All of a sudden, the new goal is 22.
Greg Maddux won his 19th game, mowing down a team that purported to be the New York Mets 10-1, and even before he left the field, his manager and his pitching coach were juggling things so he could have a shot at winning 22.
”We`re going to pitch him three more times,” said manager Jim Lefebvre. ”I want him to get 22. Heck, the goal is to win the Cy Young Award. He deserves it and we`d like to see him get it.”
To that end, Lefebvre and pitching coach Billy Connors decided to take Maddux out of Monday night`s 10-1 blowout early and move up his next start to Friday against the Expos in Montreal.
By doing that, Maddux can come back and pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates Sept. 30, and squeeze in yet another start against the Expos at Wrigley Field Oct. 4, the last day of the season.
Lefebvre said he would go with those plans regardless of whether Maddux wins his 20th game Friday. He said 21 or 22 wins would enhance Maddux`s chances of winning the Cy Young Award over Atlanta`s Tom Glavine.
”Whatever Jimmy and Billy want is fine with me,” said Maddux, who threw only 78 pitches and had the luxury of a 10-1 lead when he left after seven innings.
”Sure, I`m thinking about 20 now that I`ve got 19. Now is the time to build on everything I`ve done all season.”
If he does get there, Maddux will become the 47th 20-game winner in Cubs history. The last pitcher to win 20 in a season for the Cubs was Rick Reuschel in 1977. Rick Sutcliffe was 20-6 in 1984, but four of his wins came with the Cleveland Indians before he was traded to the Cubs.
Not to take anything away from Maddux, but half the pitchers in the National League would be 20-game winners if they faced a lineup like the one the Mets had Monday night.
The first three batters in the Mets` batting order came into the game hitting under .180. Seven of the nine starters were batting under .210. And eight of the nine were rookies.
They fared about as well as you would expect against a pitcher who has held real big-league hitters to just a .207 average this season.
Maddux (19-11) struck out six, didn`t walk anyone and never trailed.
By the time he walked to the mound in the bottom of the first, the Cubs were ahead 1-0 on singles by Doug Dascenzo, Andre Dawson and Derrick May.
The Mets answered with a run off Maddux in the bottom of the first when rookie Pat Howell reached on a bunt single, went to second on a groundout and scored on a single by Chris Donnels.
The victory was the third in a row for Maddux, who lowered his earned-run average to 2.24, second-best in the league behind San Francisco`s Bill Swift
(2.08).
Maddux leads the league in innings pitched (252 2/3) and is second only to Glavine in wins. Glavine became a 20-game winner last month but has missed his last two starts with a sore side. He is scheduled to pitch again Thursday. With all the excitement about Maddux closing in on 20 wins, Dawson almost was overlooked Monday night. He went 2 for 4 and collected the 2,500th hit of his career-a milestone that even stirred the Mets fans to a a standing ovation.
”Man, 2,500 hits, what can you say?” said Lefebvre. ”That`s a real testimony to the man. Most people don`t even get 2,500 at-bats in a career.”
