The quaint notion that hitting is contagious has been around as long as the Abner Doubleday myth, as if it can somehow spread from player to player like whooping cough.
Well, then, perhaps it’s time for this variant after the Cubs put on a master class in leatherwork Monday night in defeating the Phillies 5-1 at Wrigley Field for their sixth straight victory:
Can fielding be contagious?
“Absolutely,’’ said catcher Carson Kelly, who didn’t play but had a front-row seat for seven defensive plays that objectively qualified as highlight plays, even for a team known for its defense. “All of it can be contagious. Everything is. I think that’s what makes this game so beautiful. You can feel the momentum.”
It began in the first inning, with Ian Happ caterwauling over the low retaining wall in left field to grab a foul fly off the bat of former Cub Kyle Schwarber. The crowd was still buzzing about that play when second baseman Nico Hoerner’s backhanded dive took a base hit away from the Phillies’ other prime slugger, Bryce Harper.
What does that do for the guy standing on the hill — in this case right-hander Colin Rea?
“It kind of gets you fired up a little bit, especially to start the game,” Rea said. “You know, you’re so honed in on executing pitches and trying to make really good pitches and not make mistakes, and then you’re kind of like, ‘Oh, we got a defense like this. Just go right after them.’ ”
The fielding virtuosity didn’t let up all night and couldn’t have done much for the sagging confidence of the Phillies (8-14), who have now lost six straight.
In the second inning, it was outfielder Michael Conforto with a diving catch in right. In the third, it was first baseman Michael Busch with a slick scoop of third baseman Alex Bregman’s low throw while on the run.
In the sixth, it was Busch again, this time with a diving stop of Bryson Stott’s smash and flip to Rea for the out. In the seventh, it was Hoerner’s turn for an encore with a dive to his left to take a hit away from Schwarber.
Even the substitutes got into the act. Matt Shaw, who has a thimbleful of experience in right field, made a flying grab of Trea Turner’s sinking liner in the ninth.
“From the second batter of the game, like, all night, there were tons of plays being made,’’ said Rea (3-0), who left to a standing ovation from the crowd of 27,798 with two outs in the seventh. His yield: six hits and a run, numbers that surely would have been inflated without the defensive wizardry.
“You don’t expect those plays to be made,” Rea said. “But you do at the same time, with just the guys we have all around the diamond, and I think they take a lot of pride in making those plays.”
Quality defense lies deep in the Cubs’ DNA, said shortstop Dansby Swanson, whose three-run homer in a four-run second was a blow to Aaron Nola (1-2), the Phillies’ struggling one-time ace.
The Cubs (13-9) have outscored opponents 44-14 during the streak and have held them to a total of four runs in the last three games.
So, we ask again: Can fielding be contagious?
“I think just good baseball is,” said Swanson, taking note of how the pitching staff has picked up for injured starters Cade Horton (elbow surgery) and Matthew Boyd (strained biceps), as well as a gaggle of relievers on the shelf. “There are so many different ways to bring energy to a group and to a game. You can do it defensively by making plays. You can do it offensively by hitting the ball hard. You can do it by stealing bases. You can do it by taking extra bases. You can do it by shutting teams down.
“There are so many ways to do it, and this team is really, really good at it.”
