Good Greg, bad Greg: Don Zimmer on Greg Maddux, who Monday night (six innings, five hits, two runs) and again Saturday (5 1/3 innings, six hits, three runs) finally looked like the Maddux of last year`s first half: ”I cannot see any difference in Maddux except where he throws the ball. We looked at film. Somebody said, `Well, maybe he`s standing up straighter than he was last year.` We checked all that. There`s no difference. The velocity of his ball is no different. He just hasn`t made the pitches that he`d like to make.”
Pitching coach Dick Pole agrees with Zimmer and adds another element:
”He hasn`t gotten away with a mistake all spring long or in the first three games. That`s a little bit of bad luck, but he has to not make those mistakes.
”But the biggest problem he`s got right now is everybody`s always asking him what`s wrong with him. I don`t think everybody in the world is asking Frank Viola what`s wrong with him, or everybody in the world is asking Roger Clemens why he`s just 2-0.”
– He likes it, but . . .: Maddux is hooked on Nintendo. His favorite game? ”Right now,” Maddux said, ”it`s Ninja. It takes a lot of skill.”
Are you any good?
Said Maddux, ”No.”
– Cubs on the run: They were ninth in the National League in stolen bases last year. They were first in the league after Friday with 24, led by Mitch Webster`s six. Opponents had stolen just 10 bases on Joe Girardi and Rick Wrona.
”I want guys on this club to run when we`re in the right spot to run,”
Zimmer said. ”And when you`re playing good and you`re close in the ballgames, you can do a lot of things. Right now, that`s what we`re doing.”
– Cubs on the walk: They were last in the National League in bases on balls last season. They were a close eighth after Thursday, and five of the teams ahead of them had played more games.
Shawon Dunston has contributed. At his present rate, Dunston, who already has five, would finish the season with about 80 walks. In 1,752 at-bats before this season, he had a total of 66, 16 last year.
The difference? Dunston talked about one at-bat in a game last week.
”The count got to 2-0,” he said. ”I was looking just for an inside pitch (to drive). I didn`t get it and it was away, and I thought, `Wow. I really did that?` I almost swung at it, too.
”I`ve never really walked, but I know I can walk 30, 40, 50 times a year. I know I can. If I can strike out 108 times (last year`s total), I should at least walk 50.”
– Hitchcock was fun, too: Zimmer was talking about Mitch Williams.
”He`s fun. He`s been fun ever since he`s joined this club. He`s been nothing but fun. He`s a fun guy to be around, and not just because he`s pitching well. He was that way from Day 1 in spring training.”
– He fakes, he fakes: If Rick Sutcliffe ever has runners on first and third, and if the runner on first is reasonably quick, count on seeing Sutcliffe fake a pickoff throw to third, followed by a throw, or a fake throw, to first. Then count on somebody wondering why he does it when it never seems to fool anybody.
”I know I caught a couple of people when (manager) Gene Michael was here,” Sutcliffe said. ”But it`s not necessarily designed to pick the guy off. It`s designed to keep the guy from trying to steal. So even if it doesn`t work, it does work.
”I know a lot people think that it`s a waste of time. A lot of times, it is. Believe me, I don`t do it just to kill time. If there wasn`t a reason for it, I certainly wouldn`t waste my effort going through the motion, because I know it looks stupid.”
– The way it was: At 32, Vance Law isn`t exactly a gramps. But he is a veteran on what, overall, is a young club, and as he watches kids such as Girardi and Jerome Walton mature, he sees in them a little bit of himself.
”I know when I first came to the big leagues, it was important to start to feel like I belonged in the big leagues,” Law said. ”These young guys right now are starting to feel like they`re good players and that the game is basically the same here, just at a little higher level.
”They`re starting to get that confidence that`s so important to be a major-league baseball player.”
– Not much out there: Looking for free-agent hitting help? Looking for 27 homers and 140 RBIs?
Thad Bosley, George Hendrick, Larry Herndon, Don Baylor, Jim Morrison, Jerry Royster, Ozzie Virgil, Graig Nettles and Harry Spilman.
All were free agents after the 1988 season. All are still out there, unsigned. Somewhere.
Just last year, they hit 27 homers, drove in 140 runs.
Combined.
– At least Broglio pitched: Remember last December when the Cubs and the Yankees were talking about trading a certain top starting pitcher for a certain top outfielder?
If you want to see a grown man smile, ask front-office boss Jim Frey if he`s glad he didn`t trade Sutcliffe (4-0) for the injured Dave Winfield
(.000).
