Cubs show Cards who’s boss
Lackey dominates former teammates; Heyward target of boos
ST. LOUIS — Six months after beating the archrival Cardinals in their first playoff meeting, the Cubs rubbed it in Monday.
With former Cardinals righthander John Lackey pitching seven scoreless innings and former Cardinals right fielder Jason Heyward making two sliding catches to take away hits, the Cubs beat the defending National League Central champs 5- 0 in the teams’ first meeting of the season.
Last season, the Cubs lost six of their first seven games at Busch Stadium against a team Lackey and Heyward helped win 100 games.
It was only the first of 19 meetings this season, but it seemed at least a message was delivered as the division race gets underway.
‘‘ We’ve got a long way to go,’’ said Lackey, who allowed four hits, struck out 11 and walked one in his 91- pitch outing. ‘‘ We think we’ve got a pretty good team here, and our expectations are high. And we’re embracing those, and we’re shooting high. We’re OK with that.
‘‘ But it’s still early on. Let’s just play some baseball and see what happens.’’
Lackey and others from both teams downplayed the significance of the game, but the tone suggested an elevated level of anticipation beyond the fans and hype- centric media.
Cardinals fans were in full- throated boo mode every time Heyward went to the plate or handled the ball in the field. Or took his position to start the game, for that matter.
‘‘ Oh, yeah, you hear it, but it’s fun,’’ Heyward said. ‘‘ They don’t boo too often, so it must be somebody important, somebody doing something worth booing.’’
Enough Cubs fans were in attendance to dilute the intensity a bit.
‘‘ I’ve seen booed, and that ain’t booed,’’ Lackey scoffed. ‘‘ That was pretty soft booing.’’
The gamesmanship started in batting practice, when the classic tones of Johann Pachelbel’s ‘‘ Canon in D Major’’ played from the publicaddress system as the Cubs batted.
When the song ended, the PA system went silent. Minutes later, assistant hitting coach Eric Hinske ran onto the field with the Cubs’ own speaker and set it next to the batting cage as it blared some 1980s Journey. At that point, the PA system picked up again, drowning out the Cubs’ tunes.
‘‘ That’s beautiful,’’ manager Joe Maddon said. ‘‘ We love the psycho- logical entertainment warfare.’’
He loved Lackey’s pitching even more, not to mention the leadoff homer by Dexter Fowler in the sixth that broke up a scoreless duel between Lackey and Cardinals right- hander Mike Leake.
As much as anything, though, Maddon liked the way the added experience has transformed this Cubs team since the days last May and June when they couldn’t overcome the Cardinals on the road.
‘‘ We’ve become more veteran, and I think that matters a lot in a ballpark like this,’’ said Maddon, whose front office added not only Lackey and Heyward as free agents but also second baseman Ben Zobrist. ‘‘ When you’re playing them here, with a really active crowd and a really good team, you have to be able to think properly in the later part of the game.’’
Lackey ( 3- 0), the Cardinals’ starter in Game 1 of the NL Division Series against the Cubs last October, was in trouble only once. The Cardinals had runners at second and third with one out in the fifth before Lackey struck out Leake and Matt Carpenter to escape.
‘‘ It was a little weird at the beginning, warming up in the other bullpen, that sort of thing,’’ said Lackey, who, unlike Heyward, wasn’t pursued by the Cardinals as a free agent. ‘‘ But no hard feelings on that situation. They went a different direction, and I ended up in a great place.’’