May 29, 2017

Daily Herald, Batting average not an issue for Chicago Cubs' Maddon http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20170528/batting-average-not-an-issue-for-chicago-cubs-maddon

Daily Herald, Chicago Cubs not worried after getting swept http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20170528/chicago-cubs-not-worried-after-getting-swept

Daily Herald, Rozner: Are Cubs next up to repeat as champs? http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20170528/rozner-are-cubs-next-up-to-repeat-as-champs

Daily Herald, Imrem: Whole seasons once were intercepted for military service http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20170528/imrem-whole-seasons-once-were-intercepted-for-military-service

Cubs.com, Hendricks looks to stay hot in San Diego http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/232944024/hendricks-cosart-line-up-for-opener/?topicId=26688836

Cubs.com, Cubs drop Sunday slugfest in LA http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/232940910/dodgers-hit-four-home-runs-to-sweep-cubs/?topicId=27118368

Cubs.com, Rizzo leads #ASGWorthy power display http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/232945634/anthony-rizzo-hits-one-of-3-cubs-homers/?topicId=27118368

Cubs.com, Cubs expect Zo to return for Padres opener http://m.cubs.mlb.com/news/article/232940900/ben-zobrist-poised-to-return-to-cubs-lineup/?topicId=27118368

ESPNChicago.com, The biggest surprise for the 2017 Cubs? A struggling rotation http://www.espn.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/_/id/44391/the-biggest-surprise-for-the-2017-cubs-a-struggling-rotation

ESPNChicago.com, Kris Bryant: Cubs have 'no reason to worry' over 25-24 start http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/19486991/chicago-cubs-say-slow-start-offers-no-need-worry

CSNChicago.com, Stranger Than Fiction: Dodgers Sweep Cubs As Lester Vs. Kershaw Doesn’t Live Up To Expectations http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/stranger-fiction-dodgers-sweep-cubs-lester-vs-kershaw-doesnt-live-expectations

CSNChicago.com, Joe Maddon Has No Choice But To Ignore The Noise And Put His Faith In Young Cubs Lineup: ‘If You Want To Freak Out, Freak Out’ http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/joe-maddon-has-no-choice-ignore-noise-and-put-his-faith-young-cubs-lineup-if-you-want

CSNChicago.com, How Patient Will Cubs Be With Ian Happ And The Rookie Learning Curve? http://www.csnchicago.com/chicago-cubs/learning-curve-ian-happ-and-how-long-cubs-will-stick-rookie-mlb

Chicago Tribune, Jon Lester frustrated after his start in 9-4 loss to Dodgers: 'Just wasted a whole day' http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-jon-lester-cubs-dodgers-20170528-story.html#nt=oft03a-1la1

Chicago Tribune, Cubs humbled in all facets after being swept by Dodgers http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-dodgers-spt-0529-20170528-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Joe Maddon avoids information overload for Cubs' struggling young hitters http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-hitters-struggling-notes-spt-0529-20170528-story.html

Chicago Tribune, Ben Zobrist targeting Monday return to Cubs lineup http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-cubs-ben-zobrist-20170528-story.html

Chicago Sun-Times, How long will Cubs let prospect Ian Happ struggle in big leagues? http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/how-long-will-cubs-let-prospect-ian-happ-struggle-in-big-leagues/

Chicago Sun-Times, Stranger than fiction: Cubs pound Kershaw, get swept in L.A. anyway http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/stranger-than-fiction-cubs-pound-kershaw-get-swept-in-l-a-anyway/

Chicago Sun-Times, Glove connection: Still waiting for bats, Cubs closer to best in field http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/glove-connection-still-waiting-for-bats-cubs-closer-to-best-in-field/

Chicago Sun-Times, Jake Arrieta’s agent is painting a pretty picture only he sees http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/jake-arrietas-agent-is-painting-a-pretty-picture-only-he-sees/

-- Daily Herald Batting average not an issue for Chicago Cubs' Maddon By Bruce Miles LOS ANGELES -- Proponents of advanced statistics say to ignore batting average, at least for the most part. Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Sunday he's been doing that for decades. The Cubs as a team entered the day ranked 12th in the National League in batting average (.239). They were seventh in on-base percentage, and ninth in both slugging percentage and OPS. "Even as a young hitting instructor, which I was in the late '80s, I'd walk into the different clubhouses," Maddon said. "I'd get the stat sheet, and I would cross out batting average, and I'd have them look at their walks, strikeouts, runs scored, RBIs and on-base percentage. I'd have them look at that and never look at (batting average). "I didn't have all the intel we have right now. I didn't understand exactly where I was coming from, but I knew that. Yeah, it's about scoring more runs. Of course, normally when you get more hits, you probably are going to score more runs. That's normally part of the evening." Is there any comparison? Joe Maddon is in his third year of managing the Cubs. Earlier in his career, he was a coach with the Dodgers' neighbors, the Angels. So does Dodgers-Angels have the same bite as Cubs vs. White Sox?

"Yes and no," he said. "Anaheim vs. L.A. Is two disparate points, whereas Chicago is Chicago. You have two teams in the same city, a longer fan base with the White Sox versus the Cubs. I think there's a little bit more at stake there, in a sense. "Once the Angels won the World Series (2002), it got a little bit more involved here, I thought, although part of that was there was never interleague play (before 1997). You played them in the Freeway Series (before the regular season started). "It was always kind of fun. I think once interleague play got going, it might have stirred it up a bit. But I think the Angels winning the World Series actually put them over top of the Dodgers for a bit. I don't know exactly where it's at right now. "But two different worlds, this compared to Orange County, the type of following." Zobrist hopeful of return: Infielder-outfielder Ben Zobrist said he expects to be in Monday's starting lineup at San Diego after not starting Saturday or Sunday because of a sore left wrist. "If he's good to go," Joe Maddon said. "I thought it was not wise to push him today based on everything he's been saying. I try to read him as well as I can. If you don't mess with him today, then we should have him for a while. So let's not mess with him." -- Daily Herald Chicago Cubs not worried after getting swept By Bruce Miles LOS ANGELES -- Various members of the Chicago Cubs had the same response to the expected fan backlash over a sluggish start to the season. We've reached the traditional Memorial Day milepost, and the Cubs are an underwhelming 25-24. Even in Sunday's bright California sunshine, the holiday weekend was on its way to being a complete washout. The Cubs fell 9-4 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who swept this three-game series. Making it worse for the Cubs was that they knocked Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw out of the game after just 4⅓ innings. But Cubs ace Jon Lester made it through only 3⅓, as he gave up 6 runs on a pair of 3-run homers. So let the panic ensue. "Oh, please, go ahead and freak out," manager Joe Maddon said with a smile. "If you want to freak out, freak out." Third baseman Kris Bryant had a similar response. "Sweet," he said. "We're not panicking. Everybody has their thoughts. I guess it's just natural, just as humans. Even baseball players, when something bad happens, sometimes we speed it up and it ends up compiling on the things, and it just gets worse. There's none of that here. "I don't see any reason to worry, especially given what we did last year. You can't really take anything for granted, I guess." Of course, what the Cubs did last year was win the World Series, including beating the Dodgers in the National League championship series.

