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Levine: Cubs Fundamentally Losing Games

By Bruce Levine--

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The losses have started to become a bit more troubling for Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

His ball club, which has shown grittiness and mental toughness for the majority of the season, has shown some cracks in the foundation the last 10 days. For a team that has played 23 one-run game and won 13 of them, the focus for the most part has been outstanding.

But Maddon, an extremely bright and organized baseball teacher, has seen a couple of lapses in judgment and mental readiness that have been unacceptable from center fielder Dexter Fowler in the past two games.

His judgment to bunt on Wednesday evening, with two on and one out with the Cubs down two runs in the eighth inning, proved costly in a loss to Washington. And Fowler dropping a fly ball to center field with two outs in the eighth inning of a one-run game Friday against the Royals proved fatal to any comeback for the Cubs.

Fowler has been a solid performer for the Cubs this season. He's helped his team both on offense and defense to stay competitive. Those facts to the side, Maddon is selling a winning mindset and mental preparation to his young, evolving team.

He won't settle for less.

"We played well today and then we broke down at the end," Maddon said. "We had them on the ropes. They showed why they went to the World Series last year. We showed why we aren't ready yet."

A realist but a man who expects improved mental preparation every day, Maddon hates losing games that are winnable due to a sloppy thought process such as Fowler's on Friday.

"We have to get beyond that moment," he said. "It is mental … It is about how you compete at the latter end of a ballgame. It is believing. They are not going to give us anything. You have to take it. You can only take it through the relentless execution of fundamentals and technique. We haven't done that."

Maddon didn't single out Fowler as the cause for losing, and there was a breakdown of setup man Pedro Strop as well. He walked the first man in the eighth inning to set up the three-run game-deciding Kansas City inning.

"He has to earn his way on right there," Maddon said about the walk. "We just have not been executing deeply into the game. We have talked about it. The bullpen has been somewhat erratic. I felt strongly about (Strop) for one and (Hector Rondon) for one (inning). It just didn't play."

Watching Maddon take his team down the road of learning how to prepare and play championship baseball is intriguing. He owns a six-speed retro Camaro he drives at his own pace. He's doing the same with his ball club in trying to show the way to preparation and execution.

"Watch me, I want to use all six gears," Maddon said about his handling of the upstart Cubs.

Bruce Levine covers the Cubs and White Sox for 670 The Score and CBSChicago.com. Follow him on Twitter @MLBBruceLevine.

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