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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Once Again, Maddux Seems Consistently Awesome

Associated Press

Cy Young awards don’t matter much to Greg Maddux. He’s got plenty of them.

He prefers to focus on the minutiae of pitching: the next team, the next hitter, the next pitch.

On this day, relaxing in the Atlanta Braves clubhouse between starts in a season that has shown Cy Young-like brilliance once again, Maddux refused to let the conversation shift to large, sweeping goals.

Twenty wins? There are too many factors that could scuttle such a season, no matter how well he pitches.

A fifth Cy Young? Too far off to worry about.

“I enjoy watching the game. I just think about what I have to do to make good pitches. That’s it,” said Maddux, whose unprecedented streak of four straight Cy Youngs was broken last season by teammate John Smoltz. “I don’t try to collect numbers or win games. I just try to make good pitches.”

Based on the first month of the season, Maddux might want to go ahead and clear off a shelf for another Cy Young.

During five starts in April, he went 3-1 with a 1.13 ERA. He took a scoreless streak of 29 innings into May before giving up two runs in a seven-inning stint Friday.

“Greg is throwing a lot better,” said Eddie Perez, his personal catcher. “He has more velocity and even better control on the corners. I mean, he was great before, but awesome is the word now.”

Maddux the Magnificent is back, though it’s not like he really ever left.

“For about the 913th time, there is nothing different about Maddux,” pitching coach Leo Mazzone said. “He’s consistent as consistent is. He’s simply the greatest pitcher in baseball.”

In a rain-shortened, 2-0 win over the Padres on April 27, Maddux ended Tony Gwynn’s 12-game hitting streak.

“Maddux was overwhelming,” said Gwynn, a seven-time batting champion.

It’s a tribute to Maddux’s greatness that 1996 - 15-11 with a 2.72 ERA and, more telling, no Cy Young - is considered a subpar year.

The previous two seasons, Maddux seemed almost from another world, putting together back-to-back performances that statistically rate as the two greatest years for a pitcher in baseball history - 16-6 with a 1.56 ERA in 1994, 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA in ‘95.

How do those seasons compare with this season?

“I don’t even try to do that,” he said last week. “What good does it do me? I’m worrying about (his next opponent). You try to remember what you did against them, what they did against you. Man, I’m not worried about, what was it, 1993 or ‘94? I don’t think it’s going to help me.”

That’s the heart of Maddux’s brilliance. He keeps looking forward, yet he has the computerlike ability to retain all those tidbits that help him keep the upper hand.

“Greg’s the most intelligent pitcher - no, make that one of the most intelligent guys - I’ve ever coached,” Mazzone said. “He’s always looking to upgrade his game.”