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Left of center, but right on target
Lilly, Hill and Marshall — quirks and all — are leading left-handed renaissance on North Side
By Melissa Isaacson
Tribune staff reporter
October 5, 2007, 12:03 AM CDT
Some guys chew tobacco, others spit sunflower seeds. Rich Hill relaxes with a little light reading of Deepak Chopra and his combination of physics, philosophy, spirituality, Eastern wisdom and Western science.
You know those quirky lefties.
They are kindred spirits, Hill and his fellow left-handed starters, who in the Cubs' case also happen to form perhaps the best corps of North Side lefties in anyone's memory.
There was Dick Ellsworth and Ken Holtzman in the 1960s and '70s. Greg Hibbard had one good year in the early '90s. But never in one season has there been anything resembling the trio of Ted Lilly, the Cubs starter for Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Thursday night, Rich Hill, who will start Game 3, and Sean Marshall.
"It's hard to find left-handed starters as it is and we have three of them," Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild said, "and three who all have real good curveballs, which is really unusual."
In the "Seven Spiritual Laws of Success," Chopra suggests contemplating and practicing a spiritual law for each day of the week, which would have Hill considering No. 7: "The law of 'Dharma' or purpose in life" on Saturday, when he is scheduled to start at Wrigley Field.
Of course, the purpose that day will be abundantly clear, but Hill is a student of life, of the game and of his teammates.
"I like to talk to a lot of guys, pitchers and position players," Hill said. "These guys are the best at what they do and to have those resources five feet away from you, you would be ridiculous not to use them."
He pays particular attention to Theodore Roosevelt Lilly, the senior member of the group at 31. In his first season with the Cubs after signing as a free agent in December, he went 15-8 to post the most victories for a Cubs lefty since Hibbard's 15 in 1993. Of those, nine were at Wrigley, the most at home for a lefty since Holtzman's 12 in '69.
"I pay attention to Ted's approach," Hill said. "How he handles things like failure, or not so much failure but how he handles a big situation, maybe gives up a hit, how his body language is, how he reacts, his behavior. I watch a lot of that and how he pitches to certain hitters and what he does in between his starts.
"His work ethic is very good. He has been around for a while and he will be around for a while because he takes care of himself. There's a reason why guys stick around for 15 years."
For Lilly, being surrounded by left-handed starters is not at all unusual because he pitched with Barry Zito and Mark Mulder in Oakland in 2003.
"It was fun, different being a part of that," he said.
He jokes that the eccentric reputation of lefties is not completely unfounded.
"They say lefties wear their hats a little crooked," Lilly said. "I don't know, but lefties are different for the most part and every so often you'll see some righties who act like lefties. I don't know how to explain it. You can call it quirks, some of the little things that they do, whether it's goofy or we just act a little different."
Marshall, the baby of the group at 25 and a quiet, studious sort like Hill, agrees.
"We're a little out there sometimes," he said. "Obviously our curveballs curve the other direction than right-handed pitchers, so that's what hitters have to adjust to and that's what they hate about us."
Marshall fell off the first-round playoff roster when Cubs manager Lou Piniella elected to go with the three-man rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Lilly and Hill. But after beginning the season in the minors while rehabbing his shoulder, Marshall came back and started 19 games, finishing at 7-8 while allowing two or fewer earned runs in 11 of those starts.
"It's good watch a lefty pitch and kind of compare what you can do and the way you're going to adapt your game," Marshall said. "I always watch video of a previous team's left-handed starter against the team you're playing, so it's nice to have somebody on your own team you can talk to."
Of the three, Lilly said it is Hill who likes to talk the most.
"We both like to learn and talk about our game," Lilly said, "but he's a guy who really has a thirst for information."
Hill, 27, who likes to read and re-read "The Mental A-B-C's of Pitching" and "Thinking Body, Dancing Mind," said he won't limit his preparation.
"It all helps, everything," he said. "As much as you train your body, you have to train your mind. You have to really work on being able to be mentally focused. I know it's a common phrase 'mentally focused.' What does that mean? There's a lot that goes into it. I think [it's] just to be consistent and try to keep your plan simple as far as your approach to the game. Even your daily routine, just try to do things in moderation and not take too much of anything in at once."
In his first full major-league season, Hill, like Lilly, set a career high in victories this season (11-8 with a 3.92 ERA). After splitting the '06 season between the big club and Triple-A, Hill is not looking back.
"He had two or three trips to Iowa," said Cubs coach Mike Quade, Hill's Iowa Cubs manager in '06. "He struggled, got sent back, struggled, got sent back, and you have to deal with the doubts that are involved. It's not necessarily an easy thing, but if you want to perform at this level and you want to enjoy working or doing what Major League Baseball allows you to do, the tough get through it. I'm real proud of him and thrilled to death he's at this point."
Rothschild is impressed with the current product.
"The most important thing with any athlete is the desire to get better and the willingness to try things," he said.
"They've all had success at some point. Sometimes you have to fly without a 'chute, take some chances and the good ones do that and then get better because of it. There's no fear in them."
misaacson@tribune.com
Copyright © 2007, The Chicago Tribune
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