Joe Maddon played a big role in two recent Cub losses, in fairly meaningful games, by making the same mistakes over and over again and never learning from this. If you scroll down and read the posts below, you will see prior evidence of exactly what I am talking about regarding these two games. Here are the two recent examples of what I am referring to.
The Cubs played the Mets tonight. The game is fairly meaningful, because after going 7-0 against the Mets last year, the Cubs were swept in the playoffs and lost the first 4 games to the Mets this year, meaning 8 straight losses. The Cubs won last night, and a win tonight would have made a statement. The game was tied 1-1, and Strop pitched the top of the 8th inning for the Cubs. They showed Rondon warming up in the bullpen, and I immediately made the statement that Maddon, instead of bringing back Strop for the 9th if the game was still tied, would bring in Rondon, and he’d give up a run and the Cubs would lose 2-1. If you read the posts below, you will see that when Maddon brings Rondon in the game in these non-save situations, he gives up a run. His mentality is to pitch with the save on the line. How many times will Maddon do this until he realizes it fails? Of course, Rondon gave up a run and the Cubs lost 2-1.
On July 9, the Cubs played the Pirates. The Cubs had been losing a lot the last few weeks, and the Pirates are one of the teams in their division that is trying to catch them. In the bottom of the 4th inning, the score was 5-5, and the Pirates had runners on second and third with 2 outs. McCutchen was up, followed by a .250 hitter. As I’ve pointed out in the posts below, not only does McCutchen hurt the Cubs and has for years, but he has come through in these situations in the past. I immediately said you have to walk him. Maddon pitches to him, he singles in two runs, and the 7-5 Pirate lead resulted in a Pirate victory. How many times will Maddon pitch to McCutchen in these situations and get burned before he understands you don’t let the other team’s best or hottest hitter beat you, or the hitter that has a history of doing so?