Cub Tracks does the robot

If you’re on the ledge, just go ahead and jump. Please. Do the rest of us that favor. I turned the game off for the first time this year when Anthony DeSclafani hit that long ball. The writing was on the wall, as easily read as the writing in Annihilation. But... Maybe the Cubs can win the Sunday get-out-of-town game behind Tyler Chatwood. They can at least put Cincinnati in the rearview. And there’s a lot of baseball yet to be played.

This isn’t over yet.

What was that Joe Maddon was saying about roller coasters in yesterday’s Cub Tracks? Long view...I’m sticking with that. It’ll be okay. The Cubs are still good. Every team in the league has flaws. At least Edwin Jackson isn’t starting for the Cubs...

Out of the Chicago area, we don’t get any postgame reports. Normally I miss those. Not today. I escaped to watch the rest of Luke Cage and write these words to the dulcet tones of Svengoolie as the desert breeze finally begins to cool the air.

Bring on the robot umps.

1. A robot ump may not make a bad strike call, or, through inaction, allow a ball to be a strike.
2. A robot ump must make correct calls on the bases except where such judgements would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot ump must make correct calls in the field as long as such judgement does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

On to the news — as always * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

Cubs News and Notes:

I don’t know, but Alaska?

Tyler Chatwood, whose wife is expecting their first child in the next day or two, still had not been called back to Chicago as of Saturday night and remains on schedule to start the series finale Sunday. — Gordon Wittenmyer

Kohl Franklin signs with Cubs.

The Cubs admit they have to play better baseball but gave credit to the Reds for taking the first three games of the series this weekend. Cincinnati is now 28-30 under interim manager Jim Riggleman, after starting the season 3-15. Joe Maddon was asked about losing 3 straight to a last place team: “We went 0-6 on a road trip last year. It’s called baseball. It’s under the category of baseball but while you’re saying that don’t denigrate Cincinnati. This is an improved ball club and their pitching is way improved.” The Cubs have scored a total of 7 runs in the first three games, in a ballpark they usually put up big numbers in. — Jesse Rogers.

• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Disturbing trends continue for José Quintana after rough start in Cincinnati. “The biggest mistake for me was the home run,” Quintana said.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Tempers flare as ‘searching’ Cubs drop third game in row to last-place Reds. “It all happened because I asked for time out and apparently I didn’t thank him,” said Contreras.
• ESPN: Anthony Rizzo on the Cubs’ loss [VIDEO]. “We’re not clicking at all,” he told the Sporting News.
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Bryzzo’s struggles at the heart of Cubs’ power outage. “It’s the endless pursuit of perfection that’s very tough to get to,” said Kris Bryant.
• Andrew Mearns (Cut Four): Tommy La Stella stuns Joey Votto with dive into crowd. “La Stella tracked the ball to the stands along the third-base line and was running out of room. So, he dove right in, head-first...”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Javier Baez becoming one of the National League’s elite all-around players. “Baez’ only real drawback is plate discipline...”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ Addison Russell makes adjustments to play through finger issue. “It’s the same left middle finger he injured on a swing in New York on June 3, and he expects it to be a season-long issue to manage because of lingering damage in the knuckle.”
• Todd Johnson (Cubs Insider): Starting position leads the way when ranking the Cubs system by position. “Which group would be the deepest, which would be the most talented, and which would be filled with the most projection?”
• Jason Kinander (Minor League Ball): Chicago Cubs: One sleeper prospect at each level. “To sum it all up, the Chicago Cubs do not exactly have a great farm system.”
• John Marx (Quad Cities Online): Cubs statue stolen from 99-year-old’s porch. “Our faith in our fellow man has taken another shot to the midsection.”

Food For Thought:

• Charles Q. Choi (Inside Science): Water may not be the only sign of alien life. “Now researchers suggest that looking at “bioessential” elements such as phosphorus and molybdenum could help judge a world’s potential for life.”
• Bruce Bower (Science News): Koko the gorilla is gone, but she left a legacy. “Koko taught us so much about the great ape mind, even while she paid a cost, in her own daily life, for our scientific curiosity.”
• Seth Shostak (NBC News): Here’s the scientific explanation for that ‘alien spaceship’ on Mars. “What some say looks like a crash site is evidence of volcanism, not Vulcans.”

Thanks for playing along.