Levine: Fair To Ask If Cubs Are In Pirates' Heads
By Bruce Levine --
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Pittsburgh Pirates are having trouble defeating the Chicago Cubs in 2016.
Going into the Sunday afternoon finale of this three-game series at Wrigley Field, the Bucs have lost five straight to their division rivals.
The run differential has been crazy in these matchups, as the Cubs have outscored the Pirates, 37-11, across those five games. The closest game had Pittsburgh losing 6-2 on May 4.
There's obviously bad blood between the two clubs, and whether the Cubs are in the Pirates' heads is a fair question to ask.
Jeff Locke, Pittsburgh's starting pitcher Saturday, believed Chicago ace Jake Arrieta had hit Jung Ho Kang on purpose with a pitch in the 8-2 blowout. The fact that Kang was injured last September on a Chris Coglan takeout slide and then missed the rest of the season is still in the mind of the Pirates.
Cubs manager Joe Maddon had a different take on the pitch and Arrieta's command.
"Jake walked Locke on four consecutive pitches," Maddon said, intimating how the Arrieta's command had come and gone during the outing.
"I really don't think Jake was pitching around Locke," Maddon added. "My real point is that can happen at any time to a real exceptional pitcher who can lose command of his pitches. I don't think he was intimidated by Mr. Locke being at the plate. He was really trying to throw a strike and wasn't able to."
Maddon was asked about how a robotic machine like Arrieta could lose his command so easily. He responded with his quick wit and unique take.
"He has a cyborg look about him," Maddon said. "There is no question when you see him out there, I can definitely see Arnold Schwarzenegger at his best out there. I do think even Arnold messed up a couple of times as the Terminator. Listen, Jake is not perfect by any means. The thing I find interesting is hitters get hit by pitches all of the time. That is a part if the game. I would say 99.9 percent of the time it is unintentional."
Are the Pirates worried that this is a season-long domination they will have to deal with? Because the Cubs are showing no signs of slowing down.
Both teams are very good, but Pittsburgh might not be quite what they were in 2015 when it won 98 games. The Pirates appear vulnerable in the rotation. Losing A.J. Burnett to retirement and J.A. Happ via free agency has taken away two solid starters from the fine staff the Pirates had last year.
I made the rookie reporter mistake of asking Maddon if the Cubs are now fully entrenched in the collective psyche of their heated division opponents. I apologized after his media session, knowing that a manager has nowhere to go with a loaded question like that.
Maddon did the best he could with the answer, knowing it could add fuel to an already hot topic.
"Listen, you know me well enough," Maddon said. "I will never speak for another group. I can only speak for our group. I love the way we are going about our business right now. I can't get can't get caught up in that rhetoric. To me, that is really counterproductive. It serves no useful purpose. I am not going to go there. I just like what our guys are doing. That is what you look for as a manager, that your guys are doing the right things."
Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.
