Cub Tracks Qs it up

Gallows humor and keeping an even keel be damned — It’s just more fun to win. Jose Quintana turned in a vintage performance and Javier Baez mago’d a fastball oppo for a granny as the Cubs registered a shutout victory. Recently-recalled Dillon Maples made the victory stick. Jason Heyward continued his excellent play. Joey Votto’d.

Al’s recap covers the details. Here we’ll cover the coverage, sifting through a cornucopia of available sources to find the very choicest nuggets of infotainment for you, dear reader. Please make yourself at home while we regale you with tales of the game just past and look into the possible future 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.

• ESPN: Cole Hamels talks about his injury [VIDEO].
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): What Hamels’ oblique injury means for Cubs’ roster now and in near future. “... the Cubs will be without 40 percent of their Opening Day starting rotation for the foreseeable future.” Sahadev Sharma {$} has more to say about this.
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Cubs pitcher Mike Montgomery ready to move on after latest woes. “At the end of the day, I just didn’t make the pitches,” Montgomery said. Evan Altman has thoughts to offer.
• Mark Gonzales (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Dillon Maples hopes he’s back with the Cubs to stay after taking a page from Craig Kimbrel: ‘He’s very routine-oriented’. “I like the way he warmed up,” Maples said.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Meet Cubs’ first-round pick Ryan Jensen, who represents the next step in their pitching evolution. “... it’s hard to compete with the Joneses if you don’t have enough power stuff, either on your big-league club and certainly through your system,” said Theo Epstein.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Maddon says Carlos González could actually opt to remain with Cubs in minors. “DFA’d, there’s a chance he may stick with us,” Maddon said.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs Extra: How did playoff-tested Cubs suddenly go from road warriors to road worriers? “You can talk about it all you want,” said Jon Lester – the ace of a staff with a 4.84 road ERA. “But we just haven’t played well on the road the last couple road trips. And that’s on us.”
• Cubs birthdays: Jocko Flynn, Davy Jones, Johnny Hudson, Joe Stephenson, Paul Toth, Doug Dascenzo, Mark Grudzielanek,

Food for thought: