Cub Tracks triples its pleasure

Well, THAT was fun. HaBoom! KaBoom! SchwaBoom! I could watch that again, and might. Al will have details in his recap.

I notice that the Sun-Times has removed the paywall. I can’t pretend to have any clue what’s up with that, but we’ll take it in stride. I’m gonna curb the loquaciousness and go right to the news — as always * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

Cubs News and Notes:

It’s never a surprise when a contender discusses wanting more pitching before the July 31 trade deadline and the Cubs are no different. The topic came up with GM Jed Hoyer when he announced top prospect Adbert Alzolay would not return from a lat injury this season. He was penciled in as depth on the mound for the second half. Hoyer: “We’ll be on the lookout for rotation depth and in the bullpen, no matter what, but this underscores that a little bit.” — Jesse Rogers.

• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Adding DH to the National League would be a huge boon for the Cubs. “...I’d like to see the pitcher just pitch and have another bat in the lineup,” said Addison Russell.
• Jon Heyman (FRS Baseball): Cubs made one extra special draft pick. Itamar Steiner revisited.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Clubhouse Access: Cubs pitching prospects, the change in Jason Heyward and story time with Joe Maddon. “...the organization’s top-to-bottom pitching infrastructure still might be stronger than it’s ever been during the Theo Epstein regime.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times*): Cubs don’t rule out returns for Yu Darvish, Carl Edwards Jr. before break. “I think there’s a path to that,” general manager Jed Hoyer said.
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): Justin Wilson and the rotating depth relievers have been unheralded stars. New band name? “Not only are there a number of guys throwing well in the Iowa ‘pen, but they’ve come up here and given us 50 or so innings of really good baseball collectively,” said Theo Epstein.
• Bill Francis (National Baseball Hall of Fame): Kerry Wood relives 20K game at museum. “Wood, who burst upon the national baseball scene 20 years ago with a pitching performance for the ages, was in Cooperstown recently in his role as dad.”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs laugh off concern over offensive woes. “Javier Baez walked. TWICE. Both unintentional.”
• Adam Berry (MLB.com*): Anthony Rizzo among those poised for turnaround. “Nobody’s really worried about Rizzo...”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation): Baez is going out of the strike zone more than any hitter in baseball. “...he’s clearly outside himself right now.”
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Kris Bryant snaps homerless streak with 2-run blast. “The blast ended Bryant’s homerless streak at a career-high 24 games.” Answers Sahadev Sharma’s question {$}.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Watch: The house that built Bryant. Video from Red Bull.
• Carrie Muskat (MLB.com*): Cubs shut down top prospect Adbert Alzolay. “...there’s no operation necessary, but the inactivity period is going to be long enough that by the time he ramps back up again, he probably won’t be helpful and able to pitch for us this year,” Hoyer said.

Food For Thought:

• Emily Conover (Science News): The Large Hadron Collider is getting an upgrade. “The improvements will allow for collisions at a higher rate in the underground accelerator.”
• Joshua Rapp Learn (Science): These frogs walk instead of hop, video reveals. “...they crawl low to the ground like a cat creeping up on prey.”
• Emily Conover (Science News): Magnetic fields may be propping up the Pillars of Creation. “The structure’s internal magnetism could mean the columns of gas and dust will be long-lived.”

Thanks for reading.