Cub Tracks spreads the mayo

How about that Taylor Davis with the cuatro cuadrangulares? That was awesome. He’ll remember that for the rest of his life! And such a good time for it. I was forced to endure the FS1 telecast, and even Joe Buck acknowledged that. John Smoltz talked about it at length... which is not unusual for Smoltz. But I’ll forget about that, and forget to ask what’s wrong with Yu, cuz the Cubs won, and frankly, that’s enough for me. I was expecting him to come up Yuge, though.

I’m not gonna lay it on too thick — we’ll need some of that mayo for the Sonoran dogs that are part of the Cinco feast at my house. Holidays of any kind mean food — I have to keep in shape. You do realize that round is a shape, too?

Margarita jello shots all ‘round! A toast to Davis, and to Javy Baez, who hit the game-winning homer.

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).

At the plate stood Kyle Schwarber and all of his homer history against the Cardinals, and on deck was Davis, with none of that nonsense. The backup catcher had not hit a homer yet in the majors, had never hit as many as 10 in any minor-league season. The Cardinals intentionally walked Schwarber to load the bases for Davis.

Wacha delivered a flimsy cutter on the first pitch to Davis, and the backup catcher planted it in the bleachers for a grand slam. — Derrick Goold.

• Cam Ellis (NBC Sports Chicago*): Results still mixed, but small improvements evident for Darvish in Saturday’s start against Cardinals. “Honestly, I thought he looked good for a while there,” Joe Maddon said after the Cubs’ 6-5 win.
• RJ Anderson (CBS Sports*): Cole Hamels’ adjustments have made him a surprise league-leader, and made the Cubs look smart for keeping him. “Hamels has the highest groundball rate among qualified starters.”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Mike Montgomery’s return appears imminent. “It sounds like he’s checked all the boxes,” Maddon said.
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Taylor Davis’ ‘unlikely’ hero moment lifts Cubs to huge win over Cardinals. “That’s so unlikely,” Maddon said of Davis’ grand slam. Derrick Goold agrees. Paul Sullivan concurs. Jordan Bastian is in accord.
• John LaLoggia (Beyond the Box Score): The extraordinary baserunning of Javier Báez. “The most dangerous base runner in MLB history.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): ‘You can’t get caught up in that rollercoaster stuff’: Jason Heyward’s enduring value to the Cubs. “The whole season’s a test,” Heyward said.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Sinclair finalizing $10.6B purchase of 21 Fox RSNs from Disney. “This gives Sinclair a stake in 23 regional sports networks, with the Cubs’ Marquee Network and Yankees’ YES Network included.”
• Cubs birthdays: Tom Vickery, Lennie Merullo, Jim Kirby, Dave Gumpert. Also notable: Chief Bender (HoF).

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.