Cub Tracks makes a long story short

Those Mets have a couple of good players. I hate when that happens. As far as I’m concerned, they should have 25 Marv Throneberrys and lose 100 every year. Even so, weird baserunning doomed the Cubs yesterday, not Mets hitters. Let’s have a little less of that, today, if it please the gods of baseball. Maybe a Javy Jomer or some Bryzzo special delivery.

Adbert Alzolay continues to get notice. Nothing wrong with some homegrown. More of that please. Pass it around.

Not a lot of stuff, but good stuff from stalwarts Tony Andracki and Jordan Bastian, and other worthwhile reading, in today’s Cubs News and Notes. As always, * means autoplay on, or annoying ads, or both (directions to remove for Firefox and Chrome). {$} means paywall. {$] means limited views.

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Cubs’ 7 ASG finalists tied for most in Majors. “If Javier Baez and Willson Contreras continue to stay atop the polls, they would become the first Cubs teammates to be in the NL’s starting lineup since 1990-91 (Andre Dawson and Ryne Sandberg).”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Yu Darvish continues to make a weird kind of history with Cubs. “I am not losing. I am not winning. It’s just weird. I want to win,” Darvish said.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Adbert Alzolay says elusive changeup was better than ever Thursday night. “I was throwing it against righties, against lefties, just striking out people with changeup. It was amazing,” he said. Gordon Wittenmyer chimes in. Jordan Bastian has more Alzolay. Patrick Mooney comes in from the pen {$}. Jared Wyllys closes it out.
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs moving toward an enviable spot in arms race. “The Cubs are approaching a territory where they almost have *too much* pitching.” Sahadev Sharma in relief {$}.
• Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Craig Kimbrel, back-to-back this weekend at Iowa? Call-up to Cubs seemingly drawing near. ‘‘I’m ready,’’ the fireballing right-hander said.
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): As Kimbrel nears debut, Cubs insist they’re not yet concerned about Pedro Strop. More Kimbrel from Sahadev Sharma {$}.
• Teddy Greenstein (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Rizzo’s baserunning mistake proves costly in the Cubs’ 5-4 loss to the Mets. “Too much aggressiveness,” he said. “Just a bad play on my part.”
• Cubs birthdays: Jim Asbell, Brant Brown, Jason Motte. Also notable: Carl Hubbell (HoF).

Food for thought: