Today’s Reflections
Please. Jed. Just re-sign Ian Happ ASAP. You have to look at what he’s doing with bat-to-ball contact compared to how much he swings and misses pitches. Barreling-the-bat percentages aren’t my forte, but Happ been doing so at an over 18-percent rate, which puts him in the top 12 in baseball, ahead of Yordan Alvarez, Shohei Ohtani and Nick Kurtz. Good company.
There is a lot of consistent contact elsewhere on the Cubs. Leave it to them. The Cubs need to continue to have a big bat to count on. Thirty HRs is possible. He’s averaging over 20. He plays nearly every game, averages over 30 doubles and four Gold Gloves, even in LF, is nothing to sneeze at. I’m still hammering away on the big bat, but he’s seven HRs behind Hack Wilson, 15 behind Hank Sauer to be in the Cubs’ top 10 and 17 HRs from 200 for his career. Can he total 27 HRs this year? Heck, why not. He hit 25 two years ago, and he has 10 as of Thursday — a quarter through the season.
After I wrote this, I posted below that Pedro Ramirez will be playing some outfield in Iowa, making him a prospective replacement for Happ. Well, that’s interesting — can you name that last Iowa Cub that was an infielder who turned himself into a good LF to help his move into the majors? Yep. Happ. You should see my head having a nuclear explosion.
If Ramirez can turn himself into an inexpensive Happ by the trade deadline, do you deal Happ? If the Cubs have built an offense to make a World Series run, can they handle the up-and-downs of another young player in the lineup while dealing with PCA, Shaw and Ballesteros at the plate? We await developments.
Thank goodness that Daniel Palencia is back! A big ninth inning for his third save of the year Thursday. His presence moves everybody up a chair. Hoby Milner pitched the fifth and sixth for the win, while Phil Maton and Jacob Webb took care of the next two. Combined, four innings of shutout ball on three hits and four strikeouts. Need more of that!
I don’t always pay attention to everything that goes on — some do. More power to ya. 🙂 As much as I love JD, I usually watch the Cubs with the sound off. I don’t want to belabor the reason why. But Thursday night, while working on the computer, I had the game and volume on. I entered the game in the fourth, scoreless (again), and after a couple of innings, I had realized that there had been melodious sounds coming from the speakers that just melded perfectly with JD and called the game with the perfect flair with out overdoing. It was like music to my ears. I have heard people talk about Alex Cohen from the Iowa Cubs, and I now I know why people have sung his praises. I will hold off on giving the obvious comment in this spot. 🙂
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(misc videos)
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Casey McAleer (Da Windy City): Cubs learned an important lesson during statement series against Braves. “Chicago proved it could compete with one of baseball’s best teams, but the series also exposed what still needs to improve moving forward.”
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Thomas Domol (North Side Baseball): Cubs’ Distinguished Running Game Is Finding Its Stride. “Seizing opportunities is what separates baseball’s contenders and pretenders. Despite their recent slide, the Chicago Cubs are one of the best in the game at cashing theirs in. The club’s deceptively deep running game is one major way in which the North Siders are winning or staying in ball games.”
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Ryan O’Rourke (Cubbies Crib): Cubs’ series against the White Sox could not come at a worse time. “One team in Chicago is playing hot and having fun right now, and it’s not the Cubs.”
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AP (CBS Sports): Ian Happ homers, 5 combine for shutout as Cubs snap a 4-game skid with a 2-0 win over Braves. “Happ’s home run led off the eighth inning and traveled 424 feet to right field, bouncing off the side of the Chop House restaurant. ….. In Ben Brown’s two starts, he has not allowed a run in eight innings.”
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Aldo Soto (Sports Mockery): Ian Happ Replacement? Chicago Cubs Prospect Moves to Outfield. “Pedro Ramirez, a switch-hitting infielder, has already set a career high in home runs after 40 games with the Iowa Cubs, and now Ramirez is expanding his versatility by playing in the outfield.”
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Carson Wolf (Just Baseball): Michael Conforto Is Back To Mashing Righties. “Michael Conforto has become a key left-handed bat for the Cubs, returning to form while dominating right-handed pitching.”
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Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic): Cubs mailbag, Part 2: All your questions about the trade deadline answered. “Ultimately, the major decisions won’t be made until much closer to the Aug. 3 trade deadline. But the interest in trade concepts is such that it filled Part 2 of this week’s mailbag.”
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Gordon Edes (Chicago Sun-Times): Braves skipper Walt Weiss has fond memories of Craig Counsell, Dansby Swanson. ““He’s a good one, man,’’ Weiss said of Counsell.”