This current bunch of Dodgers outscored these Cubs 18-4 in the series. All credit to the Dodgers, but the Cubs haven't been doing much to help themselves. They rallied from a 6-1 deficit to chase Kershaw and make it a 6-4 game in the fourth inning on a solo home run by Javier Baez and a 2-run blast by Anthony Rizzo. Willson Contreras earlier hit a solo homer. But the Cubs also left 11 men on base and were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They haven't had a run-scoring hit that has not been a home run since a week ago Sunday. The bulk of the scoring has come via the longball, with the odd sacrifice fly or run-scoring error tossed in. On Sunday, the Cubs had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth, but Baez had an undisciplined at-bat and struck out before Bryant struck out to end the threat. "We've got to score the runner from third with less than two outs with something other than a home run," Maddon said. "We're just hitting home runs to score runs. We have to become more efficient at just moving the baseball. I've been talking about it for three years now. I think that's a malady that not only afflicts us but also other teams. "Young hitters, you have to get to the point where you move the baseball and make adjustments, middle of the field, opposite field. Get the home run out of your head. If it happens, it happens." Lester was coming off a complete-game victory in his previous start. He allowed a 3-run homer to Cody Bellinger in the second and another to Kiké Hernandez in the third. Lester said he's not worried about the Cubs going on a big run. "We just have to play," said Lester, who fell to 3-3 with a 3.86 ERA. "You can't worry about a run. You can't worry about showing up and trying to go 9 before you throw a first pitch. You can't worry about trying to go 3-for-4 before your first at-bat. Worry about today. Obviously today's over but tomorrow we'll show up and worry about a task at hand. "You can't worry about a run. You can't make runs happen. You can't make anything happen in this game. Sometimes it's better to kind of sit back and let things come to you. You're not pressing. You're not grinding. You're not doing things you don't need to be doing. "We've got a good team. It's just a matter of showing up day in and day out and putting the work in. It'll come. It'll click. We've had spurts, and that's been great. We just have to worry about, first, tomorrow and go from there." -- Daily Herald Rozner: Are Cubs next up to repeat as champs? By Barry Rozner The Los Angeles Kings just had the most successful six-year stretch in the history of the franchise. They averaged 96 points in non-lockout years and won two Stanley Cups with three straight trips to the conference finals. So, naturally, they fired GM Dean Lombardi and coach Darryl Sutter, the 11th-winningest coach of all time who may be headed for the Hall of Fame, or is perhaps one more successful coaching stint from getting there. But NHL boss Gary Bettman doesn't want teams to win consistently, something Sutter talked about a year ago, after the Kings lost in the first round.

"When you're a good team and you lose a good player or two, they're hard to replace," Sutter said. "When you win Cups, or you're near the top of the league year after year, you pick late (in the draft) and you don't have kids you can just plug in and take that spot. "That's just how it's set up. Not much room for error." That's why it's been 20 years since an NHL team went back-to-back. Since the advent of the cap, when Bettman wiped out the 2004-05 season with a lockout, only three teams have reached the Stanley Cup Final in consecutive seasons, the Penguins and Red Wings in 2008-09 and the Penguins right now. It's a tribute to Sidney Crosby that the Penguins have done it, and now we'll see if they can repeat against a younger and faster Nashville team. So Pittsburgh has a chance and so do the Cleveland Cavaliers, though they are a huge underdog against the loaded Golden State Warriors. It's been a long time for a repeat champ in the NHL, MLB and NFL, but it happens all the time in the NBA, where Miami just did it a few years ago. It is the easiest league to do it because it's a star-driven league where the team with the best players wins most seasons. The same can't be said of the other leagues. It hasn't happened in baseball since the Yankees' dynasty ended with Arizona's dramatic ninth-inning comeback in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. It hasn't happened in the NFL since the Patriots in 2005, and now New England has another chance this year. But you wonder if can really happen in a league where cap-era attrition is so brutal. As for baseball, the Cubs and Indians are off to decidedly mediocre starts, hardly a surprise giving the taxing nature of long postseason runs and the stress it puts on a pitching staff. Both teams have plenty of time to get it together, but it's a long and debilitating run and they have much work to do before they can think about getting back to the Fall Classic. The Patriots are more than three months away from even starting their season. But the Penguins and Cavs need only 4 victories to repeat, as the question arises daily about which team in which sport will be the next to go back-to-back. So who has the best chance? Well, Cleveland's task feels overwhelming, given how strong Golden State looks through a few easy rounds of the postseason, and the way in which the Warriors have destroyed opponents. Of course, it felt that way at 3-1 a year ago, and no team with LeBron James can ever be counted out. He is a franchise unto himself. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is heavily favored against Nashville, which seems like a surprise considering how beat up the Penguins are at the moment. Do they have enough on defense to compete with Nashville's speed?

Nashville is also plenty beat up at the moment, which is also not a surprise. Surviving three rounds of NHL playoffs is merely that, survival. Forced to pick, the selections here are Golden State and Nashville, which would leave it up to the Cubs and Patriots as the next teams to have a chance. It just feels like such a long way away for both, and so much has to go right for them to have another opportunity at the big prize. Daunting indeed. -- Daily Herald Imrem: Whole seasons once were intercepted for military service By Mike Imrem Chicago Cubs slugger Kris Bryant was the National League rookie of the year in 2015 and most valuable player in 2016. Bryant also recorded an assist on the final out of last year's baseball season to secure the Cubs' first World Series title since 1908. Now try to imagine -- oh, no! -- Bryant having to leave baseball this year and next to serve in the United States military. That's how Yale Lary's career arc went in the 1950s. The former Detroit Lions safety didn't go to war in some faraway place, but he did lose two NFL seasons to the Army. Lary died a couple of weeks ago at 86, and the fourth paragraph of his Associated Press obituary might interest you on this Memorial Day. "Mr. Lary had 50 interceptions during an 11-year career that was interrupted during the 1950s by service in the Army." That's stunning in the context of today's sports world. Current premier athletes don't lose time to military service unless they attended one of the military academies. Instead of sending men off to the Armed Forces, and maybe into combat, sports leagues play the national anthem, introduce veterans at games and express how much they "appreciate what our troops do to protect us." For Bryant, two years in the Army would cost him something like 70 or 80 home runs and a few million dollars. For an accountant or truck driver or plumber, two years represent about 5 percent of their careers. For an NFL player, two years out of what overall would have been Lary's 13-year career represent about 15 percent. Try to wrap your minds around a great athlete like Lary going from the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Texas A&M to the Lions for two years to the Army for two years back to the Lions for nine more years. Heck, many athletes today don't even know what ROTC is, and you have to be around 50 years old to remember how the military draft disrupted the lives of young Americans. After 1953-54 with the Lions, Lary was a reservist called to active duty for 1955-56.

