For Cubs to survive in NLCS, Jake Arrieta must own the moment once again
NEW YORK - Jake Arrieta, destroyer of worlds, knows a little something about how to silence crowds.
His 20-start run from June 21 through the end of the season — 0.86 ERA, 147 innings, 147 strikeouts — included a dozen road starts against 10 teams. He hit double digits in strikeouts three times in that stretch, two of them on the road, in Atlanta and Los Angeles.
And not only did Arrieta go out and end the Pirates' season in the wild card game, he seemed to take particular joy in doing it, waging good-natured war with Pirates fans on Twitter and fundamentally owning the moment.
“I think some of it is in the moment because I think that's a really important factor of being able to really take advantage of these opportunities, and try to enjoy it as much as you can in the moment, but obviously being able to reflect on it after the fact, after big series wins or the wild card game in Pittsburgh,” Arrieta said Saturday prior to the Cubs' Game 1 loss to the Mets. “Sometimes those things take a little bit longer to develop. I think over the course of time, as these things play out, we'll be able to kind of relive those experiences and enjoy them even further.”
For Cubs manager Joe Maddon, Arrieta represents another way to boost the morale of his team. Maddon is famous for stunts like bringing a cheetah into the clubhouse and roasting a pig on the field. But Arrieta's 0.75 ERA over the second half of the season is the best single half ERA in the history of baseball, a sport that's been going on a while. To put it in perspective, Bob Gibson's best half, ERA-wise, in 1968 was 1.06.
“Well, that would relax manager in a heartbeat, wouldn't it?”, Maddon said with a smile. “I just think Jake adds to it. Jake's doing his thing, and Jake pretty much demonstrates what I just talked about. And I think that our players gain a lot of confidence when he pitches. I think that's a normal part of that. But I think for the most part it's just a matter of us being ourselves, trusting ourselves, sticking to our own methods. A big part of that is don't worry about outcomes so much. If we're taking care of this other stuff, the outcome will result in our favor more often.”
That was certainly true when Arrieta pitched. Accordingly, any calculations the Mets used to evaluate how to best win the game operated under the assumption that they wouldn't be scoring very many runs. And the team he's set to face made sure they had their best available pitcher, Noah Syndergaard, to take Arrieta on.
“Well, his stuff's always been really good,” Mets manager Terry Collins said of Arrieta Saturday afternoon, prior to Game 1. “The location, his location has just been off the charts. I mean, he's got this, I don't know if -- he may call it a slider. I think it's this hard cutter that he's now started to command that he's eating up left-handed hitters. He locates the fastball. He moves his curveball around. It's a power curveball anyway, but he throws it to both sides of the plate. The location of his pitches is what's changed him for me.”
The question Arrieta faces at the moment is whether the magical run has come to an end. He allowed two earned runs in the final 76 innings of his regular season plus the wild card start against the Pirates. But he allowed four runs against the Cardinals in Game 3 of the NLDS. And he is scores of innings beyond any previous season of his career, with 229 innings in the regular season and another 14 2/3 so far in the playoffs.
But to hear Arrieta tell it, it's all been part of the plan. And with the success he's had, there's no reason to doubt him.
“Well, essentially that's what I've tried to prepare for,” Arrieta said. “Over the course of the off-season and Spring Training, trying to develop the ability to maintain the durability throughout a long season, and obviously we intend to play in October every year. So I think that's something that I just take into consideration throughout the training process, trying to prepare your body as best as possible. Obviously, shoulder care, keeping everything as injury-resistant as possible. Obviously there are certain things you can't control, but physically my body's great. I feel like there's still some work for me to be done, and I don't think I've gotten to the end of my leash yet."
But the aspect of Arrieta that jumps out is how self-aware he is, a pitcher fundamentally in charge of his moment. After years in Baltimore struggling to live up to his prospect pedigree—he noted the progress toward the ace he's become began the day he arrived in Chicago, which is another way of saying the day he left Baltimore—Arrieta sounds like a man entirely prepared for success that's been long in coming.
Now Arrieta's gone through it a few times, and says he's ready to make Citi Field just another road crowd he's silenced.
“You start to get that anxious energy, that excitement, and I think trying to find a way to relax, and trying to calm that down before you get to the ballpark, because at that point in time, once your routine starts, it's kind of hard to keep the energy level low,” Arrieta said. “The physical toll really hasn't bothered me at all, but I think that the mental side of it and all the energy you burn leading up to the game does have a little bit of effect. But having a couple of these under my belt now, I'm pretty confident going in that I'll be able to handle that pretty well.”
The Cubs certainly need it. Even going back to Wrigley Field, the Cubs don't want to drop 2-0 behind in this series following starts from their two best pitchers. And Maddon knows Arrieta gives him peace of mind.
“We have Jake pitching tomorrow; they know how good he is. I would anticipate another really well-pitched game on both sides. From our players' perspective, we feel good about whoever's pitching for us, honestly we do. Jake has had a wonderful season. You do feel, I mean from my perspective, putting that name on the lineup card is always a fun thing to do. But if you talk to any of our guys, we feel good about anybody going out to the mound, but it's nice to have Jake tomorrow.”
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