Aug. 07--If Chicago Cubs fans had any doubt about how serious manager Joe Maddon is treating each remaining game of the regular season, they should find a comfortable spot to watch.
That's because Maddon intends to pull out all the stops, as he did throughout the course of a 5-4 victory Thursday night over the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants that vaulted them to a one-half game lead for the second National League wild card spot with 55 games left.
"I don't believe I do it every night, but more so right now because we're getting into this particular juncture of the season you don't want to give anything away, especially when you have a lead like that," Maddon said after pulling starting pitcher Jason Hammel with a 5-2 lead with two runners on base with no outs in the fifth inning. "That's part of it."
A visibly perplexed Hammel took a few steps behind the mound, put his hands on his hips before handing Maddon the ball and walked slowly to the Cubs' dugout.
"I went to him to talk about it," Hammel said. "I felt like I earned the right to try to get out of that situation. He leveled with me. We're on the same page.
"I understand the magnitude of the situation. And I don't want to make a big deal of it. As a competitor, I want to be out there and clean up my own mess."
Hammel walked two in four-plus innings and threw only 76 pitches but felt he was getting squeezed by the strike zone of home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez.
"Joe told me nobody told him anything about that, so it is what it is," Hammel said.
Nevertheless, Justin Grimm relieved Hammel and retired the next three batters to end the threat.
"I did not want to let them back in that game right there," Maddon explained. "I thought it was very important. It's been my experience when you get to the point, the playoffs, there's really, really great work done in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings by relievers that don't get credit for it."
Even Hammel couldn't argue with the results as Jason Motte, Pedro Strop and Hector Rondon allowed one base runner over the final three innings to preserve the win.
"I would have liked to have worked through it," Hammel said. "I was able to talk to Joe, and we're on the same page and bottom line is we won the ball game."
Maddon, who has stressed as early as spring training for his team to play the same way in March as in September, recognized the importance of not letting a 5-0 lead completely vanish.
"To relinquish that and lose that game is a very difficult loss, especially to that particular team," Maddon said. "We didn't want to let it slip away."
Maddon didn't take any chances in the ninth, lifting rookie catcher Kyle Schwarber -- who hit a three-run home run in the second -- in favor of rested veteran David Ross to work with closer Hector Rondon.
Hammel praised Schwarber for his work behind the plate and his offense.
"The hitting talks for itself," Hammel said.
And even Schwarber, who has played only 25 major league games, knows what's at stake in this four-game series.
"It's important to set the tone."
Maddon, meanwhile, noticed a difference in the dugout during the game.
"It was tight, it was intense, it was great," Maddon said. It was beautiful. That's what it's supposed to feel like, look like. It was great, and I want our guys to embrace it."
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