Wednesday, July 28, 2004
He threw just 79 pitches in six innings, allowing the Brewers four hits.
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
MILWAUKEE -- The remarkable career of Greg Maddux may be something to shout about this weekend.
But the understated pitcher insists he doesn't want to become a distraction.
OK, how about a silent cheer?
Maddux collected career victory No. 299 on Tuesday night, beating the Milwaukee Brewers, 7-1, in typical workmanlike fashion in front of another sellout crowd of 41,520 at Miller Park.
"He doesn't have a blazing fastball. He has great control and he studies the opposition," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "He knows his opponent very well and he knows what he is capable of.
Quiet approach to 300
"This has been the quietest approaching of 300 [wins] I have ever seen," Baker said. "Maybe it's because of the way he is. I know that when Roger Clemens was approaching 300 last year in New York, that was big headlines every day."
Maddux stumped the slumping Brewers, losers of nine of their last 10, over six innings. He allowed one run, on Russell Branyan's long home run, on four hits, walking one and striking out six.
"I was done," Maddux said of Baker's decision to lift him for a pinch-hitter in the seventh with a 4-1 lead. "Sometimes you have to know that if you go back out there, it's not going to work."
Maddux threw just 79 pitches. Relievers Jon Leicester, Kent Mercker and Kyle Farnsworth blanked Milwaukee the rest of the way.
Goes for 300th Sunday
Maddux said he'll feel a bit nervous, if not nostalgic, when he takes the mound in search of No. 300 Sunday against the Phillies at Wrigley Field.
"It's just human nature to feel that way a little bit," Maddux said.
Maddux, who improved to 10-7, has won five of his last seven starts. He is 9-2 lifetime against the Brewers.
"I'm a firm believer that as a guy gets older he gets his act and rhythm together," Baker said. "It's a combination of innings pitched, getting sharp. He knows [300 wins] is going to happen sooner or later.
"All he has to do is live and breathe. The guy wants to win. He wants to get to the playoffs and get another ring. He's probably one of the most unselfish guys I've been around."
Cubs score early
The Cubs jumped on Brewers All-Star Ben Sheets (9-8) with a two-run first inning, beating him for the second straight time.
Todd Walker led off with a double to left after fouling off several tough pitches. Alex Gonzalez sacrificed Walker to third, and Sammy Sosa worked the count from 0-2 to 3-2 before lining a double into the left-field corner to score Walker.
Moises Alou drove in Sosa with a single to left.
"It's fun playing behind Maddux for a lot of reasons," Walker said. "One is that he works fast, he keeps you in the game because he doesn't throw a lot of balls. And they don't hit a lot of balls hard."
Walker and Sosa stroked solo home runs in the third inning to give Maddux a 4-0 cushion.
"The Cubs made a little bit of an adjustment on Sheets," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "It just seemed like they were right on that curveball."
The Brewers finally broke through against Maddux when Branyan hit a two-out home run to right-center that measured 480 feet.
"Maddux pitched another good ballgame," Yost said. "He was really working our right-handed hitters with that pitch away that comes back over the outside part of the plate.
"I saw him pitch for 10 years in Atlanta, saw a bunch of those wins."
The Brewers have lost five straight. They are 3-for-57 with runners in scoring position over their last eight games.
"An offensive slump is kind of like the flu," Yost said. "You feel miserable while you're going through it, but sooner or later you get through it. What inning it's going to be, I don't know."