April 25--CINCINNATI -- Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon often tries to remember where he was when ballpark scoreboards post the birthdates of his players during their first time in the batting order.
The dates are reminders of how old the 61-year-old Maddon is in comparison to some of his players, namely 21-year-old second baseman Addison Russell.
And when asked about his early impressions of Russell in light of his .111 batting average with 10 strikeouts in 18 at-bats, Maddon quickly defending his young second baseman.
"That he's 21 and just got to the big leagues,'' Maddon replied. "He can drink, he can vote. He's fine. How about the plays he made on defense?"
Russell, who didn't move from shortstop to second base until April 16 in his final days with Triple-A Iowa, made a diving backhanded stop to retire speedy Billy Hamilton in the fifth inning and also started an inning-ending double play in the eighth.
"It's not just about hits, folks," Maddon said. "If anybody wants to make it just about hits, fine. But if you want to play that game, you're going to lose a lot. You got to catch it. He's a very good base runner and runs well. He does a lot of things to help us win games."
