Cub Tracks sticks to the point

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.

Jake Arrieta clearly hasn’t taken delivery of his supply of the goo, or doesn’t throw hard enough for it to help. And Keegan Thompson time meant back-to-back jacks to Arnold Vosloo** and Cuba Gooding, Jr***. Also, that is clearly simDan Winkler.

Just flat-out not a good night for the or-gan-i-zation, Bob Pulford. Let’s fix that today. Cubs can still split.

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.)

• Stephanie Apstein and Alex Prewitt (Sports Illustrated*): ‘This should be the biggest scandal in sports’. “You can hear the friction,” says an American League manager. The spin is in. More of this.
• Rick Morrissey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): Major-league baseball is incomparably dirty — and it’s almost comically bad at it. “Officials are now talking about cracking down on what some experts are calling an epidemic of pitchers doctoring baseballs.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Why Brenly’s ‘racial attack’ on Stroman personal to ex-Cub. “I ain’t going to get into a war with Brenly or any other guy,” Ramírez told the Sun-Times.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): The Cubs outperformed the early expectations. Now what? “There are eight weeks remaining until the front office and ownership have to make any final decisions about the July 30 trade deadline.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago* {$}): How Cubs dealing with clubhouse split on COVID-19 vaccines. Said Bryant: “I don’t sense any frustration.”
• Alex Pavlovic (NBC Sports Bay Area*): Former Giant Matt Duffy enjoying bounce-back year with Cubs. “Duffy only played 253 games for the Giants, but he squeezed a lot into his tenure.”
• Russell Dorsey (Chicago Sun-Times* {$}): For Cubs’ Ian Happ, adjustments are part of the journey. “It’s part of the game,” Happ told the Sun-Times.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Ben Zobrist’s Cubs World Series ring up for auction. “It was not immediately clear who was in possession of the ring and making it available for auction.”
• Alexander Kukulka (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Crown Point boy battling rare cancer goes to first Cubs game, meets his hero Anthony Rizzo: ‘He was very happy to have that happen’. “It was brief, but it was very nice,” Susanne Baker said.

Food for Thought:

Thanks for reading! **former Cub farmhand Jason Vosler. ***LaMonte Wade, Jr.