MILWAUKEE — The Cubs obtained into Milwaukee within the wee hours of Friday morning after an extended, wet recreation Thursday in Atlanta.
That gave struggling reliever Carl Edwards Jr. loads of time to suppose after a two-batter outing in want of a strike-zone GPS.
By the time he wakened, he had an concept and despatched bullpen catcher Chad Noble a textual content: ‘‘How much do you trust me?’’
Response: ‘‘I trust you a lot.’’
Edwards covers the plate Thursday evening on a wild pitch that allowed a run to attain.
A number of hours later, Edwards, Noble and bullpen coach Lester Strode had been within the guests’ bullpen at Miller Park, with two massive chairs positioned the place every batter’s field could be.
Still belief the poster child for the bullpen’s early command issues? It will get higher.
‘‘My first two pitches, I threw with my eyes closed,’’ Edwards stated. ‘‘Mind over matter.’’
Talk about belief.
‘‘He didn’t catch the primary one,’’ Edwards stated.
The reality it sailed previous the opposite aspect of one of many chairs might need had one thing to do with that.
‘‘And then the next throw was right down the middle,’’ Edwards stated. ‘‘It was just focus.’’
It’s not going to make individuals neglect Michael Jordan’s eyes-closed free throw anytime quickly. Or Stephen Curry’s no-look three-point photographs.
But if it helps refocus Edwards, it is likely to be no less than a primary step in normalizing a first-week nosedive by the bullpen that reached such extremes in Atlanta that Steve Cishek, who walked two batters in August final season, walked three in a row on the best way to a blown lead Wednesday.
‘‘Sooner or later, everybody’s going to get up from this unhealthy dream and notice: ‘OK, there are our guys. Those are the guys I remember,’ ’’ stated Edwards, who sounded wanting to get again on the mound as quickly as potential after his ‘‘light touch-and-feel’’ work within the pen Friday.
Until then, the hand-wringing on native airwaves and Cubs Twitter figures to stay at full throttle because the bullpen fights again from a six-game begin that featured an 8.86 ERA, a major-league-high 19 walks in 21 1/three innings and blown saves in all three probabilities by three pitchers.
‘‘It’s fairly straightforward to know what’s happening,’’ supervisor Joe Maddon stated of the Cubs’ 1-5 begin by means of the primary two collection. ‘‘We have to get our bullpen in order. Once we do that, we’ll be high-quality.
‘‘We have to make sure that these guys know they have my full support and confidence, and we have to keep putting them out there until we nail it down.’’
Edwards, the toughest thrower among the many setup corps, had didn’t file an out in two of his three appearances, had walked half the 10 batters he had confronted and had Major League Baseball rule the brand new hesitation, toe-tap transfer he added to his supply throughout the spring was unlawful.
In addition to his between-the-chairs session with Noble, Edwards additionally talked with veteran teammates, Strode and pitching coach Tommy Hottovy and obtained encouragement from Maddon.
‘‘I’m high-quality, man,’’ stated Edwards, who added the sudden change again to his outdated mechanics hasn’t been an issue. ‘‘I felt really good mechanically [Thursday]. I felt good mentally. Now it’s simply the main focus.
‘‘Now it’s simply, ‘Let’s simply go at these guys.’ ’’