W!

When last we visited these parts, Cub Tracks pitched in with some words about Yu and eye, the “new daily double,” more giant sloths, and other bullets, and went on to disparage both MLB Network’s Christopher Russo and eminent sports presence Jayson Stark, among others, for their “lazy and reactionary thinking.”

This was done for both editorial and infotainment purposes, and Cub Tracks isn’t sorry. Yu showed those people, anyway. Granted that one game is an even smaller sample size than four, but now that there’s five games’ worth of raw data to look at, the big picture looks brighter, even without resorting to the Illudium Q-36 Space Modulator.

And, to further light up your life, the staff as a whole has looked better recently. So has the opposition, frankly, as we extend the hot dog metaphor into a foot-long. The Brewers have looked awful good this series. There have been some seeds hit by the Cubs, but none have pushed hard enough to get on the scoreboard. Just the one tater so far, Schwarber’s laser shot. Not enough to make an order of fries for a side, let alone an earth-shattering kaboom.

And I forgot to mention how cool Doug Glanville was, which I am sorry for. I meant to, but that section got scissored. Please forgive me. Doug has some pipes in addition to his other skills. He’s humble, too.

Doggone. Perhaps the spheroid will be induced to egress with more frequency today. It’ll be a little warmer during the day today, Al Sleet, the hippy dippy weatherman, might say, before it gets cooler tonight, man.

But what do I know? I have the swamp cooler on and a Polar Pop the size of That 70s Show’s water tower, and Dave’s been here, man. I’m gonna go see Infinity War before the game starts. Below are some nuggets for you — as always * means autoplay on (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

Cubs news and notes:

“It kind of puts things in perspective a little bit, because we’re out there and everybody wants to get hits and RBIs and home runs and feel great about themselves. When something like that happens, you have to take a step back and realize that this game could be taken from you really quick and really soon and unexpectedly. It’s really important to enjoy the game as much as you can.” — Kris Bryant

• Travis Sarandos (Brew Crew Ball): A Series of Unfortunate Events leads to Cubs shutout of Brewers. Again. “Milwaukee looks lost as they are punked by Chicago. Rinse. Repeat.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune * {$}): Windy Wrigley Field helps Cubs earn another win against Brewers. “Doug Dascenzo compared chasing down fly balls at Wrigley Field to ‘catching a Frisbee.’”
• Brendan Miller (Cubs Insider): Darvish praises Maddon’s approach, says manager ‘Really takes care of me’. Maddon has a unique way of connecting with people in an authentic manner. Spins Sahadev Sharma’s article for The Athletic {$}.
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Dominant Q backed by D as Cubs blank Crew.
• Bradford Doolittle (ESPN*): Cubs rotation finally delivering on its design to dominate. “...the starters are complementing a lineup and bullpen that had been doing the heavy lifting through the early going.”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Brandon Morrow has been a huge pickup for the Cubs — even when he doesn’t pitch. “Carl Edwards Jr. has looked absolutely dominant as Morrow’s main setup man...”
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Albert Almora Jr., Javier Baez extend hit streaks, ignite Cubs. It goes to eleven.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): What does the emergence of Báez mean for Addison Russell? “...a daily lineup matrix where Russell isn’t such an automatic at shortstop.”
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*) Have a day, Javy: Baez a bother for Brewers. “Baez continued to add to his personal highlight reel on Saturday.”
• Bradford Doolittle (ESPN*): Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist return to lineup for Cubs. “I feel good. The last few days, it felt good to do full baseball stuff,” said Bryant.
• David Just (Chicago Sun-Times*): Maddon credits Cubs’ depth for their success without Bryant. ‘‘We are doing fine; we just really haven’t gotten it all going yet,’’ he said.
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Cubs activate Zobrist from DL, option David Bote. “I wanted him to believe after he had this brief experience that he knows he belongs here and he can do this,” Maddon said of his conversation with Bote after Friday’s game.
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Bryant back in lineup with renewed perspective. “I’ve always worn it -- I probably should’ve been wearing it the whole time,” he said about the C-Flap helmet.

Food for thought:

• Daniel Starkey (Digital Trends): It’s so realistic, ‘Surviving Mars’ is turning rocket scientists into gamers. “...it’s also very much about the narrative...”
• Emily Conover (Science News): A DIY take on the early universe may reveal cosmic secrets. There’s this gauntlet, see...
• Robin McKee (The Guardian): Life on Mars? Scientists close to solving mystery of the red planet. “Mission to find source of methane detected in atmosphere may have an answer in months, researchers believe...”

Thanks for experiencing. Transmission will resume Tuesday morning.