Cub Tracks has heart

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.

Tthe Cubs have concluded their two-game series with the crosstown White Sox and are moving on to a four-game set with the Deadbirds, who are 45-57 (as of 7/26), not in the playoff hunt, and hoping to put a stake in the Cubs’ slight playoff hopes.

We are of course hoping that the offense still has some teeth in it, the bats have hits in them, and that playoff/buyer hopes aren’t buried under the mound at Busch. Lance Lynn is on record as not wanting to back there, and I don’t blame him. I have a low tolerance for boredom, and an even lower one for morans.

Anyway, the Cubs put on the Stro’ Show in an attempt to win both games of the short series. Stroman was opposed by Lynn. Stro had a rare bad game, allowing seven earned runs in 3 ¹⁄₃ innings (Lynn lasted one inning more), but the Cubs’ bats bailed him out and Javier Assad, Julian Merryweather, and Mark Leiter, Jr. turned in creditable performances, allowing no more runs while the Cubs got going. They DID get going — that’s the important bit. And Adbert shut the Sox down in the ninth, and the Cubs are on to the other city that beer made famous for four. Man, I like Alzolay as a closer.

One game under .500. These guys really are trying to hold up their end of the ‘buy’ equation. Bring on the stinkin’ Cardinals!

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“It’s no secret,” Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner said. “It’s obviously a real factor in what’s going on right now. The direction of the team is significant. If anything, we just see it as an opportunity in this clubhouse. It’s just a chance to show who we are.” — Patrick Mooney {$}.

• Jay Cohen (AP*): Christopher Morel helps Chicago Cubs rally for a wild 10-7 victory over crosstown White Sox. “Ian Happ and Cody Bellinger hit back-to-back homers in the eighth for the Cubs (50-51), who erased a five-run deficit on the way to their fifth straight win and seventh in eight games overall.”
• Brett Taylor (Bleacher Nation*): Could the Cubs trade Marcus Stroman but keep Cody Bellinger? Ken Rosenthal {$} started it. “There is no free agency advantage – slight or otherwise – to keeping Stroman right now, even if you want to re-sign him after the season.” Patrick Mooney {$} also has thoughts.
• Evan Altman (Cubs Insider*): Jed Hoyer could try to thread needle with ballsy sell-buy moves. “Hoyer is tasked with giving the Cubs as good a chance as possible to make a run over the next two months while also putting them in a position of strength for next season and beyond.” Sahadev Sharma has ideas also {$}. Paul Sullivan has a berth on this train.
• NBC Sports Chicago*: Cubs’ ‘enjoying’ building chemistry on and off the field [VIDEO]
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): Cubs viewing week before trade deadline as an ‘opportunity’. “I think this team has an opportunity — we haven’t really synced up all parts of our game at once and we’ve shown flashes of each,” Hoerner said.
• Patrick Mooney (The Athletic {$}): As Cubs brace for trade deadline, Kyle Hendricks remains a constant ‘master at his craft’. The Cubs will take their chances with “The Professor.”
• John Dietz (Daily Herald* {$}): ‘It’s up to me to change the results’: Cubs’ pitcher Smyly believes better times are ahead. “I’ve gone through stretches like this before. It’s not fun. It sucks,” Smyly said. “But it has to turn.”
• Rich Eberwein (Cubbies Crib*): Hayden Wesneski is heating up in Iowa. “... he has been dealing in his first three starts with the team...”
• Matt Jones (Arkansas Online*): Jaxon Wiggins heading to Cubs. “University of Arkansas right-handed pitcher Wiggins signed a contract with the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday just before the signing deadline for drafted players.”
• Maddie Lee (Chicago Sun-Times*): Dansby Swanson’s first taste of Crosstown Classic is sweet as Cubs win 4th straight. ‘‘It’s my first time playing here, and it’s my first time experiencing an [intracity] rivalry, which was just so neat, the fans from both sides,’’ Swanson said.
• Tony Andracki (Marquee Sports Network*): Cubs’ Patrick Wisdom taking advice from ‘Ted Lasso’ to heart as he works to flush mistakes. “Mental skills, understanding, perspective — there’s a lot of things that go into it,” Wisdom said. “Also, I think a major component is just relaxing, not white-knuckling everything.”
• NBC Sports Chicago*: Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki leaves teammates stunned after ‘unreal catch’. [VIDEO]
• Bryan Smith (Bleacher Nation*): What the heck should the Cubs do with outfield prospect Yonathan Perlaza? “The question going forward is whether the Cubs should give Perlaza a chance to show if he could perform right now against big league pitching.”
• Rick Kogan (Chicago Tribune* {$}): A Cubs song from the past surfaces and Sam Fazio and some pals bring it back to tuneful life. “It will be performed in public for the first time on the night of Aug. 2...”

Songs of the Day:

Food For Thought:

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