Cub Tracks flips out

I came for the Saturday night special, and I got a Sunday double-header instead. It’s enough to make one gonzo. Lots of moving parts today.

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Nice work by MLB on this rain delay thing, eh? Gamethread word amazing. How did you spend the time? I taught my oldest cat to high-five by giving him Temptations (chicken flavor). Now he’s going around trying to high-five all the time so he can have treats. Cats are magic.

Jaime Garcia clearly didn’t recapture his vintage-2015 magic and Max Scherzer Scherzer’d as the Nationals knocked the Cubs around a little. That game and lineup looked like a punt for placement anyway, something I hope the Bears don’t do often in their season-opening tilt this evening against the Packers.

The second game, though, that was more better. Or was it? Victor Caratini with the bomb, that was almost cathartic. I sure did holler, don’t know about you. Hard to dislike the pickup of Cole Hamels, eh? Finest kind...Al will have full details in his recap of the nightcap. He’s already gotten past the first game, and so have I. But the second game. Oh, the humanity! Mike Marshall was right: Baseball is an ass. I dunno about you, but I feel good. Holy gamethread! Was it all Werth it?

Man, I love me some rain delay. Here we have reactions, and reactions to reactions, and the usual Sunday funnies. Read on! As always * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). Now, on with the show!

Cubs News and Notes:

“We’ve already played three of those [split doubleheaders],” player rep Kris Bryant said. “It’s our right [per the CBA] to want a straight doubleheader. We ended up getting it, but we had to wait here for a while.”

Bryant isn’t an advocate of playing baseball past midnight, but it’s the lesser of two evils, compared to a late postponement and then a doubleheader just a few hours later. And now even that has been delayed by rain on Saturday.

”I’m just as confused too,” Bryant said. “From the player’s perspective, when you play games at 1 or 2 in the morning, you are going to get the worst possible baseball. But either call it early or just play.” — Jesse Rogers.

And we wait...

It looks like they’re gonna play!

• Nick Cafardo (Boston Globe {$}): A Red Sox-Cubs World Series would be the perfect end to the season. Yes. Yes, it would.
• Ian Quillen (MLB.com*): Friday’s rainout lets Jon Lester open against Crew.
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs confused by handling of weather issues at Nationals Park. “If you’d like the true story, contact MLB,” Joe Maddon said. Jesse Rogers adds on. Evan Altman explains.
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Veterans Ben Zobrist, Anthony Rizzo and Daniel Murphy leading the way in Cubs’ playoff push. “...the real stability comes from Murphy, Zo and Riz,” opined Joe Maddon.
• Bruce Miles (Daily Herald {$}): Hamels, Murphy, Garcia reflect on watching Cubs transform into champions. “They’re all Cubs now, and they’re seeing that things are all they’ve been cracked up to be.”
• Ian Quillen (MLB.com*): Garcia labors in debut as Cubs drop Game 1. “Scherzer (17-6) struck out 11, walked none and allowed nine hits...”
• Elliott Smith (MLB.com*): Justin Wilson continues to impress in Cubs’ bullpen. “...14 straight scoreless outings over eight innings of work.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Zobrist on the best free-agent decision he ever made, his comeback season and why the Cubs are annual contenders. “I’ve been fortunate that it ended up working out that we’ve been successful the first three years of my tenure here. And hopefully next year, too.”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): A slight tweak has some believing Ian Happ is in for a big September: ‘He’s on the cusp of getting red hot’. “This last month, we’re gonna get the best version of Ian,” said assistant hitting coach Andy Haines.
• Mark Townsend (Big league Stew*): Cubs outfielder waited five seasons and 54 games for first MLB hit. “Terrance Gore, a Chicago Cubs outfielder known mainly for his speed and defense, finally picked up his first major-league hit.”
• Todd Johnson (Cubs Insider): Andy Weber looks like the real deal. “...it took Weber a while to acclimate to pro ball...”

Food for Thought: