Aug. 04--Chicago Cubs ace Jon Lester said he asked manager Joe Maddon to consider moving him up in the rotation as the result of throwing only 31 pitches Monday night before a two-hour, nine-minute rain delay ended his performance.
But Lester emphasized he suggested moving up in the rotation merely because of his brief outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates and not because they will open a four-game series Thursday night at Wrigley Field against defending World Series champion and current National League wild card challenger San Francisco.
"It's still a little early to be wrapped up in that," Lester said as he and his teammates watched the Giants blow a six-run lead and lose 9-8 at Atlanta in 12 innings. "We all know we got a big series with them coming up. But we also have a lot of baseball to go. If this was the middle of September, I'd probably be talking about it a little more.
"But we got a long way to go. We got a big series against them this week, and then we go back out there (Aug. 25-27). We got seven games against them. We got a long ways to go and we got to worry about beating the Pirates. If we beat the Pirates, that sets us up pretty well as well. We got to worry about the task at hand and not worry about what the Giants are doing."
Lester could move up as early as Thursday night to pitch the series opener, or he could take his normal start on Saturday.
In the meantime, Lester shared some wisdom on how his younger teammates should respond to the test of playing for a playoff berth for the first time.
"This is going to sound really bad, but I've always been a big believer in playing stupid," Lester said. "Being naive. I've seen it with the Rays in 2008. They were naﶥ to the situation. They had nothing to lose. We have nothing to lose. We're not supposed to win. We're supposedly in the rebuilding stages. If we make the playoffs, it's just an added bonus.
So I like that. I like having that to where we're not really the underdog, but we're not really expected to do anything, so we come into situations like this. It's a little harder (playing) division (opponents), because you play them so much. You don't take division games lightly. But when you play other teams outside the division, that's when we can really pounce on the situation and take advantage of that. Maybe sneak attack guys and take two of three before they knew what happened."
Lester, a veteran of five post-seasons and two World Series titles with the Boston Red Sox, wasn't done.
"I can sit here until I'm blue in the face and talk to these guys about what to expect and for the stretch run. I've been through it all. I've been up 10 games and went home. I've been down and we got in the playoffs. I've been ahead the whole year and did the same thing. So it doesn't matter until you do it. The biggest thing these guys can learn is just going through it. Whether we're there or not, you just go to go through and build on those experiences, and the next year you come out and build on that."
Lester said he asked Maddon to consider moving him up in the rotation because he threw only 1 2/3 innings. He currently is scheduled to pitch Saturday, and moving his start up to Thursday would affect Kyle Hendricks, who is scheduled to pitch that day.
But Lester was mindful of his teammates.
"I don't want to move guys around, just to move guys around because I want to pitch because of what happened," Lester said.
Lester was more fussy about his unsuccessful attempt to convince Maddon to let him return after the first rain delay. Lester said he rode a stationary bicycle and threw to stay loose during the day.
But the delay was too long for Maddon to take a risk.
"Like 'I've always said -- (Maddon) is the manager, and it's his decision. You can argue with him all you want. But at the end of the day, it's like arguing with your dad. You're not going to change his mind."
Maddon and Lester praised the PNC Park groundscrew workers for keeping them abreast of the fickle weather that constantly changed and subsequently resulted in a postponement after four innings following a one-hour, 20-minute rain delay.
"It stinks, but we have another doubleheader to add to the mix," Lester said.
The Cubs return to PNC Park on Sept. 15-17. There is an off-day on Sept. 14, but that would force the Pirates to play on 30 consecutive days and necessitate approval by the Major League Baseball Players Association.
None of the statistics from the first four innings will count, and the game will start over.