Lary was such an outstanding football player that he still made the Pro Bowl nine times, the league's all-decade team of the 1950s and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Not to single out Kris Bryant, but he is similar in baseball to what Yale Lary was in football. Bryant won a World Series with the Cubs to cap his second major-league season; Lary won NFL titles with the Lions during his first two seasons. Can you even start to envision Bryant serving in the Army during what otherwise would be his third and fourth Cubs seasons? Me neither. That's what makes Pat Tillman such an exceptional exception for leaving the Arizona Cardinals in 2002, becoming an Army Ranger and dying in Afghanistan. I recall Lary playing against the Bears but don't recall a big deal being made of him going from the NFL to the Army back to the NFL. It was a path many athletes had to take in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. On this holiday -- every day, for that matter -- we should honor all those like Yale Lary who exchanged for however long the number on his uniform for the one on his dog tags. Especially remember on Memorial Day the men and women who weren't fortunate enough to make it back alive and resume their civilian careers. -- Cubs.com Hendricks looks to stay hot in San Diego By AJ Cassavell Cubs right-hander Kyle Hendricks has settled into a nice groove over his last six starts. The Padres are looking for Jarred Cosart to do the same when the two pitchers square off at Petco Park for Monday's series opener. Hendricks, coming off seven innings of two-run ball last week vs. San Francisco, has posted a 1.96 ERA since mid-April. In five career starts against San Diego, Hendricks owns a 1.56 ERA and a .189 batting average against. The Cubs have won four of those games. Opposite Hendricks is Cosart, who has been plagued by injuries and bad luck since coming to the Padres before the non-waiver Trade Deadline last season. In that span, the right-hander has missed time with groin, elbow and hamstring ailments. The injuries have prevented Cosart from finding any type of a rhythm in that span. And sure enough, he took a line drive off his right foot on the first pitch of his most recent start. X-rays were negative, but it undoubtedly affected Cosart, who lasted just 2 2/3 innings and allowed four runs. Largely because of the injuries, Cosart has yet to throw more than 74 pitches in a game this season. Things to know about this game • In six games against the Padres last season, Ben Zobrist went 12-for-22 with three walks and six RBIs. Zobrist is expected to be back in the Cubs' lineup after not starting the last two games because of a sore left wrist. Meanwhile, Addison Russell went 7-for-20 with six extra-base hits while facing the Friars in 2016.

• With the Padres slated for a cross-country flight Sunday evening before an afternoon game on Monday, the club sent Cosart back to San Diego following his workout Saturday. • The Cubs won four of the six meetings between the two clubs last year. Before that, Chicago hadn't won a season series against the Padres since 2008. -- Cubs.com Cubs drop Sunday slugfest in LA By Carrie Muskat and Joshua Thornton LOS ANGELES -- In a marquee pitching matchup between Clayton Kershaw and Jon Lester, it was all about the hitting. Rookie Cody Bellinger, Kiké Hernandez, Austin Barnes and Yasiel Puig each homered for the Dodgers in a 9-4 victory Sunday to complete a sweep of the Cubs, who belted three home runs of their own. If someone had told Cubs manager Joe Maddon that both Kershaw and Lester would struggle, and the two teams would combine for 22 hits off the power lefties, he wouldn't have believed them. "It sounds like fiction to me, but it happened," Maddon said. "I have not seen [Kershaw] like that. We were on him. It's just one of those days. Both of them are very good, they're outstanding and neither one had a good day and [the Dodgers] got us." Both Lester and Kershaw had their shortest outings of the season. Kershaw served up three homers for the second time this year, throwing 109 pitches over 4 1/3 innings. In fact, Kershaw was the only Dodgers pitcher to allow run the series. The Dodgers' bullpen entered the game with a 2.81 ERA, the lowest in the National League, and they stifled the Cubs after Kershaw exited, striking out six without allowing a hit. "Their bullpen, it felt like every pitch was right there at the top of the strike zone," said Kris Bryant. "Every single one to all of us. It was unbelievable." Lester, who was coming off his first complete game of the season, was gone after 3 1/3 innings. The Cubs lefty served up a pair of three-run homers for the second time in his career. He also did so Aug. 20, 2010, against the Blue Jays. "I think it was billed that it was going to be a pitchers' duel," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. "I think we're a pretty good hitting ballclub, as are they, but two good guys took the mound, the ball was flying." Bellinger hit the Dodgers' first homer on Sunday, giving them a 3-1 lead in the second and becoming the fastest player in club history to reach 10 career home runs, doing so in his 31st game. The Cubs were shut out in the first two games of the series, and totaled five hits. They had 11 hits on Sunday, including home runs by Willson Contreras, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo. At 108.7 mph, Rizzo's home run was the hardest-hit ball off Kershaw this season, according to Statcast™. The Cubs have not driven in a run on a hit other than a homer in the last week. "We have to become more efficient moving the baseball," Maddon said. "That's a malady that not only affects us, but other teams' young hitters. You have to get to the point where you just move the baseball, make adjustments, [hit to the] middle of the field, opposite field." MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Twice as nice: The Dodgers posted their second straight three-spot in the third, with Hernandez's three-run shot giving the Dodgers a 6-1 lead. According to Statcast™, the home run traveled 414 feet and had an exit velocity of 108 mph. Staying ahead: Puig, who was not in the starting lineup but pinch-hit in the first inning after Franklin Gutierrez was pulled with an illness, put the game out reach with his two-run homer in the seventh, giving Los Angeles a 9-4 advantage. Puig's shot was projected to travel 450 feet, his longest in the Statcast™ era. He also made an impressive catch in foul territory to erase Rizzo in the sixth. SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Contreras hit his fifth homer of the season after a 12-pitch at-bat against Kershaw in the second. According to Baseball-Reference.com, the last Cubs player to go deep after a 12-pitch at-bat was Mike Fontenot, who homered on the 12th pitch of his at-bat, April 27, 2009, off the D-backs' Dan Haren. QUOTABLE "We just have to play for today. You can't worry about [going on] a run, you can't worry about showing up and trying to go nine [innings] before you throw the first pitch, you can't worry about trying to go 3-for-4 before your first at-bat. You can't worry about [going on] a run, you can't make runs happen. You can't make anything happen in this game. We have a good team. It's just a matter of showing up day in and day out and putting our work in. It'll come, it'll click. We've had little spurts, and that's been great. We just have to worry about tomorrow and go from there." – Lester "It's huge to sweep. If you look at the homestand, some pretty good ballclubs that we played well against. … The Cubs are the current world champions, and to play well against those guys, there's a little validation there, I guess." – Roberts UPON FURTHER REVIEW The Cubs had runners at first and second in the first when Rizzo hit a grounder to short and the Dodgers tried to turn two. They got the force at second, and Rizzo was called out at first, but the Cubs challenged the ruling, and the call was overturned after a review. WHAT'S NEXT Cubs: Kyle Hendricks will open the Cubs' three-game series against the Padres on Monday. The right-hander notched his third straight quality start in his last outing, a win over the Giants in which he went a season-high seven innings. He's 3-1 with a 1.96 ERA in his last six starts. First pitch is scheduled for 3:40 p.m. CT. Dodgers: The Dodgers hit the road for seven games, beginning with a four-game series against the Cardinals. Rich Hill will start Monday's opener and try to bounce back from his previous start against the Cardinals, when he issued a career-high seven walks. First pitch is slated for 11:15 a.m. PT. -- Cubs.com Rizzo leads #ASGWorthy power display By Carrie Muskat LOS ANGELES -- It's been home runs or nothing for the Cubs over the last week, and they continued that trend on Sunday. Anthony Rizzo, Willson Contreras and Javier Baez each went deep off Clayton Kershaw, of all pitchers, but it wasn't enough as the Dodgers posted a 9-4 win to complete a sweep.

