"Four homers in two days and he doesn't respect the game!"
One Cubs player shouted that sarcastic comment across the home clubhouse Thursday evening as Javy Baez addressed a group of media around his locker following the 6-1 loss in the series finale with the Pirates.
Roughly 6 hours earlier, Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle targeted Baez for the bat he threw in frustration in the seventh inning of the Cubs' 13-5 win Wednesday night.
Hurdle and the Pirates apparently took exception to Baez, who hit his fourth homer in the series his next at-bat.
"Where is the respect for the game?" Hurdle asked Thursday morning.
Baez immediately took ownership of his bat-toss after Wednesday's game, calling it embarrassing and a mistake to learn from.
The dynamic infielder didn't even find out out about Hurdle's comments in the Cubs clubhouse after the series finale Thursday and was as fired up meeting the media as he's ever been.
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"I bust my ass every day to play hard," Baez said. "I don't think anyone plays this game harder than me. I respect 90, I respect whatever, but you don't go out there and talk trash about someone.
"To be honest, I got a lot of things I can say right now, but I don't control what's out there, what people talk about me. I'm just gonna keep playing my game. Last year was a player talking about my gamestyle and now this year, it's a manager.
"Like I said, I don't control it. However it gets to me, I learn from it, learn from that bat-flip last night. That's all I gotta say. If anybody got stuff to say, they can save it."
Baez said he chatted with Pirates catcher Francisco Cervelli about the incident during the course of Thursday's game, but said the veteran backstop went about it "in a great way" and the two players wound up joking with each other about Baez's at-bats.
"If I gotta apologize, I have to apologize to my teammates and my manager," Baez said. "Not to the other team. We're playing against them. We won 13-something. I think it got to them.
"We lost the series, but we're still the same. I'm happy. There's music in the clubhouse after we lost. There's nothing to take personally. People that talk about me, can save it.
"...It's just a game. I'm gonna play hard every day. Whoever likes it, fine. Whoever doesn't like it, that's you."
Before Hurdle's comments became public, Maddon spoke at length about the Cubs' clubhouse policing itself and none of Baez's teammates or coaches had any issues with how he went about his business.
Kyle Schwarber noted how Baez was actually smiling and joking around even while the Cubs were losing Thursday, keeping things positive in the dugout.
"He's a really good human being," Schwarber said. "He really enjoys the game."