Cub Tracks hears music all around

Hey, Don Orsillo — it’s Jose Quintana, not Jose Quintero. Come ON, man. Nice radio voice but seriously, it’s not so hard. Keen-’Tahn-Uh. See?

That was some weird baseball. Javy Javy’d, and that’s the big story, at least if you sneak a peek below the line. That and HOT. It was hotter in Chicago than it was here for a while, and we ended up at 104F. Here’s some mood music, from Joliet’s dUg Pinnick and his old band:

All’s well that ends well, right? Recap here. Let’s dig in to that meatloaf and get ready for today’s third game with the Padres, who are getting better but look over their heads right now against a torrid Cubs squad. Here’s our band du jour, recorded a few years ago in London. Enjoy!

Welcome to Sunday. Grab you a cuppa joe and we’ll give you 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.

Joe Maddon said Friday and emphasized Saturday that he avoids overcoaching an instinctual player like Baez.

“The game is clamoring for baseball players that know how to play this game, and he’s one,” Maddon said. “He’s got the biggest hard drive, the most RAM — he’s got everything going on every day.

“He’s going to make some mistakes, like everybody does. But what he sees, and sees in advance, is like the best running back, the best point guard you’ve ever seen. It’s all of that. As a shortstop, that’s what he is.” — Phil Thompson.

Lee Smith said in our pre-HoF induction interview Fri. that opposing hitters “knew I had pinpoint control. If I threw a ball right on the corner, I could expand the strike zone a little bit, and you start doing that, you’re going to get borderline pitches, so you can let the hitter get himself out.” Smith said his repertoire was a two-seamer, a four-seamer and a slider. “I started throwing a forkball at the end, but it was really a cutter — and Harry Caray called it a slider, so I wasn’t going to argue with him.” Smith also said his customary slow walk in from the bullpen was calculated, to make hitters wait, think and guess at what first pitch they’d face. — William Weinbaum.

• Phil Rosenthal (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Cubs and Sinclair should watch CBS-AT&T standoff closely ahead of Marquee Sports Network negotiations. “It’s going to be a battle royale.”

• David Haugh (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Theo Epstein needs to make bold moves — such as trading Kyle Schwarber or Addison Russell — if the Cubs hope to make a playoff run. “... it requires a quantum leap of faith to envision the Cubs planning a championship parade without Epstein daring to intervene.”
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Are the second-half Cubs about to start pulling away in the NL Central race? “We have to do better on the road,” Maddon said.
• Daniel Shepard (Cubs Insider): Kyle Ryan pitching at elite level by inducing loads of grounders since June. “... Ryan has actually gotten better by pitching to more contact and striking out fewer batters ...”
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Willson Contreras takes BP, catches bullpen session. “The only thing that is clear right now is that Contreras is itching to return.” Brett Taylor has more of this.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Anthony Rizzo knows what’s at stake for the Cubs in the second half. “We’re confident in here, but we just got to keep playing well,” Rizzo said.
• Tom Musick (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Maddon on Addison Russell: ‘He’s got to straighten some things out’. “Russell lost one pop fly in the sun and let another pop fly fall behind him in shallow right-center field.”
• Tom Musick (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Javier Baez puts on another show with key homer, tag in Cubs’ victory. “... Baez made the remarkable look routine.” Matt Snyder agrees. Phil Thompson has more. Jordan Bastian also praises El Mago.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider): Russell, Báez offer study in contrasts Saturday afternoon. “... you have to admit that Russell’s carrying too much mental baggage to excel in Chicago.”

• Sean Holland (Cubs Insider): David Bote’s production being tanked by alarming strikeout numbers against high heat. “... so far in July, he has gone down on strikes in 16 of 32 plate appearances.”
• Rick Morrissey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ Lee Smith put a sleeper hold on hitters — all the way to the Hall of Fame. “... when closers became a big deal, he was the biggest and baddest of them all.”
• Cubs birthdays: Johnny Evers (HoF), Billy Holm, Moe Drabowsky, Nelson Mathews, Kyuji Fujikawa.

Food for thought: