Cubs' Lester knows how he wants team to play down stretch

[Boris13c]

Cubs' Lester knows how he wants team to play down stretch: 'Stupid'

Baseball is typically referred to a thinking man's game, what with all its built-in strategy and chess-like moves that go on throughout a game.

Well, that runs counter to how Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester says he wants his young team to play as it finds itself in the the thick of the wild-card race.

"This is going to sound really bad, but I’ve always been a big believer in playing stupid,” Lester told reporters in Pittsurgh. “Being naïve.”

Chicago's youthful bunch turned around a downslide in tremendous fashion with a six-game win streak that included Tuesday's win at Pittsburgh. Inexperienced in pressure situation, the Cubs are getting that experience now against the NL wild-card-leading Pirates and it will continue Thursday with the start of a four-game series at Wrigley Field against the defending champion San Francisco Giants, who briefly overtook Chicago for the second wild-card spot before this Cubs' run snatched it back.

Lester, as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2008, saw how Cubs manager and then-Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon handled that young group.

“I saw it with the Rays in 2008,” Lester said. “They were naïve to the situation. They had nothing to lose. We have nothing to lose. We’re not supposed to win. We’re supposedly still in the rebuilding stages."

Lester may actually turn out to be one of the best pickups the Cubs have made ... he has a lot to offer the team other than his work on the mound every 5th day