BCB After Dark: Who is going to stay?

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: the hippest hangout for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. If you’re just getting home from the game, we’re so glad you stopped off here with us. We’re sorry about the results. There’s no cover charge this evening. Grab a table and sit down. Bring your own beverage. There’s no corkage fee.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

It’s really the hope that kills you. The Cubs burst out to a 4-0 lead on the Los Angeles Angels this evening before falling to the Halos, 7-4. The Cubs even got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but Seiya Suzuki struck out to end the game. Not only will the Cubs bullpen kill the team’s season, they’re likely to be the death of me as well.

Last night, I asked you what would happen to Cubs right hander Marcus Stroman this season. Specifically, I asked what would be the next step of his career—an extension with the Cubs or a trade at the deadline? I did also give the option that Stroman would finish out the season with the Cubs and leave as a free agent for nothing at the end of the year.

The vote was very close. In fact, it was an exact tie, with the same number of votes going to the top two choices. In first place with 44 percent of the vote was that the Cubs would sign Marcus Stroman to an extension. Also in first place with 44 percent of the vote, you thought Stroman would get traded by the deadline. The rest went to the “leave as a free agent” option.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I don’t do a movie essay. But I always have time for jazz, so those of you who skip that can do so now. You won’t hurt my feelings. Or will you?

We lost the great Astrud Gilberto earlier today at the age of 83. While she was a lot more than just “The Girl from Ipanema,” Gilberto was also linked to that song her entire adult life, and justifiably so. Her breathy, hesitant vocals turned what would have been a minor note in Brazilian jazz into an international sensation.

There are lots of stories of how Gilberto came to sing that song, which was also the first time she had ever sung professionally. Her husband at the time, Brazilian music icon João Gilberto, was recording an album of with the great American saxophonist Stan Getz. Someone—accounts vary as to who—suggested that “The Girl From Ipanema” could be a hit single if only it had some English lyrics with a female vocalist. Astrud, who had accompanied her husband to New York. was the only one in the studio who could speak English. So they wrote up some English-language lyrics, put Astrud in front of a microphone and the rest was history.

I’ve presented this video before, but nothing else better captures Astrud Gilberto at the moment she became a sensation. Here she is singing “The Girl From Ipanema” in the 1964 film Get Yourself A College Girl.

Welcome back to those who skip the jazz.

Tonight I’m going to ask which young player do you think will play the most games for the Cubs in his career. The players I’m including in the poll are Christopher Morel, Matt Mervis, Miguel Amaya and Nelson Velázquez. Morel and Velázquez have a bit of a head start, as both players lost their rookie eligibilities last season.

Amaya and Mervis are both rookies who have made their major league debut this season. Amaya is doing quite well, but he’s also a catcher and catchers don’t play as many games as outfielders or first baseman. Mervis is struggling and striking out too much, but he’s also hitting the ball hard when he does make contact. Unfortunately, he’s hitting it far too often right at people. But one assumes that his luck will turn around eventually.

But tonight we’re just asking which first- or second-year Cub position player will have the best—or at least the most substantial—career with the team?

Thank you so much for stopping by. We hope that sharing our misery tonight made things just a bit better. Please get home safely. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again tomorrow for more BCB After Dark.