Cub Tracks, deep flies and won ton, boys

Mired in first place by a half-game at the outset, the Cubs lurched into the re-opening of the regular season at home against the Pirates, who have a lot of Hurdle themselves. Yu Darvish rang in with quite an effort as he had some good stuff early, still good stuff in the middle, and didn’t stay late as he had thrown a lot of pitches. Chris Archer fired every arrow in his quiver and stayed a little longer as he was tossing a Maddux into the seventh. Consequently the game was tied at the beginning, stayed that way for quite a while until a deep fly escaped from the yard, and then the Cubs remembered how to be offensive and so did the Pirates and things got interesting. At long last, the home team won going away as Craig Kimbrel made a ninth-inning cameo. The Pirates are three and a half games back.

It was a pretty good game, and then I went out for Chinese at Lin’s Grand Buffet, which is always a treat. The chicken won ton soup there is killer bee and the rest ain’t so bad, either.

Al’s recap has game details. I’m just here to bug people that don’t know the difference between entomology and etymology, if I am forced to pin it all down, may Bradford Dillman help me.

Word.

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). {$} means paywall. {$] means limited views.

Anthony Rizzo spoke about the strategy of pitching inside or more to the point, up and in: “It’s a great theory. Throw at Javy’s (Baez) head 3 times and then throw a slider down and away. You’re going to get him out. It’s scary. Until MLB steps in and does something, it’s a good formula to get guys out. Throw at them and get them scared off the plate and then throw down and away.” — Jesse Rogers.

Link to above interview for Google AMP and Apple News readers.

• Doug Glanville (NBC Sports Chicago*): The 2019 Cubs are not a steamroller, but does this mean they can’t win? “The other teams have some assets, beatable ones, but you still have to beat them and not yourself.”
• Rick Morrissey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Why firing Cubs manager Joe Maddon during the season would stink — and be understandable. “... there’s a vein that runs through sports that says change at the top makes the most impactful statement.” Jesse Rogers offers this. Patrick Mooney {$} loads the bases.
• Russell Dorsey (MLB.com*): Maddon, Cubs not worried about Bucs’ pitching. “We need to play baseball and play it right,” Maddon said.
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Cubs win the battle, but the Pirates can’t be overlooked in a wild NL Central race. “We showed the same fight that we had in the first half,” Archer said.
• Gordon Wittenmyer (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): He asked for it — and then Yu Darvish delivered in a tone-setting start for Cubs. “I told you guys last outing I’m almost 100 percent,” he said of his confidence level after his six scoreless innings, allowing just two singles and a walk. “It’s 120 percent right now.”
• Tony Andracki (NBC Sports Chicago*): Can Robel Garcia emerge as X-factor for Cubs? ‘We’re gonna find out’. “I think it’s wise to just go let him play and see where it takes us,” said Maddon.
• Cam Ellis (NBC Sports Chicago*): Javier Báez is now giving himself tattoos, honestly what can’t he do? “Imagine being so confident in both hands that you can live life as a lefty and be an MVP caliber player with your other.”
• KWWL.com: Cubs star pitcher reaches out to Iowa softball player battling cancer. “Jon Lester... invited Clark and her family to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.”
• Cubs birthdays: George Bradley, John O’Brien, Gene Packard, Footsie Blair, Frank Hiller, Jack Aker, Don Bryant, Bill Caudill, DJ LeMahieu. Also notable: Stan Coveleski (HoF).

Food for thought:

Thanks on the behalf of the group and myself for reading Meat the Beetles.