Paul Sullivan: Arrival of dog days brings out the best in Cubs, who blank rivals amid the Wrigley Field buzz

CHICAGO — The arrival of the dog days typically means managers try to get some extra rest for their players, especially teams entering the stretch run.

“That’s what we’re in,” Chicago Cubs manager Craig Counsell said Friday. “That’s why they made the phrase, right?”

Well, actually the term dates back several centuries and refers to the Dog Star that rises and sets with the sun at this time of the year, so it has nothing to do with players being dog-tired.

But Counsell’s point was made — it’s a long season, it’s hot out and let’s face it, there are no more Cal Ripkens playing every day.

The Cubs enter the dog days in a very good place, with a 72-51 record after Friday’s 3-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Clay Holmes threw 6 2/3 shutout innings, allowing one hit and retiring the first 16 batters he faced in his Wrigley Field debut. Seiya Suzuki’s three-run home run off reliever George Soriano in the sixth, one of only six Cubs hits, was all they needed.

“Friday day game … iconic,” Holmes said, calling the Wrigley atmosphere “just baseball.”

A simple yet apropos description. The crowd of 40,374 was engaged from the first pitch thanks to a no-hitter duel into the fifth between Holmes and Matthew Liberatore, jet fighters buzzing the park from a Chicago Air and Water Show practice and the dulcet tones of Mr. T, who received a big ovation for his performance during the seventh-inning stretch. Pity the fool who would tell him he can’t sing.

These are heady days for the Cubs, who have to resist the urge to take a deep breath with the division race with the Milwaukee Brewers tightening. They’re 10-3 in August, looking reenergized.

Every manager has his ways of keeping players rested and ready.

Joe Maddon greeted the dog days with his annual “American Legion Week,” telling players just to show up ready to play without all the pregame routines, just like when they were kids.

“You were able to throw, able to hit, able to run,” the former Cubs manager once said. “You did not have to be here all day long. It’s a tribute to playing baseball the old-fashioned way.”

And then you’d go out for ice cream?

“That’s part of it too … if you win,” Maddon said.

Of course, that probably wouldn’t work now, especially when Alex Bregman is looking at videos from his Double-A days at 1 a.m. in his hotel room to try to get his swing intact, as he did last week in Washington before his three-homer day.

There’s no such thing as showing up ready to play. And routines are ingrained in players, who wouldn’t dare change theirs for anything, even if it meant a little extra rest.

Counsell has to do whatever he can to ensure his players are mentally and physically ready for what’s certain to be an adventurous stretch from here until the end of the regular season. The Cubs have stabilized after a roller-coaster ride the first three months and are now serious World Series contenders with the Los Angeles Dodgers proving fallible.

Counsell’s bullpen maneuverings have been a big part of the resurgence, and now he’s busy tinkering with the rotation.

Before Friday’s game, he announced that Edward Cabrera, out with a left hamstring strain since late June, will make his long-awaited return to the rotation Sunday against the Cardinals.

“All the pitching we have, it elevates everybody,” Holmes said. “When you have this much talent, this many pitchers, the tide raises all boats, really. You all have to pull the rope and do your part, and to have a pitcher like him coming back, with his stuff, is a huge boost. All of us feel that. We’ve got to do our part and really help this team, and we know what we’re capable of.”

Shota Imanaga moves to Monday night against the White Sox in the opener of the second round of the City Series. That means someone in the six-man rotation is out, since Counsell said he doesn’t believe going with six starters “is a viable thing for us right now” because of the bullpen usage.

“We’re going to proceed with five starters here,” he said. “But as we get to September, that can change.”

Counsell wouldn’t reveal the odd man out, but obviously it won’t be Matthew Boyd, his top starter. Newcomers Holmes and Kevin Gausman, who just arrived in heralded trades, didn’t come here to pitch out of the pen.

That leaves David Peterson and Imanaga, who both have pitched well. Could either use a rest? Peterson is 3-0 with a 2.14 ERA in his last six starts, while Imanaga has a 2.38 ERA over his last eight starts, although he did allow three home runs in his last outing in Washington.

No one has pitched poorly, but someone has to sit to make this thing work.

“I think five starters is what we have to use here to protect everyone else,” Counsell said. “It just means somebody is not going to start for at least one time through. I don’t think we’re bound to any of this. … Keeping guys lengthened out is on your mind a little here. Does someone need rest? Does that make sense?”

Cubs starters have fared well in the second half. They ranked 23rd in the first half with a 4.52 ERA, but entering Friday they ranked seventh in the second half with a 3.45 ERA. Things are trending upward at a most appropriate time.

Counsell doesn’t platoon his position players, but he said they’d get their rest too.

The Cubs were second in the majors in runs scored since the All-Star break with 150 and third in average (.268). Bregman’s revival, Suzuki’s hitting and the continued hot streak of Pete Crow-Armstrong have kept the offense performing at peak level.

“We’re in the dog days of August, a long stretch of baseball, so we’re going to find ways to do that and we’re going to continue to have to do it,” Counsell said.

Another big home win was in the books, and Wrigleyville was rocking.

Ice cream for everyone.

Indexed and credited by AIPROPX. Originating outlet: Yahoo Sports. Open at source →