When does a mid-July game feel like a playoff game? When it involves a struggling Jake Arrieta trying to find himself.
Underneath a veneer of cool, the Cubs have to be worried about their ace, who pitches Tuesday against the Mets. In his last four starts, he is 1-3 with a 6.75 earned-run average. Of the seven home runs he has allowed this season, four have come during that stretch, when opponents have hit .284. He has made it into the seventh inning only twice in his last seven starts.
You can use last season as a security blanket, arguing that the 2015 National League Cy Young winner will re-emerge soon, but actually seeing it would go a long way toward calming nerves.
That’s why Tuesday’s start against the defending N.L. champions seems so important. Arrieta didn’t pitch during the All-Star Game, and his last start was July 8. If the issue has been fatigue, it shouldn’t be an issue anymore.
If you’re the Cubs, you might want to hope fatigue played a role. Because if it didn’t, and he goes out and struggles against the Mets, then you might have bigger problems. An injury? Or is Arrieta, after an incredible season, simply reverting back to being good or pretty good?
“Not picking up a ball for four days is exactly what I needed,’’ he said.
We’ll see.
Manager Joe Maddon obviously believes that saying something enough will make it true, and he has been saying forever that Arrieta will get back to the being the guy who not only beat opponents last season but embarrassed them with a variety of pitches.
But after Arrieta’s last start, a loss to the Pirates, Maddon didn’t sound like someone who knew when the dominance would return. All he knows is that if the Cubs want to win a World Series, they need that Jake Arrieta.
“I can’t tell you exactly how that’s going to happen,” Maddon said. “It’s something we’re continually working on, regarding the command and feeling good about where he’s throwing his pitches. I don’t have a solid answer for you.”
No one has offered a solid explanation for why Arrieta hasn’t been himself. The pinpoint control he had last season has gone missing. But why? And is it something that can be found? We get our first clue Tuesday.
