The decision to add players to the Cubs roster before the trade deadline is not simply a matter of evaluating talent.
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Manager Joe Maddon says he and the Cubs management also discuss how a potential new player might fit in with the team off the field.
“It’s always a consideration, always a conversation,” he said. “Then you evaluate and understand the people you already have here and how they will help this person assimilate into the group … if you have those kind of veteran people in your clubhouse.
“The thing I want to establish over the next couple of years is that when a new guy walks in the door, say: ‘This is how we do things here.’ And the whole group says that. And that would be the best way to go about it.”
Maddon has high regard for his current players being able to relax during the course of a stressful season.
“The group has been getting very tight,” he said. “All the little things that we do, the goofy stuff we do at camp and during the season really helps. We are a bunch of kids, we never grow up. We want to be Peter Pan for the rest of our life.
“If you want to take it too seriously … and it’s not life and death. It’s just fun and games, it really is. And when you start taking it in the wrong direction, then you can lose sight of that.”
Pitching in: Jake Arrieta (11-6, 2.61) took the loss but pitched his seventh straight quality outing. While he has performed well as a staff ace much of this season, Arrieta has excelled somewhat under the radar.
“I don’t see him as worried about that status,” Maddon said. “He keeps getting better. I keep saying he is going to get better than you see right now. I don’t think he is concerned about being considered an ace or a No. 2 or No. 3. He just wants: ‘When is my day to pitch? I’ll be ready, I promise.'”
Extra innings: Hamels’ no-hitter was the first at Wrigley Field since Sept. 2, 1972, when Milt Pappas no-hit the Padres 8-0 and lost a perfect game bid with a controversial walk with two out in the ninth inning. …The last-place Phillies have gone 7-1 since the All-Star break.