Today’s Reflections
When I included a link to a background story about Justin Dean in Saturday’s Cub Tracks, I never expected that he would be in the headline of today’s column. Congratulations on the first hit, Justin!
Carson Kelly has to be one of the best free-agent signing of Jed Hoyer’s term as president. His elite work behind the plate is supplemented by a solid bat that has occasional pop. That was clear in Friday’s game.
Ben Brown’s outing wasn’t an overpowering performance, but he seemed show some veteran-level maturity Friday in that he induced a lot of weak contact, using his defense instead of strikeouts to stack up outs for the win.
Oh, and go vote for PCA for the All-Star game. Now.
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Friday’s game stories:
- Andy Martinez (Chicago Tribune {$}): Chicago Cubs offense — fueled by Carson Kelly’s career-high 6 RBIs — busts out in 16-2 rout of Toronto Blue Jays. “The Chicago Cubs’ 16-2 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday was another sign that they may be digging themselves out of the offensive malaise that had plagued them for about a month.”
- Jared Wyllys (AllChgo.com): Cubs offense could be shrugging off collective slump. “An offense that can still get guys on base consistently is bound to bust out at some point. In the last week, the Cubs offense has shown signs that their collective slump could be ending.”
- Mike McGraw (Daily Herald): Dean’s milestone moment highlights Cubs’ 16-run outburst. “Dean, 29, has earned a World Series ring, but he was still searching for his first major-league hit when he stepped to the plate for the first time with the Cubs”
- Casey McAleer (Da Windy City): Cubs may have finally found pitching stability in Ben Brown. “The young right-hander delivered six efficient innings against Toronto in one of his strongest outings of the season.”
- Sean Sears (Chicago Cubs On SI): Are the Cubs Back? 3 Takeaways After 16-Run Explosion vs the Blue Jays. “Cubs scored 7 runs in the 1st inning and cruised to dominant 16-2 win over the Blue Jays.”
Assorted Cubs stories:
- Rodney Knuppel (Sporting News): Pete Crow-Armstrong is forcing baseball to pay attention. “For much of the 2026 season, Pete Crow-Armstrong looked like a talented young player still trying to put everything together. Now, he’s becoming something much more dangerous.”
- Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): ‘I almost cried’: After 8 years in Minor Leagues, Dean notches 1st MLB hit. “The World Series ring that Justin Dean earned with the Dodgers last year had nearly reached his hands, but then the Cubs came calling.”
- Sahadev Sharma (The Athletic {$}): Can Cubs’ Moisés Ballesteros use Triple-A reset to get back to being a productive bat? “The Cubs announced Friday that Ballesteros is being optioned to Triple A. “Sometimes you gotta go through some struggles to get there.“”
- Jordan Bastian (MLB.com): MRI reveals mild right flexor strain for Cubs closer Palencia. “Given the potential outcomes, what the tests revealed could be categorized as good news.”
- Steve Greenberg (Chicago Sun-Times): Will Cubs’ Dansby Swanson ever hit? He keeps telling himself: ‘Today is the day the dam breaks’. “Swanson says his confidence has “never wavered,” but fans are impatient — and the $177 million shortstop knows it.“
- Jake Misener (Cubbies Crib): New report suggests Cubs themselves are to blame for Nico Hoerner’s continued woes. “Have you ever heard ‘don’t mess with a good thing’? Apparently, the Cubs haven’t.”
Food For Thought:
The Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul described Thornton by saying: “Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound frame, and exuberant stage manner had audiences stomping their feet and shouting encouragement in R&B theaters from coast to coast from the early 1950s on”. Thornton’s strong and important vocal style and her confidence on stage made her a huge influence on early blues and rock and roll, even though she rarely received proper credit and compensation for her work.
Thornton was the first to record Leiber and Stoller’s “Hound Dog”, in 1952, which was written for her. It became Thornton’s biggest hit, selling over 500,000 copies and staying seven weeks at number one on the Billboard R&B chart in 1953.[5] According to New York University music professor Maureen Mahon, “the song is seen as an important beginning of rock-and-roll, especially in its use of the guitar as the key instrument”.
Though later recordings of her songs by other artists sold millions of copies, she was denied royalties by not holding the publishing copyrights to her creativity. Thornton died in July 1984 of a heart attack and liver disorders, penniless in a boarding-house in Los Angeles, California. Thornton was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2024 under the Musical Influence category.
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