In the Cubs' last seven games, they've scored 22 runs, and 17 of those have come on home runs. The other five have been because of a wild pitch, error or sacrifice fly. No RBI doubles, no clutch singles, no run-producing hits other than homers. A perfect example came in the fifth inning on Sunday. The Cubs trailed, 6-4, and Addison Russell and Albert Almora Jr. both singled with no outs, then advanced on Mike Montgomery's sacrifice bunt. But Baez and Kris Bryant both struck out on 96- and 97-mph fastballs, respectively, from Josh Fields to end the threat. "We have to score the runner from third with less than two outs with something other than a home run," manager Joe Maddon said. "We're just hitting home runs to score runs. We have to become more efficient moving the baseball. That's a malady that not only affects us but other teams' young hitters. "You have to get to the point where you just move the baseball, make adjustments, middle of the field, opposite field. Get the home run out of your head and if it happens, it happens. We just got too big there." The Cubs were happy to make any kind of contact after being shut out in the first two games of the series, mustering five hits total. On Sunday, Rizzo's blast -- a two-run shot in the fourth -- was the third homer of his career off Kershaw, including one in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. He's now tied for the second-most home runs off the Dodgers ace, one behind Adam Dunn (four). According to Statcast™, Rizzo's blast also was the hardest hit off Kershaw this season (108.7 mph). Contreras battled Kershaw in a 12-pitch at-bat in the second, which ended with a homer to right center. Baez hit a solo shot leading off the fourth. Those were three of the 11 hits off Kershaw, which tied a career high. Once Kershaw exited, it wasn't any easier, as the Dodgers' bullpen turned in a scoreless effort for the third straight game. "From our perspective, we have to learn to lay off certain pitches," Maddon said. "They're not strikes; they're balls. We have to get to the next pitch more in our zone. I really anticipate we'll make those adjustments by the end of the season." So, don't panic. That was Bryant's message. "We're not panicking," Bryant said. "Everybody has their thoughts and I guess it's just natural as humans that when something bad happens, sometimes you speed it up and that ends up compiling on things and it gets even worse. There's none of that here. I don't see any reason to worry, especially given what we did last year. You can't really take anything for granted I guess." If you flash back to Game 3 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium last October, which the Cubs lost to fall behind, 2-1, in the best of seven series, Bryant said something very similar. As most Cubs fans know, the team rallied and eventually won the World Series. "You're going to have your good years, your bad years, your good starts, your bad starts," Bryant said. "This is obviously a pretty average start, it's not a terrible start. We've spoiled ourselves with last year and that start, but I guess it's a good thing to have those expectations because we all do, too." -- Cubs.com Cubs expect Zo to return for Padres opener By Carrie Muskat LOS ANGELES -- Ben Zobrist did not start for the second day on Sunday to give his left wrist more time to heal, but he and manager Joe Maddon expects the veteran back in the Cubs' lineup on Monday in San Diego. Zobrist injured his wrist during a swing on Friday in the first game of the Cubs' series against the Dodgers.

"It tightened up and got more sore," Zobrist said Sunday. "I think I'll be good to go [Monday]." "I thought it was not wise to push him today," Maddon said. "If you don't mess with him today, you should have him for a while." Your move, Happ How does Maddon gauge how a young player is progressing? "[By] how he reacts to bad moments," Maddon said. "If the guy starts kind of losing his mind a little bit, then you back off of him. If he's able to handle the adversity, then you stay with it." For example, Ian Happ batted .333 during his first six games in the big leagues, hitting two home runs, two doubles and striking out six times. In his last seven games, Happ hit .217 with two doubles, one triple and one RBIs and 11 K's. "I have no preconceived notions on how long to stick with somebody or not," Maddon said. "Everybody looks good when they're going good. How do you look when you're going badly? That's what sets a guy apart." Maddon said teams most likely didn't have much of a scouting report on Happ when he was promoted from Triple-A Iowa. Now, they've got a better read on the rookie. "Now it's up to him to adjust," Maddon said. "That's what I've been seeing this whole series. [The Dodgers] have pitched well against us. ... They're not giving us our pitches and we're not adjusting to it." Maddon expects Schwarber to rebound Maddon also said he's talked to Kyle Schwarber, who was batting .178. He doesn't want Schwarber to pay attention to any outside noise or overreaction. "The best I can do is talk to the player himself, which I've done with 'Schwarbs,'" Maddon said. "That's just the nature of the industry. That's part of it. "I thought his at-bats [Saturday] were better. You ask the player to not pay attention. With all the tablets and whatever the different sources are available to follow what's going on, it's almost inevitable they'll hear or read something. You've got to stay positive with them." When Maddon was a hitting instructor with the Angels, he would cross off players' batting averages to focus on walks, strikeouts, runs scored, RBIs and on-base percentage. "Right now, the best explanation I can offer is we're hitting young," he said of the Cubs' offensive struggles. "If you look at the end of last season and how well they performed under those circumstances, I believe we'll get back to that. "These guys will get it together. That moment is coming. These guys are good." -- ESPNChicago.com The biggest surprise for the 2017 Cubs? A struggling rotation By Jesse Rogers LOS ANGELES -- What’s the biggest Memorial Day surprise besides the Chicago Cubs' 25-24 record? It has to be their starting staff, which ranks ninth in ERA (4.50) in the National League after a six-run outing by their ace, Jon Lester, on Sunday and a total of 15 runs given up in 14⅓ innings by the team’s three starters in a weekend sweep by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Lester said it simply -- and best -- after a 9-4 loss on Sunday. “When you’re able to get runs off [Johnny] Cueto and [Clayton] Kershaw, you can’t waste them,” Lester said inside the Cubs' clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. The Cubs and Lester did exactly that -- they wasted a good opportunity against Kershaw after beating Cueto a few days earlier. They chased the lefty after just 4⅓ innings and four runs given up, including three home runs. The Cubs had 11 hits off of him. That combination of hits and home runs has never happened to Kershaw in a game. Ever. Yet Lester, staked with a lead, couldn’t hold on. He gave up two three-run home runs, and the Dodgers never looked back. “Not good,” Lester said. “Nothing was really sharp. Didn’t have command of my fastball. Just inconsistent.” Inconsistent is the word used most often this year to describe a starting staff that put up historic numbers a season ago on the way to the team winning 103 games. A bit of regression was inevitable, but seeing rotations in Arizona, Milwaukee and even Colorado faring better in comparison has been quite alarming for the Cubs. “The starting pitching was not to our standards,” Maddon said of the first weeks of the season. The bar has been lowered so much that when the rotation puts together just a few quality starts, it feels like a turnaround is at hand. In reality, the staff's ERAs tell a different story. John Lackey's ERA is above 5.00 (5.18) while Jake Arrieta's isn’t far behind (4.92). Kyle Hendricks (3.25) and Lester (3.86) and are holding down the fort -- save for Sunday’s performance. The less said about Brett Anderson's forgetful two starts the better. Lester’s description of his latest outing could sum up the Cubs' season on the mound so far: “Felt like when we made pitches they found bad parts of the bat,” he declared. The rotation has given up 39 home runs in 49 games, so their pitches have been finding bad parts of the bat for a while now. And that’s well ahead of their pace from one season ago when they gave up 108 in 162 games. And though it's perhaps not fair to compare them to last season, it is fair to judge them based on the rest of the league. The team's starting pitching happens to be where most of the Cubs' salary is tied up as well. That’s not to say the rotation alone is to blame for the Cubs' woes. They’re hitting a league-low .217 with men in scoring position, and the defense is just now starting to come around. “We’re hitting young right now,” Maddon said before Sunday’s game. Maddon means his team is making youthful mistakes in the batter’s box. That’s fixable, but there is no simple fix to the rotation. Either the Cubs' top four starters start to resemble last season's version or this underwhelming start to the season will continue. Barring a trade, there isn’t anything the manager can do about it. The Cubs' best players on the mound have to be their best players, even when the offense sputters. “Back to work tomorrow,” Lester said. “Get back to the way I was throwing the ball prior to this.” The entire Cubs rotation should want the same. -- ESPNChicago.com Kris Bryant: Cubs have 'no reason to worry' over 25-24 start By Jesse Rogers

