Joe Maddon On Cardinals: 'We're Going To Get To That Point'
(CBS) The young and talented Cubs were humbled and served a plate of reality over the weekend when they were swept by the MLB-best Cardinals (51-24), who entering Tuesday night's slate of games had a nine-game lead on the Pirates in the NL Central and an 11.5-game lead over the Cubs.
With that in mind following losses by scores of 3-2, 8-1 and 4-1, Chicago manager Joe Maddon was plenty complimentary of St. Louis -- but he also held strong in his conviction that the tables will soon be turned.
"The thing I'm gathering from all this is they pitch really well, obviously," Maddon said in an interview with the Spiegel and Goff Show on Tuesday. "And they're really good late in the game. We have to take care of the latter part of the game better. We left 12 runners on base the one night -- we had guys out there all night long and couldn't get them in. These are kind of like growing pains stuff for me.
"I have a lot of respect for the Cardinals, always have, but I'm here to tell you man -- I know, eventually, we're going to get to that point. It takes time. It takes planning. It takes a lot of different things. They're good. Listen, I'm here to tell you they're good, but I'm not here to concede anything. I mean that sincerely. Our goal is by the end of this season to get a little bit closer to all that they got going on and then just keep moving forward."
Maddon indicated the Cardinals are better at situational baseball than the Cubs, and that's part of the transformation that must take place for Chicago.
"They might let you out there (on the bases), but normally when it gets to the point of scoring a run, they might pick their game up a little bit," Maddon said. "We have got to do the same thing equally. I think a big part of our problem is we're going to chase pitches outside the zone. We got to stop doing that, especially with runners in scoring position. It's going to come to us. We're working on it, teaching it constantly."
Listen to Maddon's full interview below. He also explains his desire to go to the Grateful Dead's final concert, which takes place Sunday at Soldier Field.
