NL Central Top Dog, Davis Can Frame, Crazy Low Homers, Garcia Promotion, and Other Bullets

The big kiddos have Field Day today at their school, and I’m volunteering to help. I don’t actually know what that will require of me, but I’m pretty sure owning kids at jarts is a thing of the past.

  • The Cubs have now won 10 of their last 11, and have gone 21-7 since that 1-6 start. They are hot and clicking, and dang it’s a good time – in that regard – to welcome the Brewers to Wrigley Field. Thankfully, too, the Brewers simply don’t seem to hit quite as well on the road
  • If the NL Central continues to play out like it has been, get used to a lot of weekend series like this one against the Brewers. Another battle for first place:
  • While looking at the standings, it’s hard not to notice that the monster that was the NL East is … not so much looking like that. Only the Phillies are over .500, and they’re the only team with a positive run differential, too. The NL Central remains where the real dog fight is, it seems.
  • It is very frustrating – to put it mildly – to read articles like this one, full of quotes from Addison Russell, the sum of which is: even after all this time, the guy has yet to show that he really understands what he’s done, how it impacts people, and why it is important to the world beyond his own ability to catch a baseball. Read it. Don’t read it. Whatever you want to do. I’m sick of it.
  • On to much happier things. For example, Taylor Davis can frame, y’all:
  • I saw at least two EXTREMELY stolen strikes like that one during Darvish’s part of yesterday’s outing, plus constantly ensuring that edge strikes were called strikes. I am #NotAScout, but it was not hard to see how he does it. Davis is very quiet and steady, and his movements on receiving the pitch are very subtle. He also gets outside the ball to receive it when it’s near the edges, allowing him to often frame a pitch without even looking like he’s doing anything at all – sometimes he doesn’t even move his glove, but because he was outside the ball when he received it, it’s still a good frame.
  • Victor Caratini continues to rehab in the minors, and eventually – perhaps as soon as early next week – he’ll be ready to return. I tend to doubt the Cubs will try to keep Davis up to accommodate him, and also Yu Darvish, but it’s very nice to know he’s around.
  • Another fun clip and bit of info from Jordan Bastian, as Anthony Rizzo’s homer yesterday (the 200th of his Cubs career) was especially crazy:
  • Bend the knee:

    (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

  • I love seeing this news, as we’ve been following Robel Garcia’s obliteration of AA (.295/.391/.590, 184 wRC+) after he signed with the Cubs last fall, fresh off playing … in Italy? The 26-year-old is now going to get a chance to face some much more polished pitchers, who’ll find the holes if he’s got ’em:
  • The MLB Shop put a bunch of extra stuff on clearance TODAY ONLY, so you can check out the Cubs gear here. It’s actually a ridiculous volume of stuff, so if you have some time, it’s worth flipping through.
  • The Cubs annual Bricks and Ivy Ball for charity was last night, which means the Cubs were done up dapper (the Cubs’ various Instagram stories seem to be the best place to see much more):
  • Javy Baez, impossibly smooth:
  • Good, good:
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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