LOS ANGELES -- Cubs manager Joe Maddon is keeping calm while fans in Chicago might be "freaking out" over the team's 25-24 record as the calendar hits Memorial Day. After a weekend sweep at the hands of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Maddon was asked what to tell a nervous fan base. "Please, go ahead and freak out," he said with a smile. "If you want to freak out, freak out." The point he's trying to make -- along with his players -- is panic within the clubhouse won't do anyone any good, but fans can feel however they want. Of course, it doesn't help knowing the Cubs went 25-6 to start last season and then went on to win the World Series. "I don't see any reason to worry, especially given what we did last year," reigning National League MVP Kris Bryant said. "There is no need to worry. You're going to have your good years, you're going to have your bad years. Your good starts, your bad starts. This is an average start; it's not a terrible start. Sometimes it happens. We've spoiled ourselves with last year and that start. I guess it's a good thing to have those expectations because we do, too." Most of the team's problems stem from a starting staff that has been inconsistent this year, though they've been better lately. That wasn't the case on Sunday when Jon Lester -- coming off a complete-game win -- got lit up for a season-high three home runs in a 9-4 loss to the Dodgers. That came after the team was shut out in its first two games of the series. The Cubs have been swept three times this year after enduring that only twice all of last season. Lester was asked when the Cubs will go on a run. "You can't make anything happen in this game," he answered. "Sometimes it's better to sit back and let things come to you. You're not pressing, then. "We have a good team. It'll come. It'll click." Starting pitching is just one problem, albeit the most important one. At the plate, the Cubs have been way too one-dimensional. They're hitting home runs but that's all they're doing. In fact, it has been a full week since they had a run-scoring hit that wasn't a home run. For example, with the tying runs on second and third and one out in the fifth inning on Sunday -- and just after the Cubs had chased Clayton Kershaw -- they got no contact out of their next two hitters. Javier Baez struck out on a wild swing and then Bryant whiffed as well. "We have to score the runner from third with less than two outs with something other than a home run," a frustrated Maddon said. "We're just hitting home runs to score runs. We have to become more efficient moving the baseball. I've been talking about it for three years now." The Cubs rank last in hitting with runners in scoring position in the NL after going 0-for-14 over the weekend. For perspective, their .217 batting average is 10 points lower than the next worst team (San Diego), and a ridiculous 106 points lower than the best team (Colorado). "You have to get to the point where you move the ball and make adjustments," Maddon continued. "Middle of the field, opposite field, get the home run out of your head. If it happens, it happens. We just got too big there." Maddon and his players understand they got beat by a very good team that is playing really good baseball right now. The Dodgers did everything right and even survived one of the worst starts of Kershaw's career. "That was a pretty impressive pitching performance on all days," Bryant said. "We got to Kershaw a little bit. But their bullpen -- it just felt like every pitch was right there at the top of the strike zone to all of us. It was unbelievable." --

CSNChicago.com Stranger Than Fiction: Dodgers Sweep Cubs As Lester Vs. Kershaw Doesn’t Live Up To Expectations By Patrick Mooney LOS ANGELES – In a Cubs season that has already gone off script – or at least not followed the dynasty-in-waiting narrative – it made perfect sense that a Jon Lester vs. Clayton Kershaw matchup at Dodger Stadium would devolve into a slugfest and a bullpen battle. Randy Newman’s voice – “I Love L.A.” – echoed from the sound system late Sunday afternoon as the Dodgers put the finishing touches on a three-game sweep of the defending World Series champs. The Cubs led for one half-inning during this entire weekend and a Hollywood team will wake up in San Diego on Memorial Day with a 25-24 record. This 9-4 blowout again showed that the Dodgers should be a force in October. Forget about the way forward-thinking manager Dave Roberts basically tried to MacGyver his way through last year’s National League Championship Series with three pitchers: Kershaw, lefty curveball specialist Rich Hill and star closer Kenley Jansen. “That’s the big separator between what I saw last year and right now,” Cubs manager Joe Maddon said, “how they’re pitching.” This time it didn’t matter that the Cubs knocked Kershaw out in the middle of the fifth inning. Willson Contreras, Javier Baez and Anthony Rizzo launched home runs off Kershaw and the Cubs generated all of their 11 hits against the three-time Cy Young Award winner. This game still never really got tense or felt like the Dodgers were out of control. “It sounds like fiction to me, but it happened,” Maddon said. Kershaw still outlasted Lester, who dropped his head, stared at the grass and walked off the mound with one out and two runners on in the fourth inning. Lester (3-3, 3.86 ERA) – the sturdiest piece to a shaky rotation – put the Cubs in a 6-1 hole after giving up three-run homers to Cody Bellinger and Kike Hernandez. In back-to-back shutouts, the Dodgers (31-20) had already beaten a Cy Young Award winner dealing with questions about his velocity and looming free agency (Jake Arrieta) and a three-time World Series champion who is 38 years old and now has a 5.18 ERA (John Lackey). “It seems like they’re firing on all cylinders,” Lester said. “They played better than us all the way around this weekend.” Standing in the middle of a cramped visiting clubhouse, Lester sounded annoyed – “Put what together?” – after being asked when or how the Cubs will go on a run and start playing up to expectations. “We have to play for today,” Lester said. “You can’t worry about a run. You can’t worry about showing up and trying to go nine (innings) before you throw a first pitch. You can’t worry about trying to go 3-for-4 before your first at-bat. Worry about today. Worry about the task at hand. “You can’t worry about a run. You can’t make runs happen. Sometimes, it’s better to kind of sit back and let things come to you. You’re not pressing. You’re not grinding. You’re not doing things that you don’t need to be doing. “We got a good team. It’s just a matter of showing up, day in and day out, and putting the work in and it will come. It will click.” Take Kershaw out of the equation and the Cubs generated zero runs, five singles and no extra-base hits in 22.2 innings against Los Angeles pitching. The Dodgers only used Jansen in one non-save situation.

“You got to tip your cap to them,” reigning NL MVP Kris Bryant said. “That was a pretty impressive pitching performance on all days. I felt like we got to Kershaw a little bit. But their bullpen – it just felt like every pitch was right there at the top of the strike zone. Every single one. To all of us. It was unbelievable. “It felt like every guy they ran out there was throwing it right where they want.” Three games against a last-place Padres team tanking for the future should change the subject before the Cubs head home to Wrigley Field. But the Dodgers sure looked like the talented, balanced, hungry team that wants to take down the Cubs. “It’s always tougher the second time, because everybody’s gunning for you,” said Ben Zobrist, who should stabilize the lineup on Monday after missing two games with a sore left wrist. “Your expectations are even higher than they were before. “But this team is definitely equal to the task. That’s not the problem as much as we just got to get back to the fundamentals and execution of the little details in the game. And everything else kind of takes care of itself.” -- CSNChicago.com Joe Maddon Has No Choice But To Ignore The Noise And Put His Faith In Young Cubs Lineup: ‘If You Want To Freak Out, Freak Out’ By Patrick Mooney LOS ANGELES – A radio guy crammed into the manager’s office asked Joe Maddon what he would say to Cubs fans who might be freaking out at home. “Oh, please, let them freak out,” Maddon said after Sunday’s 9-4 loss at Dodger Stadium. “If you want to freak out, freak out.” After back-to-back shutouts and an emphatic three-game sweep that showed all the different ways the Dodgers can neutralize this lineup, Maddon has no choice but to block out the noise, trust all this young talent and believe in the players who delivered last October. Right around the time Theo Epstein was asked when the Cubs might consider sending Kyle Schwarber down to Triple-A Iowa, Ian Happ became the new shiny object for fans and the Chicago media. In less than 200 at-bats, Schwarber went from World Series legend to dropping from the leadoff spot to being a platoon player to getting shipped away in a fantasy-baseball trade for pitching. Unless the Cubs moved Javier Baez, because Gold Glove-caliber middle infielders on a 25-homer, 90-RBI pace just fall from trees. Not to mention someone already proven on the biggest stages as a National League Championship Series co-MVP and World Baseball Classic star. Even Happ is coming back down to earth as the league adjusts to him. The Cubs already played their top-prospect card for this season. “The best I can do is talk to the player himself, which I’ve done with ‘Schwarbs,’” Maddon said. “That’s just the nature of the industry. That’s a part of it that makes it so much fun, too, for the fan, the fact that they can interact and throw out their conjecture like that. “Internally, it has nothing to do with how we react to anything. And you have to talk to the player, because he’s always feeling these outside sources pressing down on him. He really shouldn’t, but they’re human beings. “How do you prevent that from really infiltrating? It’s just conversation with the guys themselves. That’s about it. You ask the player to really not pay attention and listen to that.

