Cub Tracks’ Miked up

Welcome to today’s episode of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then cold-brewed overnight for maximum flavor.

The narrative is beginning to approach what a lot of us thought obvious long ago;, namely, that Christopher Morel should be spending as much time as possible at third to develop a feel for it as that should be his permanent position. Patrick Wisdom has been a good enough placeholder but he’s hit himself out of a job at this point and he was never going to be the solution at third.

He wasn’t at third Monday, with the right-handed pitcher Osvaldo Bido on the hill for the Bucs. Pittsburgh-area native Ian Happ and his 49-game on-base streak led the team into PNC Park for a series of three games before the Cubs cross the big pond to go play in London.

The Cubs got crooked early and Drew Smyly continued his fine pitching. He got into a little uncustomary walk trouble but wiggled off the X. Mike Tauchman and Nico Hoerner had multi-RBI games and Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki chipped in also as the Cubs won in regulation. Ian Happ walked, and his on-base streak vs. Pittsburgh is now 50 games long.

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• Chicago Tribune*: Prep work for London Series between Cubs and Cardinals. Photo Gallery. Andy Martinez has more.
• Reuters*: Mike Tauchman, Cubs hand Pirates 7th straight loss. “Smyly (7-4) pitched five scoreless innings.”
• Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times*): The Cubs are winning. Does that mean David Ross suddenly knows what he’s doing? “Eager to go to bat for his manager was longtime Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks, who called the heavy criticism of Ross “totally unfair.””
• Alexander Patt (Cubbies Crib*): Frustrations continue for Jameson Taillon. “... he had to work hard to grind his way through and “survive”.”
• Paul Sullivan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Adbert Alzolay growing more comfortable as the Chicago Cubs’ de facto closer. “He’s at the back end of our game, for sure,” Ross said Monday...
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): The Cubs are playing with ‘intent,’ and it showed in their recent homestand. “We talked a lot about ‘intent,’” Mike Tauchman said, “being a little bit more on the offensive and trying to make things happen, trying to put pressure on teams.”
• Andy Martinez (Marquee Spots Network*): Strong offensive homestand shows Cubs how they can get back in NL Central race. “You see when the offense shows up, good things happen,” said David Ross.
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): ‘He yearns for that’: Nico Hoerner thriving in clutch situations for Cubs. “He wants the moment,” Ross said.
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Might the Cubs try to find Christopher Morel a permanent defensive home soon? “... it’s definitely being discussed.” Evan Altman has more. Andy Martinez says DH is the spot.
• Tim Stebbins (MLB.com*): Morel becoming Cubs’ new magic man. “Not everybody can play like El Mago,” said Morel.
• Jared Wyllys (MLB.com*): Tauchman keeps finding ways to come through for Cubs. He’s been awesome for us ever since he came up,” said Taillon. Michael Cerami has more Tauchman.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): Cody Bellinger gives Cubs a lot to think about as they surge back toward contention. “Defensive versatility and left-handed power are always valuable commodities.”
• Karie Angell Luc (Chicago Tribune* {$}): Glenview pediatric patient serves Chicago Cubs as honorary bat girl: ‘One of the best days of our life’. It was amazing, like, one of the best days of our life,” Mary Ahern said.

Food for Thought:

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