Cub Tracks’ BoSox socked

Welcome to today’s edition of Cub Tracks news and notes™, featuring material from current beat writers, bloggers, and the occasional in-house habitué, moonlighting. These pieces center around #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball. We try to distill the zeitgeist into a fine piquancy, for your consumption.

Is there anything more annoying than those DraftKings commercials with the two umpires? Zounds. And they showed it OVER and OVER. Double zounds.

Scrappy team. Scrappy game. Got to give David Ross and the Cubs credit — they hang in there no matter what. Alfonso Rivas had a tough day with runners on, leaving the bases loaded twice. But the team kept on keepin’ on — here are some highlights:

Then... tie game!

Things got interesting after that.

The bullpen was splendid on Friday afternoon. Fly the gamethreading W!

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• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): Meet Fabian, the viral breakout star from the Cubs’ big win at Wrigley Field. “It’s surreal because you don’t expect yourself to be on TV,” Fabian said after the game. “It’s pretty cool that they put the exact stats.”
• Gordon Wittenmyer (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks: Heating up near deadline ‘double-edged sword’. “... everything that went down last year really opened our eyes,” Hendricks said. “We saw what could happen.”
• Benjamin Hudy (Cubbies Crib*): Cubs have their bulldog arm in right-hander Keegan Thompson. “What he is giving the Cubs goes a long way...”
• Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Cubs notes: Steele outduels Greene, Thompson’s new slider and Suzuki’s status. “Steeley kind of locked it in five or six starts ago,” manager David Ross said.
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): After an ugly June swoon, the Chicago Cubs enter July with the trade deadline coming into focus. “... the clubhouse will be facing increased trade speculation.”
• Matt Martell (Sports Illustrated*): MLB Trade Deadline Primer: What to know with a month to go. “... Contreras is the one who will be in high demand.”
• Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Chicago Cubs catcher Willson Contreras is on the verge of his 3rd All-Star Game. He hopes Ian Happ joins him. “If you see his stats, he’s doing everything,” Contreras said.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Cubs catching prospect Miguel Amaya is set to play tonight in Arizona for the first time since Tommy John surgery. “Amaya, now 23, probably won’t be able to play catcher until next season.” Evan Altman has more.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): Cubs’ Patrick Wisdom makes case for Home Run Derby. “If they called, I would definitely answer the phone,” Wisdom said.
• Tim Stebbins (NBC Sports Chicago*): The ‘one-man bench’ that’s key to Cubs future. “You can move him around — second, short, third, center, either corner outfield spot,” Ross said. Patrick Mooney has more Morel {$}.
• Tommy Birch (Des Moines Register* {$}): Chicago Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki homers in first rehab game with Iowa Cubs. “I’m pretty satisfied with the results,” Suzuki said through an interpreter.
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): New Cub Narciso Crook has the most wholesome approach to signing autographs. “He asks that for each autograph he signs, that person goes out and responds with one good deed.”
• Wes Rucker (247Sports*): Strength coach returning to Vols baseball after stint with Chicago Cubs. “... Quentin Eberhardt is coming back to Knoxville for his second stint at the Vols’ Director of Baseball Sports Performance.”
• Karli Bell and Matt Danielewicz (Marquee Sports Network*): How the 2016 Cubs helped one fan beat cancer – and launch a line of children’s books. “October baseball has its own type of magic.”

Food for Thought:

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