yeah.. And the next year, and the following year, and...
