Cubs know "it's only from here"

MILWAUKEE – We can sit here and tell statistics about the awful start of the market for the Cubs in 2019.

You know what, strike out the word "bullpen" and the statement still stands.

The Cubs certainly had not imagined that they would participate in a big showdown early in the season with the Brewers this weekend with a 1-5 record.

But the pressing question after the first week of the team was simply: why?

Why was this office trying to get someone out? Why did the defense err after an error? Why does the starting rotation have a hard time keeping up?

Why does the team continue to appear flat and tight?

The answer to each question can be in the last query – maybe because these players ARE greenhouse. They are pressing.

Everyone is trying to be the hero who puts the Cubs back on track. This was especially true in the bullpen.

"It's typical of what's going on and you'll hear that [hero] The line is used all the time in times like this, but for now, they're probably trying a little too hard and they're seeing the guy who faces them do not succeed and maybe they're carrying the weight with them, "Joe Maddon said," He's snowballing the wrong way. "

This phrase "snowball" seems to be a common chorus around Cubs these days.

It also makes sense, because it's the best way to summarize how things have slipped in the last five games.

"The focus was on a quick start, it snowballed here and it was magnified to the extreme this first week," said veteran reliever Brad Brach. "It's like that. If it were in June, it probably would not be such a big problem. But as we are in March and April and the season has started and we are playing against the Brewers, it's definitely magnified.

"You can not really worry about that, you just have to start doing what you're doing and just hope that a good exit leads to another good outing, just like a bad exit could lead to a another bad exit in the other direction and if all goes well, we will be able to overthrow him. "

Brach is in its first year with the Cubs, as the main addition to the market this winter.

The 32-year-old bullpen is in its eighth league season. It is one of two records that did not allow a race in the first two rounds of the season (Brandon Kintzler is the other, but the two pitchers charged to combine 4 races Friday).

Brach has not struggled as much as some of his colleagues, but he feels the same pressure and the same desire to be the hero.

He made two appearances in Atlanta earlier in the week, getting just 5 outs by walking 5 batters. He did not allow a race, but he had the impression that he was doing too much effort, especially since it was against his former team ( he was traded midway through the Braves last year and joined them for their series race). That's something he's talked about recently with Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy.

"I'm thinking of Atlanta, facing the old team that I was with last year, and just trying to impress those guys," Brach said. "On my second outing, I was trying to be the hero, trying to catapult the pen to make it a little better. It's not something you can do as an individual.

"I started rushing everything and the game accelerated and I did a terrible job controlling my emotions, just try to get my teammates to trust me when I go out and that coaches know what kind of pitcher I am.

"I had a manager who always said" we can not put the cart before the horse "and that's a bit like what I did in the previous series [in Atlanta]. "

How did Brach and the Cubs find a way to bring the horse back to the cart?

"It's just taking one ground at a time and relaxing," Brach said. "You do it step by step.There is no way to put the result before the execution of the step.It's one of those things where you have to not do it at at the same time, no matter how difficult the task is at the time.

"Because all you can control is before launch, once you've left your fingertips, you can not do anything, you only get the sign, try to put your arm where you want it and after that, I really can not do anything else. "

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