“But, again, with all the tablets and the different sources available to follow what’s going on, it’s almost inevitable they’re going to hear or read something. So you got to stay positive with them. And we have to have that conversation with them to maintain their confidence.” The Sunday lineup constructed to face Clayton Kershaw featured eight position players between the ages of 22 and 27: Baez, Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Happ, Jason Heyward, Willson Contreras, Addison Russell and Albert Almora Jr. A team built around offensive firepower woke up that morning ranked eighth and ninth in the NL in runs scored (231) and OPS (.736). A .222 batting average with runners in scoring position placed the Cubs 15th out of the NL’s 15 teams. “The best explanation I can offer is that we’re hitting young,” Maddon said. “You look at the end of last season and how well a lot of the guys that are struggling right now performed under those circumstances. I believe we’re going to come back and do that. “In the meantime, they need our support. They need our conversations, so nobody’s left in the dark or wondering what everybody’s thinking about around here. They need openness. And if you get that, they’ll come back.” The Cubs have bigger problems, like an inconsistent rotation that has kept this team hovering around .500 and prevented any real sense of momentum. This is still largely the same group of hitters that beat Johnny Cueto, outlasted Madison Bumgarner, eliminated Kershaw and wore down Corey Kluber during last year’s World Series run. “They’ll get it together,” Maddon said. “We haven’t even come close to hitting that real offensive ‘go’ moment. We haven’t been there and we’re still paddling pretty well. That moment’s coming. “Whether it’s Happ making adjustments, Contreras making adjustments, Addison making adjustments, these guys were pretty good at the end of last season in some really difficult moments, so they’ll be back.” -- CSNChicago.com How Patient Will Cubs Be With Ian Happ And The Rookie Learning Curve? By Patrick Mooney LOS ANGELES – The Cubs tried to downplay expectations at first with a top prospect, framing Ian Happ’s promotion from Triple-A Iowa as a short-term solution for a roster facing multiple injury issues. And then Happ blasted a two-run homer off Carlos Martinez – an All-Star/Opening Day starter for the Cardinals – in his big-league debut on May 13 and kept hitting to the point where he made it an easy decision for the Cubs to keep him around. After the initial burst – seven extra-base hits in his first eight games – the Cubs have watched Happ go 2-for-21 with 12 strikeouts in his last six games against the pitching-rich Giants and Dodgers. How much patience will the Cubs have with a rookie learning on the job? And what is manager Joe Maddon looking to see now? “How he reacts to bad moments,” Maddon said Sunday at Dodger Stadium, where the Cubs went scoreless for 19 straight innings and got swept out of this marquee three-game series. “If a guy starts kind of losing his mind a little bit, then you might have to back off of him. But if he’s able to handle the adversity well, then you kind of stay with it.

“I expect them all to struggle at different times. He’s probably done as good of a job adjusting over the last couple days to the way we’ve been pitched at as well as anybody. “I have no preconceived notions of how long to stick with somebody or not. I think it’s up to the player and how you react to the bad moments. “Because everybody looks good when they’re going good. How do you look when you’re going badly? That’s what really sets a guy apart. So far, I think he’s handled it really well, and he looked good at second base, too. The arm strength really plays there.” This hasn’t changed Happ’s stone-faced expression or stopped him from making an impression with his athleticism on the bases and that ability to move between the infield and multiple outfield spots. Happ is also a good student who analyzes video and notices how teams have gone from challenging him with off-speed stuff during his first week in The Show to firing more elevated fastballs in the second week. “With all the information that’s disseminated these days, the league adjusts to you quickly, and it’s your job to adjust back,” Happ said. “It’s just always being on top of the way that you’re being pitched and constantly making adjustments to continue improving.” As Maddon likes to say, all the shiny new toys and Big Data breakthroughs have favored pitching and defense, making it harder than ever for young hitters. “Obviously, the ability to scout the other team and break him down is much greater than it ever was,” Maddon said. “Back in the day, it was like a dude back there with a chew goes back to his room tonight and he recaps his notes that he took during the course of the day: ‘Down and away, up and in. Play him with a step to the pull side.’ That was the advance scouting reports. Now it’s broken down to the point where you actually have pertinent information. “My point is Happ shows up on the scene. They start jumping in there and they probably could gather some intel from the past. And all of a sudden, they got a much better game plan. Now it’s up to him to adjust.” -- Chicago Tribune Jon Lester frustrated after his start in 9-4 loss to Dodgers: 'Just wasted a whole day' By Mark Gonzales After throwing a complete game Tuesday, Cubs ace Jon Lester was flabbergasted after his worst start of the season Sunday against the Dodgers. "Not good," Lester summed up bluntly after allowing a pair of two three-run home runs that wasted his offense knocking out three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw in a 9-4 defeat. The performance was annoying to Lester because he failed to give his teammates a chance against Kershaw after Lester allowed a season-high six runs in 3 1/3 innings — his shortest start of the season. Lester's struggles occurred after he threw the Cubs' first complete game of the season to beat Johnny Cueto and the Giants in his last start. "You get runs against guys like Cueto and Kershaw, you can’t waste them," Lester said. "Not only did I waste them, but I just wasted a whole day. "I'll get back to work Monday and get back to where I was throwing the ball prior to this." Lester allowed homers to rookie sensation Cody Bellinger in the second inning and Kike Hernandez in the third.

