3 up, 3 down
Bullpen by committee not the ideal situation, but it hasn’t failed depleted Cubs
The shadows crept over the mound in the fifth inning late Saturday afternoon at Wrigley Field, a harbinger of the season’s end and the postseason’s arrival.
For years fans here were conditioned to brace themselves for disaster, but now it’s taken for granted the Cubs will be there come October, no matter how slim the division lead is over the Brewers, how often the offense fails to show up or how many closers have to be used.
This team is made of Teflon, and nothing seems to bother it. One day it’s a David Bote walk-off grand slam, another day it’s the first career save for 37-year-old Jorge De La Rosa. Yu Darvish goes down, Mike Montgomery steps up. Everyone gets his star turn, and Saturday was no different.
After Jon Lester’s brilliant seven-inning performance, four relievers combined to get the final six outs for a 1-0 win over the Reds that reduced the Cubs’ magic number to 13. It then dropped to 12 as the Brewers lost to the Pirates on Saturday night to fall 2 1⁄2 games behind in the National League Central.
“We all make fun of the cliche, like the hashtag they made up for the team this year,” reliever Brandon Morrow said. “But ‘Everybody In’ is really fitting. I think every person who has been here this year has contributed on different days and come up big.”
The loss of Morrow to a bone bruise in his right forearm in mid-July was supposed to spell doom for the bullpen, but Pedro Strop came through and filled the closer role admirably. Now Strop is out for who knows how long with a strained left hamstring from his adventurous at-bat Thursday, and manager Joe Maddon is improvising with a cast of bullpen characters that resembles the cast of “The Expendables.”
Whether they’re too old (De La Rosa and Jesse Chavez), too young (Randy Rosario), too wild (Justin Wilson) or too unpredictable (Carl Edwards Jr.), they’re going to have to pull together if the Cubs hope to get back to the World Series. That should be considered a successful season, even if the heavily favored American League opponent denies the Cubs another championship.
So far, so good. Rosario and De La Rosa saved wins Thursday and Friday, and Maddon on Saturday used Chavez, Rosario and Steve Cishek, who got the save when Eugenio Suarez grounded out on his first pitch.
“Everyone knows it’s the ninth inning,” Cishek said. “We just try to treat it like any other inning.”
Help may soon come from be Morrow, who is expected back on the mound in Arizona when the Cubs begin a three-game series against the Diamondbacks on Monday. Morrow has two bullpen sessions and a 19-pitch simulated game under his belt, which will have to suffice for his rehab stint. It’s not quite what one would want from a pitcher being asked to return from a two-month absence in the final two weeks of a pennant race, but there’s no other option.
Morrow didn’t go all out Saturday in his simulated game, but he wasn’t worried because he’s still basically in spring training mode.
“Especially with some game adrenaline, things will pick up,” he said.
Maddon won’t insert him into the closer role right off the bat, but if Morrow pitches like Morrow one would expect him back in his old spot come playoff time.
But who really knows what to expect? Two weeks ago Maddon was being asked if this was his best managing job with the Cubs. Then he let Strop bat for himself in Washington on Thursday and flashbacks of “Game 7 Joe” danced in everyone’s heads, igniting a Twitter storm of criticism.
It’s almost as if Maddon does things just to mess with the Twitterati.
As he said earlier this season after letting Luke Farrell bat with two on and one out in the 13th inning, “Tell the Twitter people there were no options.”
It’s a good thing Maddon doesn’t care what the “Twitter people” think because anyone so unconventional is bound to rub some the wrong way. Anyway, the Cubs appear to be up for the challenge of fending off the Brewers, and on Day 26 of their 30-day stretch without a break they finally can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“I can’t speak for everybody else, but I do,” Cishek said. “Unfortunately when I looked at the schedule I saw we get in at 5 in the morning for our off day, so that kind of stinks.
“That day will be nice, but as long as we keep battling off these wins … If we’re winning going into that break, it’ll be huge for us.”