Cub Tracks feels the love

It’s Saturday. Do you know where your baseball team is?

Ah... there’s the carrot, the stick, and then there’s Lucy van Pelt yanking the football away. Repeatedly. Yes, it’s still way early, and the eternal questions still hang suspended in mid-air, like Mary Richards’ hat with a big red ‘C’ on it, but I ask who of you hasn’t already considered the dreaded fire sale?

But... dreams can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile. Isn’t that right, David Bote?

Argh. Maybe I’ll start tweeting @Brandon Kintzler’s brother again. “I’m sorry,” I’ll say. “I was wrong all along, and so was everyone else.” Does that come off as insincere? Heavens forfend. I try to say what I mean... okay, I’ve gotten the window completely open and I’m sitting on the sill. Stop crowding.

I have recently detected an increase in the number of tweeters that mean not to praise Theo, but to bury him. Imagine how they’ll feel when the replacements start arriving. Cuz there are gonna be replacements... a team that scores 6+ runs daily should be doing better than this.

Oh.

But hey, Daniel DeScalso has two three-hit games this year, already. Play it, Sam.

Here’s to plain speaking and clear understanding, Kaspar Gutman, and here’s today’s Cubs News and Notes. As always * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome).

• Michael Baumann (The Ringer): MLB Panic Meter: Are the Red Sox and Cubs really this bad? “We’re a week into the season and a handful of the expected contenders have already dug themselves into holes.” Jon Tayler of SI has similar thoughts.
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Everybody is trying to be the hero: One explanation for Cubs’ early-season struggles. “It snowballs in a bad way,” Joe Maddon said.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Questions about Yu Darvish and the Cubs bullpen aren’t going away. “It took only one week into the season for the Cubs to have their first five-game losing streak, incite panic on Twitter and admit that maybe all that intense focus on a good start got in their heads.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Hottovy works with Cubs pitchers to reduce BBs. It’s the gopher balls I’m suddenly worried about. But yeah, more men on base...
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Struggling Carl Edwards Jr. vows to silence critics: ‘I’m a great baseball player. I’m just in a rough patch right now’. You gotta love his spunk. But remember, Lou Grant hated spunk. There are times I feel similarly.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): The Iowa Cubs are firm but funny when it comes to Ian Happ. “... it was only natural that various iterations of the same joke would pop up in the replies when the Iowa Cubs posted about his season debut.”
• Laura Messer (Cubs Insider): If Cubs really value production over talent, it may be time to demote more players. “... the least productive and most inconsistent young members of the Cubs roster are still seeing time in the Show.”
• Barry M. Bloom (Forbes*): Ernie Banks was never paid well by the Chicago Cubs, even in his own era, new book reveals. “Players back then negotiated their own deals.”
• Tim Bannon (Chicago Tribune* {$}): A Milwaukee distillery made ‘L Flag Bourbon’ after Game No. 163 — and a ‘snub’ by the Cubs. “It’s all in good fun,” said Pat McQuillan, co-owner of Central Standard Craft Distillery.
• Cubs birthdays: Rudy Schwenck, Don Elston, Phil Regan, Thomas Diamond. Also notable: Mickey Cochrane (HoF), Ernie Lombardi (HoF), Bert Blyleven (HoF).

Food for Thought: