Cub Tracks’ how the future was

Here at CUB TRACKS NEWS AND NOTES™, we like to keep things brief on the principle that it makes us appear wise. We don’t always, but we like to.

Our old friend Trevor Cahill started Friday’s game, and was in a generous mood, leaving a lot of pitches over the plate. The Cubs’ suddenly renascent offense took a little advantage of this munificence, scoring a run in each of the first three innings.

In the meantime, Zach Davies looked a bit better, hitting the outer edges of the strike zone, where even hard-hit balls tend to find defenders waiting. JD made the point that the Pirates’ aggressive at-bats early were counterproductive as they didn’t allow Davies enough time to start missing his spots except for the odd wild pitch. He still got the ball up some but the Bucs were unable to take advantage of that. His line went 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K. Helped himself with the glove, too:

Joc Pederson forgot his Klingon cloaking device at first base after the first try.

Cubs relievers were up and down. In the end, Rx Brothers (not a typo) had the right medicine, though at first it was a bitter pill.

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 on this page as sarcasm font. (In the comments section, use @ before and after your remarks @ to produce sarcasm font. In the text body. It doesn’t work in the headlines.)

“Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” — Fred the cockatoo

• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Houston Astros reportedly complained to MLB about other teams’ fans taunting them. Oh their poor widdle feewin’s. Angels fans did the right thing.
• Jordan Bastian (MLB.com*): ‘Yes, you can’: Another milestone for Beth Mowins. “Mowins does not remember a time she did not dream about being a broadcaster.”
• Sahadev Sharma and Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): How the Cubs are trying to flip the script and get back in the playoff race: ‘We keep fighting’. “I don’t think everything’s as pretty as we want it, but we’re continuing to battle,” said David Ross.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cubs sweep Dodgers, and if they’re right about Adbert Alzolay, then this really could get interesting. “Adbert is well on his way to becoming an established major-league starter,” Jake Arrieta said.
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Young arms getting it done for the Cubs as trust grows. “Justin Steele and right-handers Keegan Thompson and Adbert Alzolay have all flashed potential early this season.” Gordon Wittenmyer hunts unicorns.
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): Craig Kimbrel’s bounce back goes beyond on-field impact. “It’s also about the impact he made on the Cubs pitching staff as he worked through mechanical issues.”
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Rizzo is officially a pitcher — in MLB The Show. “The Show created a Rizzo reliever card, offering gamers an alternate version of the Cubs first baseman to put on the mound.”
• Sara Sanchez (Fangraphs*): The curious case of the Cubs’ offensive woes. “... let’s explore what’s changed with this offense since 2016.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Kris Bryant is playing at an MVP level. But his athleticism and defensive versatility — at third base or in the outfield — have been a real asset to the Chicago Cubs. “I feel like you look at me and you just don’t expect me to be able to do some of the things that I do defensively,” Bryant recently told the Tribune. “So I take pride in that, definitely.”
• Michael Cerami (Bleacher Nation*): So far, it’s not really a mirage – Jake Marisnick has earned more playing time. “Realistically, this post could be about Matt Duffy or Marisnick.” Evan Altman agrees.
• Adam McCalvy (MLB.com*): 5 prospects ready to impact NL Central. “With the MLB rotation depth thin, Keegan Thompson is in a better position to impact the Cubs...”
• Maddie Lee (NBC Sports Chicago*): Delay almost over, Brailyn Márquez expected to join Double-A. “Márquez is healthy and on target to report in a couple weeks...”
• Bob Sirott (WGN 720*): Don Kessinger on the 1969 Cubs team: I think about it all the time. [AUDIO]
• Food for Thought:

About — **Great minds. It should be a sitememe.

** last time around I inadvertently edited out the paragraph that these asterisks referred to (but not the asterisks), which made the headline make less sense, with only JD’s quip to hang it on. I had written that Jake Marisnick and Matt Duffy need to stay in the order until (and if) they hit their way out, long before I saw Sara’s great article in the editing queue. Foresight is obviously not 20/20 but my thumb was clearly in the eye of the zeitgeist. That sentiment was in the air, and also common on the twitters. Still is, as we’ve two more articles on the subject.

Clearly I need all ten thumbs for typing and should stop thinking, as it’s hurting the team. Thanks for reading.