ANAHEIM, Calif. — A few moments before the first pitch of the Cubs’ season was thrown Monday, manager Joe Maddon smiled and told his leadoff man what he had told him four or five times a day last summer: ‘‘You go, we go.’’
‘‘He still says it,’’ center fielder Dexter Fowler said. ‘‘Every at-bat he says it.’’
If Maddon feels just a little more privileged to be saying it these days, it’s understandable, considering how unlikely it seemed after the final pitch of last season.
And considering the impact Fowler already has had in a two-game sweep of the Angels to open the season, including an infield hit and a home run in Tuesday’s 6-1 victory.
That’s a 15-1, two-day mugging of the Angels. Jake Arrieta on Monday and Jon Lester on Tuesday set the pitching tone for the season with seven innings each.
But the tone-setting from the top of the order — which looked long gone when last season ended – might be just as significant going forward for what the Cubs are trying to get done.
No way was Fowler coming back as a free agent, not with the Cubs targeting Jason Heyward and Ben Zobrist and with the market for Fowler expected to extend at least two years beyond their needs and means.
‘‘Surprise.’’
That was Cubs president Theo Epstein’s first word to the media the day Fowler shocked teammates by showing up a week into camp on a new one-year deal, two days after reports surfaced that he had agreed to a three-year deal with the Orioles.
‘‘These guys are my boys,’’ Fowler said. ‘‘This is my family.’’
And Fowler?
‘‘He’s the catalyst, there’s no question about that,’’ said Maddon, who until Fowler’s return was faced with using corner-outfield comb-overs and mix-and-match leadoff assignments to cover his departure until somebody such as Albert Almora was ready to break in from the minors. ‘‘Imagine the lineup without him [Monday].’’
Fowler, who struggled in the first half of last season before taking off in the second half, opened this season by igniting the Cubs’ offense in a 9-0 rout, and coming back strong again Tuesday.
Before ace Jake Arrieta threw the staff’s first pitch of the year, Fowler had crossed the plate. He led off the game with a double and scored on a single by Anthony Rizzo two batters later.
‘‘Obviously, he got us going,’’ Arrieta said.
Fowler’s home run Tuesday came on a 3-0 pitch in the seventh, a two-run shot that made it 6-1.
“I really loved the 3-0 homer right there,” Maddon said, “because they’ve got a lefty up [in the bullpen], with a lefty [Jason Heyward] on deck. It’s just a different vibe if he doesn’t do that on that particular pitch. That was a big play in the game.”
Fowler is 5-for-8 with a walk and four runs scored as the Cubs take a day off before opening a four-game series in Phoenix against the Diamondbacks.
‘‘Beautiful thing,’’ Maddon said. ‘‘As he goes, we go.’’
Fowler knows it. And if it looks like he’s on a mission this time around, it’s because he is.
‘‘I’m always on a personal mission,’’ said Fowler, whose return was spurred in large part by the Orioles’ refusal to offer him an opt-out clause after telling him they expected him to absorb the cost of the compensatory draft pick they were giving up to sign him.
It also was spurred by the nagging sense of unfinished business he and the rest of the Cubs felt after being eliminated by the Mets in the National League Championship Series.
‘‘Coming back here, we’ve got something to prove,’’ he said.
Maddon said he thinks Fowler is playing with a chip on his shoulder this season, partly because of the way the qualifying offer/draft-pick compensation system left him — and others — twisting in the wind all winter.
Maybe because of the way the game suddenly seemed to undervalue him after seven productive years (.363 on-base percentage) and a major contribution last season to one of the most intriguing, exciting Cubs teams in memory.
Whatever it is, Fowler has a new appreciation for the business side of the game (and deep hostility toward the qualifying-offer system). And recognizes the small window of opportunity he intends to seize with this team of friends.
“I’ve always been the underdog,” he said. “Coming in, I always play with a chip on my shoulder. I’m going to go out and have fun and try to embrace the time I have with my teammates.”
Follow me on Twitter
@GDubCub.
Email: gwittenmyer@suntimes.com