This was the second time in Lester’s career he allowed multiple three-run homers in a game, with Lyle Overbay of Toronto hitting two three-run homers on August 20, 2010. "Nothing was really sharp," Lester said. "I didn't have command of fastball on either side of the plate. I couldn’t go to any particular pitch to bail me out of any trouble. "When we did make pitches, it found bad parts of the bat and was still able to fall in or get into some holes." -- Chicago Tribune Cubs humbled in all facets after being swept by Dodgers By Mark Gonzales Neither manager Joe Maddon nor slugger Kris Bryant lost his sense of humor or composure after the Cubs were swept by the Dodgers in a convincing manner this weekend. "Go ahead and freak out," Maddon said with a smile Sunday, referring to worried fans. "If you want to freak out, freak out." The Cubs knocked out three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw but still were humbled in a 9-4 loss that completed the Dodgers' first three-game sweep of the Cubs at Dodger Stadium since 1992. Bryant virtually repeated what he said at Dodger Stadium last fall after the Cubs lost Game 3 of the National League Championship Series to Rich Hill but came back to win the World Series. "There's no need to worry," Bryant said after the Cubs slipped to 25-24. "You're going to have your good years. You're going to have your bad years. You're going to have your good starts, your bad starts. Hopefully we all get to experience those. But it's obviously a pretty average start. It's not a terrible start, but sometimes it happens. "We've spoiled ourselves last year with that (25-6) start. But I guess it's a good thing to have those expectations, because we all do too." The Cubs were outscored 18-4 in the series and led in only one half-inning. Willson Contreras snapped the Cubs' 19-inning scoreless drought by homering in the second in a 12-pitch at-bat. Kershaw allowed three home runs and 11 hits but escaped without a loss as the Dodgers' bullpen didn't allow a hit for the final 4 2/3 innings. "It sounds likes fiction to me, but it happened," Maddon said of the Cubs' scoring drought. Starters Jake Arrieta, John Lackey and Jon Lester surrendered 15 runs in 14 1/3 innings, but only Lester had even a run scored in support of him. "We have to play for today," Lester said after allowing a pair of three-run home runs — to rookie sensation Cody Bellinger and Kike Hernandez — and lasted only 31/3 innings. "We can't worry about a run. We can't worry about showing up and trying to go nine before you throw a first pitch. You can't worry about going 3-for-4 before your first at-bat." The Dodgers' pitching staff is much deeper than last season, and their bullpen completed its mission by teasing the Cubs' young hitters with high fastballs. "It felt like every guy they ran out there was throwing it right where they want to," said Bryant, who has two hits in his last 17 at-bats and struck out against Josh Fields with the tying run at second to end the fifth. Maddon said he would seek more information before deciding whether to start rookie Ian Happ (2-for-21) in Monday's series opener in San Diego.

The Cubs were hitless in 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position in the series, and they haven't scored a run on a hit other than a home run since Contreras hit an RBI single in the eighth inning of a 13-6 win over the Brewers on May 21. "We've got to be more efficient at just moving the baseball," Maddon said. "I've talked about it for three years now. That's a malady that not only afflicts us but other teams." -- Chicago Tribune Joe Maddon avoids information overload for Cubs' struggling young hitters By Mark Gonzales As a minor-league hitting instructor with the Angels in the 1980s, Cubs manager Joe Maddon would try to cure the worries of struggling hitters by crossing out the batting averages on the stat sheets and highlight walks, strikeouts, on-base percentage and other categories he'd deem pertinent. "It's about scoring runs," the Maddon said Sunday before the Cubs snapped a 19-inning scoreless streak on a home run by Willson Contreras off Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. Maddon maintains that he and his coaches are careful not to overload their struggling young batters with an abundance of information. "I'm talking about nuggets," Maddon said. "I don't want guys carrying all kinds of (information), especially hitters versus pitchers. That's a reactionary part of the game. It's not proactive. Pitching to hitters, you can get a lot of intel. I'm good with that. Defense, a lot of intel, I'm good with that. Hitters, a lot of intel, I'm not good with that. "There's only so much you can do. A guy has a ball in his hand and the defense controls the action with the ball. He knows what he wants to do. You have to react to it. If you're guessing all the time and anticipating he throws a slider 30 percent of the time on a 2-1 count, you could be screwed. That might not be how he sees you. "I'd much rather give less information to the hitter, give as much as you want to pitchers and defense. I'm OK with that. So that's one thing you have to be careful with." Extra innings: Ben Zobrist wouldn't be surprised if he returns to the lineup Monday in San Diego after missing the last two starts with a sore left wrist. ... Willson Contreras became the first Cubs player to hit a homer on the 12th pitch of an at-bat or later since Mike Fontenot, who homered on the 12th pitch of an at-bat on April 27, 2009, off the Diamondbacks' Dan Haren in Arizona. ... Javier Baez is batting .458 (11-for-24) with three home runs and nine RBIs in his last eight games. -- Chicago Tribune Ben Zobrist targeting Monday return to Cubs lineup By Mark Gonzales Ben Zobrist plans to test his sore left wrist around the third inning of Sunday's game between the Cubs and Dodgers to see if he can pinch-hit. But the Cubs' versatile leadoff batter believes he'll be healthy enough to return to the lineup Monday at San Diego. "I know it feels a ton better than it did (Saturday)," said Zobrist, who said he hurt his wrist on a swing in his first at-bat Friday. "I don't think it will be long." Zobrist hasn't played since Friday, and manager Joe Maddon believed it wouldn't have been wise to push him.

"I try to read him as well as I can," Maddon said. "Let’s not mess with him." Javier Baez started at second in place of Zobrist and batted leadoff against Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw. -- Chicago Sun-Times How long will Cubs let prospect Ian Happ struggle in big leagues? By Gordon Wittenmyer LOS ANGELES — Cubs manager Joe Maddon said he isn’t ready to bail on rookie Ian Happ despite a slump that deepened to 2-for-21 Sunday. “I have no preconceived notions on how long to stick with somebody or not,” Maddon said when asked about Happ, a switch hitter who got off to a torrid start his first nine games and has started at four defensive positions. “I think it’s up to the player and how you react to the bad moments. Everybody looks good when they’re going good. How do you look when you’re going badly? That’s what really sets a guy apart. So far, I think he’s handled it really well.” Happ, 22, has been Maddon’s daily choice to protect Anthony Rizzo from the fourth or fifth spot in the order since Ben Zobrist became his regular leadoff man. He struck out three times against Clayton Kershaw and once against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen during an 0-for-5 day. Happ was the only non-pitcher in the lineup who failed to reach base in one of the worst outings of Kershaw’s career. Maddon said how long Happ continues to stay in the lineup, or the big leagues this time around, depends on how quickly he makes adjustments now that the league clearly has a book on him. He said he has seen signs of it in recent days that make him optimistic. “I think with all the information that’s disseminated these days, the league adjusts to you quickly,” Happ said. “It’s your job to adjust back.” Zobrist update Zobrist missed his second consecutive game after hurting his left wrist on a swing in the first inning Friday night — a precautionary lineup decision, Maddon said. “I know that it feels a ton better today than it did yesterday,” Zobrist said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if [Monday] I’m back in the lineup.” Zobrist is 13-for-31 (.419) with three home runs in his last nine games. Puig power Dodgers left fielder Franklin Gutierrez left the game in the middle of the first inning because of “illness,” the Dodgers said. Yasiel Puig, who pinch-hit in his place in the first, went 2-for-4 with a two-run homer. -- Chicago Sun-Times Stranger than fiction: Cubs pound Kershaw, get swept in L.A. anyway

