Cub Tracks Needs To Get Over The Hump

Here's the latest from around the web:

From Comcast SportsNet Chicago:

• When it comes to winning at Busch Stadium, Joe Maddon believes that the Cubs need to get over the mental hump to do it.
• Starting pitching will still be a priority before the trading deadline, according to Patrick Mooney.
• Kris Bryant feels fine. And he doesn't read anything on the Internet.
• Shortstop is still within Addison Russell's future, according to Maddon, but for now he's turning into a better second baseman faster than expected.

From Cubs.com:

• Jake Arrieta on Friday's loss: "We have to learn something from it and come out (Saturday) a little better prepared."
• What has made Arrieta so much better since his Baltimore days? His pitch mixture, for one, as well as his spin and velocity on his secondary pitches.
• An errant throw by Mike Baxter in Friday's game ended a night that was pretty eventful for him.
• And then there was Thursday's game where home-plate umpire Andy Fletcher came out to have words with Jon Lester, although Lester doesn't know why Fletcher was upset at him.

From ESPN Chicago:

• With Donn Roach coming up from Triple-A Iowa to start Saturday's game, Theo Epstein admitted that it has not been a good year for the Cubs' fifth through 10th starters in the organization.
• Jon Lester is still getting used to pitching in the National League, admitting that "it's a different game over here."
• Answering the questions in this edition of the Twitter mailbag: Jason Motte.

From CBS Chicago:

• [AUDIO] Theo Epstein spoke Friday on The Score 670 with topics including Starlin Castro, Joe Maddon's influence, and the need for more starting pitching. The hyperlink to the story is somewhat humorously misleading.
• Kris Bryant is a monster at night. During the day, however... not so much.
• You may recall the story from a couple of weeks ago about Andre Dawson auctioning off some of his memorabilia this summer, including items such as his 1987 MVP award. Rest assured that Dawson hasn't fallen on hard times; according to Bruce Levine, Dawson is selling the items for practical reasons.

From the Chicago Tribune:

• The Cubs might be able to tinker with their rotation enough to keep Tsuyoshi Wada off of the disabled list heading into the All-Star break.
• Fred Washington has the best seat in the house: he's the center-field scoreboard operator.
• With the new video boards, is the center-field scoreboard still relevant? For a good number of people, it certainly is.
• But something is amiss with the scoreboard, especially at night, writes Blair Kamin.
• The scoreboard itself has changed a lot over the years, as seen in this photo gallery.
• Back to the new video boards... is the programming any good on them? Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones weighs in.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Just an aside here, to anyone from the Sun-Times who might happen to check in on this piece (yeah, I know nobody from the Sun-Times actually does): For the love of all things good, could you please stop changing the layout of your Cubs page? You've gone through about four layouts in two months. Just pick one already. (Sorry for the rant; I'm off my soapbox now.)

• After the rough outing from Donn Roach on Saturday night, Gordon Wittenmyer says that it's time for the front office to get out the checkbook.
• But Gordo does at least admit that the Cubs have been aggressively looking, even if it might take "weeks" to land the right player.
• The Cubs are a real baseball team again, writes... wait... Rick Telander?
• Good news from the injured front: Jorge Soler is expected back before the All-Star break and could be headed on a rehab assignment early next week.
• Remember Keith Hartley from earlier this week, the fan who reached out from the front row and caught a foul ball while holding his baby son? Yeah, the Cubs don't want fans to do that anymore, baby or not.

From the Daily Herald:

• ESPN play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman is happy that the Cubs are on Sunday Night Baseball again because "baseball is more interesting when the Cubs are good."

From Bleacher Nation:

• Down on the farm: Carl Edwards, Jr. is trending in the right direction at Triple-A Iowa.
• And down at Double-A Tennessee Billy McKinney is tearing it up, putting him at the top of the Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet.
• [VIDEO] In case you missed Bob Costas' comments from Friday night about Pedro Strop, here they are.

Today's food for thought:

• What's a backpack strap worth if it was worn on the surface of the moon? For one collector, $62,500.
• Get ready to adjust your clocks on June 30, as we'll be getting a leap second that day.
• [VIDEO] And, finally... here's a video showing two small-market producers of a very common but extremely useful product: Salt.