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Perla Paredes (MLB.com): Amaya returns to Cubs’ lineup after battling back tightness. “Amaya participated in baseball activities on Tuesday, doing fielding work and taking live at-bats before rejoining the lineup on Thursday.”
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Matthew Trueblood (North Side Baseball): Pete Crow-Armstrong and the Perils of Bat Speed. “The Cubs’ star center fielder has better bat speed this season, which is leading to more hard contact. He’s not paying for it with more whiffs, either. So why are his numbers so off?”
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Jordan Campbell (Cubbies Crib): Beloved former Cub is once again proving Jed Hoyer right that it was time to move on. “Cubs fans are quick to point out the ones that got away under Hoyer’s watch, but in this case, it seems like the Cubs were smart to give up on Morel when they did.”
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Matt Sullivan (Sporting News): Cubs’ Alex Bregman called upon to break out ASAP, which doesn’t make sense. “Bregman, so far in 2026, has been a bit underwhelming for his massive contract, but compared to the rest of Major League Baseball, he’s not actually been that bad.”
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Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Chicago Cubs drop season-high 4th straight, wasting Shota Imanaga’s strong start in 4-1 loss to Atlanta Braves. ““Reflecting on my outing today, if I didn’t give up any runs, then the Cubs would have had a chance to win,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “So when I’m looking back at it, I should have kept them to zero.”
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Max Ralph (MLB.com): Cubs’ pitcher injuries: Who’s available? Who’s on the way back? “The club has used 24 pitchers this season, 11 of whom were not on the active roster on Opening Day. …… So, let’s take stock of what’s actually out there for the North Siders.”
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Paolo Mariano (Clutch Points): 2 2016 World Series champions spurn Cubs’ efforts to bring them back. “The Chicago Cubs tried to infuse the front office with familiar faces as they aim to return to the World Series.”
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Gordon Edes (Chicago Sun-Times): Cubs’ losing streak reaches four after rare misplay by second baseman Nico Hoerner. “The Braves scored three runs in the eighth inning after an errant flip by Hoerner en route to a 4-1 victory. The Cubs have scored a total of three runs during their skid.”
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Meghan Montemurro (Chicago Tribune {$}): Chicago Cubs drop season-high 4th straight, wasting Shota Imanaga’s strong start in 4-1 loss to Atlanta Braves. ““Reflecting on my outing today, if I didn’t give up any runs, then the Cubs would have had a chance to win,” Imanaga said through interpreter Edwin Stanberry. “So when I’m looking back at it, I should have kept them to zero.”
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Gordon Edes (Chicago Sun-Times): Friendship goes a long way for Cubs first baseman Michael Busch. “Cole Veith is Busch’s best friend. Has been since they met in history class in sixth grade in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.”
Food For Thought:
Freddie King, blues musician, was born Freddie Christian in Gilmer, Texas, on September 3, 1934. He was the son of J. T. Christian and Ella Mae (or May) King. At the age of six he began playing guitar with his mother and an uncle, Leon King. As a youth he purchased a Roger’s acoustic guitar with money he had earned picking cotton.
He moved to Chicago with his family in 1949. At the age of sixteen he snuck into a Chicago blues club and sat in with the house band, which included Howlin’ Wolf. King developed his style under the influence of Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, B. B. King (not a relative), Louis Jordan, and others. By day he worked in a steel mill, and he played shows at night. King formed his own band, the Every Hour Blues Boys, which included Eddie Taylor, Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Lee Robinson, and Sonny Scott.
Mexican performer lifts 166.11 pounds with her hair — A Mexican circus performer showed off the strength of her scalp by lifting a 166.11-pound weight with her hair. Diana Elizabeth Batres Hermosillo, who has been performing circus feats for 26 years, took on the Guinness World Record for the heaviest weight lifted with the hair (female) at the Le Paz Theatre in San Luis, Potosi, on Feb. 28.
Hermosillo put her long hair into twin braids that she tied together at the ends and used them to lift 166.11 pounds of weight. She kept the weight off the ground for 14 seconds. She took the record from Indian weightlifter Asha Rani, who used her hair to lift 122.58 pounds in 2014. Hermosillo said she trained for six months to be able to withstand the immense pressure on her scalp, neck and back.
Top 10 Travel Destinations That Will Change You — Looking for a trip that will change your life? These life-changing travel destinations go beyond beautiful scenery — they’re places that can shift perspective, spark courage, and open new chapters. In this video, I’m sharing my top 10 travel destinations that will change you, diving into why each place can be powerful for a journey of personal growth and self-discovery — from Tanzania and New Zealand to Peru, Iceland, and beyond. As a woman in midlife who loves to travel, I believe the right destination can spark new adventures, personal growth, and even a whole new chapter of life. So, are you ready to explore these life-changing places? Let’s go! (VIDEO)
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