ANALYSIS/OPINION:
In 1982, Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo was a scrappy infielder for the Class A Salem Angels in Oregon.
His manager was Joe Maddon.
The scrappy infielder from Chicago made a big impression on the young manager from Pennsylvania coal country.
“Mike was the kind of guy who would fight for you, and literally did,” Maddon told me in a 2014 interview. “We were playing the Bend Phillies, and I think it was the home opener. There was a play at the plate and a fight broke out, and he was pushing the whole pile up against the backstop and had somebody pinned up against the fence. It was not a push-everybody-around-the-field baseball fight. It was a tough, real fight. And I must say, he thoroughly enjoyed it.”
That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between two smart, tough guys that continues to this day.
Now, though, they are rivals, and this year, even though the Cubs play in a different division, the season is evolving in a way that the Cubs — considered to be the front-runners to win the National League pennant — are the Nationals’ chief rival for that banner.
They arrive in the District Monday for the first of an important three-game home series at Nationals Park — the second and last time these two rivals will have met this season — perhaps, at least, until the postseason.
The Cubs are the class of baseball, leading the NL Central with a 42-18 record going into Sunday’s contests. The Nationals are competing for that class as well, in first place in the NL East with a 38-24 record.
The first time they met this season, it was perhaps the worst stretch of games for the Nationals. At the end of a 10-game road trip — a trip that started very well for Washington, sweeping the Cardinals in St. Louis and winning two out of three against the defending World Series champion Kansas City Royals, the Nationals were manhandled by the Cubs, losing four straight, including a 13-inning, 4-3 loss in the series finale.
It was also the series where Maddon employed the nobody’s-pitching-to-Bryce Harper strategy, walking the NL Most Valuable Player six times during that 13-inning contest, including three times intentionally. Then, when asked about the strategy, Maddon appeared to put the blame on Nationals manager — and former Chicago Cubs skipper — Dusty Baker.
“It was a strategy in the game based on how they built their group,” Maddon told reporters. “The best I way I can put it is, ’I didn’t do anything to them.’”
Maddon appeared to be suggesting that the Nationals failed to give Harper the protection he needed in the lineup by batting the hot-hitting Daniel Murphy two spots below Harper, and instead sticking with the lineup that had a struggling Ryan Zimmerman batting behind Harper. Zimmerman went 1 for 7 in that game and left 14 men on base.
You may not have the same situation this time around. Zimmerman is hitting better now. But you never know with Maddon, an unpredictable and well-respected manager.
It’s been a little surprising that Maddon’s name never came up for the managing job in Washington. He and Rizzo are close, yet both publicly and behind the scenes, there’s never been much discussion about Maddon, who left Tampa Bay, where he led the Rays to the 2008 American League pennant, to take over the Cubs last season, as a candidate to manage in Washington.
Maybe it was timing — Maddon became available while Matt Williams was winning the NL East in Washington and being named NL Manager of the Year. Money, of course, will always come into play for the Nationals’ managing job. The Lerners don’t pay their managers, while the Cubs were willing to give Maddon a five-year, $25 million contract last year. That’s about $8 million more than the Lerners have paid all their managers combined since buying the team 10 years ago.
Maybe Chicago was just the right fit for Maddon. It wasn’t for Dusty Baker, who does not have fond memories of his time as Cubs skipper from 2003-2007, despite winning the NL Central division in his first season there.
“The Cubs? It’s kind of a faint memory to me, especially when things don’t end the way you want them to end,” Baker told the Chicago Tribune. “And the way I was booed at the end. Why would I try to remember that? I try to remember the good stuff. Every time I walked out on the field I’d get booed.
“I wanted to be the guy,” Baker said. “Maybe Joe is the guy. But I’m in the way now.”
So is Joe Maddon’s good friend — Mike Rizzo.
• Thom Loverro can be reached at tloverro@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.