By Gordon Wittenmyer LOS ANGELES — After an ugly 9-4 loss completed a sweep by the Dodgers on Sunday, Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant was asked similar questions and provided almost the same answers after the Cubs fell behind in the National League Championship Series last fall at Dodger Stadium. “We’re not panicking,” Bryant said after the Cubs scored four runs against the best pitcher in baseball — Clayton Kershaw — and none against anyone else in the series. “I don’t see any reason to worry, especially given what we did last year,” he said. “You can’t really take anything for granted, I guess. . . . We’ve spoiled ourselves with last year and that start. But I guess it’s a good thing to have those expectations, because we all do, too.” After completing a 7-2 home-stand, the Cubs were outscored 18-4 over the weekend. This despite jumping on Kershaw for 11 hits, including three home runs — both career highs — and knocking him out of the game with one out in the fifth. But that’s where it began and ended for the Cubs. With runners at second and third in a two-run game, Josh Fields struck out Javy Baez and Bryant to end the Cubs’ last threat. In 22‰ innings against Dodgers pitchers not named Kershaw, the Cubs were held scoreless. Pound Kershaw on one of the worst days of his career and get swept in the series? “It sounds like fiction to me,” manager Joe Maddon said. “But it happened.” Compounding the disbelief was the Cubs’ inability to handle the Dodgers’ lineup with Opening Day starter Jon Lester on the mound. Five days after a 99-pitch complete-game victory over Johnny Cueto and the Giants, Lester gave up three-run homers to Cody Bellinger in the second and Enrique Hernandez in the third, and didn’t get out of the fourth. “When you’re able to get runs off Cueto and Kershaw, you can’t waste them,” said Lester, who gave up one three-run homer in 74 previous starts as a Cub. “Not only did I waste them, but I just wasted a whole day.” Any reason to panic? Maybe. But don’t try to convince Twitter that this team is worthy of optimism — never mind whether they’re a playoff team. “Sweet,” Bryant said with a smile when told of the handwringing, head-shaking and Cub blasting filling Twitter timelines. “Everybody has their thoughts. I guess it’s just natural just as humans — even just as baseball players, when something bad happens sometimes we speed it up and that ends up piling onto things and it just gets even worse,” he said. “There’s none of that here.” Yet the Cubs already have been swept three times (also to Pittsburgh and the Yankees at home) compared to being swept only twice all of last season — and not until the second half of June. And when Maddon talks about “hitting young” during two months of inconsistency from his lineup, this is part of what he means: The Cubs haven’t scored a run on a hit that wasn’t a home run in the last seven games.

No wonder fans on social media seem to be “freaking out,” as one media guy put it to Maddon after the game. “Oh, please, go ahead and freak out,” Maddon said, smiling. “If you want to freak out, freak out.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Glove connection: Still waiting for bats, Cubs closer to best in field By Gordon Wittenmyer LOS ANGELES — The last three games at Dodger Stadium didn’t look too pretty for the Cubs. Not enough pitching. Even less hitting for much of the weekend. But one area of concern these first two months has begun to come around. Perhaps not surprisingly, a sharp uptick in team fielding in the last week coincided with Gold Glover Jason Heyward’s return to right field from the disabled list. But the trend had been building up slowly a week or so before that. “We’re making all the routine plays now; the errors are cut down,” said right-hander Kyle Hendricks, who has benefitted with a 2-1 record and 2.19 ERA in May, heading into his start Monday in San Diego. “And also they’re making more of those spectacular plays that we’re used to seeing from last year. “It’s just been a product of what everybody’s going through, of just getting their legs underneath them, feeling the flow of the season and getting really focused on this year and the task we have at hand.” If there was any kind of emotional team hangover from the months of celebration, the short offseason and the early-season weather-and-schedule fatigue, the telltale sign might have been in the field. Largely the same group that was historically good last year was pedestrian at best for much of the early going based on several metrics. In fact, the only teams to allow more than the Cubs’ 27 unearned runs are all non-contenders with losing records: Oakland (30), Atlanta (28) and San Diego (28). In the last seven games, however, the Cubs haven’t allowed an unearned run and have looked much crisper. The sunshine during this Los Angeles-San Diego trip has only helped the cause. “The weather here is perfect,” infielder Javy Baez said. “We haven’t been really hot, but we’re starting to put it together.” Said manager Joe Maddon: “I love it. We’ve gotten better on defense. Our biggest inconsistency has been on offense. “If we catch the ball, play hard, I’m good. Our guys are going to hit. ‘‘But I want to make sure we’re doing all this other stuff right because that’s what’s going to control us getting into the playoffs and beyond.” -- Chicago Sun-Times Jake Arrieta’s agent is painting a pretty picture only he sees By Rick Morrissey

A sports agent is a lot of things to his or her client — sounding board, punching bag, shoulder to cry on, advocate and protector. I considered adding “friend,’’ but any relationship that has money as its foundation probably can’t be called a true friendship. When I think of agent Scott Boras, I think of another word, and, no, it’s not any of the colorful expressions that major-league general managers use to describe the man who is a chronic pain in their butts. Boras is a salesman, and, boy, has he been busy selling the wonders of Cubs right-hander Jake Arrieta, who has not been wonderful for a while. Arrieta is in the last year of his contract with the Cubs, and he has been pointing to a massive payoff ever since winning the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. When he looks in the mirror every morning, he sees biceps and dollar signs. It’s an agent’s job to rotate the fruit so you can’t see the bruises. Boras takes that 10 steps beyond, and by the time he’s done talking, you’re pretty sure he has discovered a nectarine that will cure male-pattern baldness. So pay no attention to Arrieta’s 5-4 record, his 4.92 ERA or his major-league-leading nine wild pitches. Instead, his agent said, gaze adoringly at Jake’s World Series performances last season. “The fact he has skills and … the dynamic of winning two World Series games and things like that, I’d say he’s won the award of being measured when you win World Series games,’’ Boras said. “That’s the most important thing. “… Many of the great ones, as great as they are, they’ve never achieved it. And he did it not once, but twice. If you want me to measure pressure, that’s World Series [guts]. It’s his greatest measurement, I think. “I heard winning a World Series in Chicago was difficult.’’ (Note to every player from the 2016 champion Cubs: The first title in 108 years apparently entitles you to a key to the bank. That means you, too, Tommy La Stella!) We also should ignore the fact that Arrieta’s fastball has dropped from 95 mph in 2015 to 92 or 93 this season (and part of last season, while we’re on the subject). Boras: You call that a problem? “All the elite pitchers drop in velocity because when they come in the league, they’re throwing 96, they’re throwing 95, and then they’re down,” he said. “But the key thing is what are they all doing? They’re all between the ranges of probably close to 92 and 93.5.” All of this is Boras’ way of saying that Arrieta is worth a $200 million contract, even if his numbers since 2015 suggest he isn’t. But Boras would try to sell a Fitbit to a two-toed sloth, so don’t expect him to be deterred. Other things you didn’t know about Jake that Boras is saving up for contract negotiations: — He’s a way better dancer than that Clydesdale David Ross. — Once saved the world from nuclear destruction. — When Arrieta and Cubs president Theo Epstein are sitting together, one of them went to Yale and the other is the smartest guy in the room. It’s Boras’ job to sway public opinion. If he succeeds at that, it might put pressure on the Cubs to give Arrieta a contract like the seven-year, $210 million deal the Nationals’ Max Scherzer signed two years ago. If the Cubs don’t bite, Boras’ high praise for his client might convince another team that the real Jake Arrieta is the 2015 version, not this year’s model. “We’re going to sit here and evaluate a player on a 60-day moment, or a 10-start moment, when he has three years of history?’’ Boras said. “Don’t do it; that’s not fair.’’

But it isn’t just a two-month blip. We were having the same conversation about Arrieta last season. Clearly, something is off and has been. Part of this stems from 2015, when he had numbers after the All-Star break that might never be matched: a 12-1 record and an ERA of 0.75, the lowest in major-league history. It’s possible some of us are guilty of comparing him to something that was incomparable. But even though Arrieta went 18-8 last season, his ERA rose to 3.10, despite having one of the best defenses in baseball behind him. The question the Cubs and other teams have to ask themselves is where the regression we’ve seen since 2015 will stop. Smart teams pay for what they think the future holds for a player, not for past performance. Boras’ flowery descriptions of Arrieta might be nice, might fill up a botanical garden, but a $200 million contract is, in a word, hazardous. --