Cub Tracks still loves Yu

I have to admit that I like the quietness of the broadcasts, though I wish the announcers would be quiet, too. Being weird myself, I’ve been embracing the weird for a long time, though now I approach from a social distance and merely blow kisses. I turned pro a great many years ago.

Game Two is in the books. Corbin Burnes threw a ton of pitches per inning, and the Cubs watched a lot of them fly by. They hit some of them hard but had little to show for it. Burnes has nasty stuff but hasn’t completely harnessed it yet and he didn’t make it a quality start.

Yu Darvish threw a zillion different pitches from the same set and changed speeds so often that traffic cops were giving him side-eye. His deliveries did look like 2019-early and Ben Gamel bushwhacked one high fastball for three bases with two men on. Let’s hope he gets that under control, soon. The relief corps didn’t help so much.

The Cubs looked like they could use a few more reps on the practice field. Al has all of the details in his recap.

Here’s Cub Tracks 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. Italics are often used here as sarcasm font.

“I think growth is going to be a strong point for that group, and there’s no way to find out until we get them in there.” — David Ross, on the Cubs’ bullpen.

• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): Darvish, Cubs can’t quiet slugging Crew. “In three combined innings, Cubs relievers Duane Underwood Jr., Brad Wieck and James Norwood allowed five runs.” Mark Gonzales takes a swing. Tony Andracki bunts them over. Larry Hawley loads the bases.
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): How a climbing pitch count sunk Darvish’s first start of the 2020 season. “I was expecting I could go more than 80 (pitches) today,” Darvish said.
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Cubs’ bullpen falters in first opportunity of 2020. “You got to get guys in there and see how they look. That’s part of it,” Ross said of his bullpen.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation): About that little dust-up in today’s Cubs-Brewers game. “... apparently this is going to be a little something teams will have to deal with this year thanks to the lack of true crowd noise.” Patrick Mooney addresses this ball {$}.
• Todd Johnson (Cubs Insider*): Cubs player pool in South Bend has big 40-man roster, Rule 5 draft implications. “The threat, either real or imagined, of economic uncertainty could have teams looking more seriously at acquiring young talent at low cost.”
• MiLB.com*: South Bend Cubs host Chicago Cubs Watch Party July 31. “The Cubs game will be shown on the video board with concessions available for purchase.”
• Cubs birthdays: Phil Powers, Hoyt Wilhelm HOF, Lou Jackson, Brandon Morrow, Alex Burnett,

SimNews:

The simCubs (73-31) finally prevailed over the stinkin’ simCardinals in an extra-inning contest that seemed longer than it was, due to lots of deep counts and too little contact as simCarlos Martinez and simKyle Hendricks dueled in muggy weather at simBusch. The internet connection dropped with one strike left to go in the game — the finish is at the beginning of the highlights reel below. simRyan Tepera won his eighth as he took over after Craig sim Kimbrel blew the lead by serving a gopher ball to simLane Thomas, and the save, and simBrandon simMorrow gathered in the save himself with a clean tenth.

simRyan Yarbrough (10-4, 3.46) pitches today against simMiles Mikolas (5-6, 2.91) as simKyle Schwarber and simJason Heyward return to the lineup. The Cubs will try to make it three out of four before heading out to the west coast for four games with the Giants.

Food for thought:

Thanks for reading.