For those of you interested in the Cubs' draft position for 2012, here are the teams that have similar records to the Cubs' and their draft number as of today:

 5 	San Diego Padres 	70 	90 	.438
 6 	Chicago Cubs  	        70 	90 	.438
 7 	Florida Marlins 	71 	89 	.444
 8 	Kansas City Royals 	71 	89 	.444
 9 	Oakland Athletics 	72 	88 	.450
10 	Pittsburgh Pirates 	72 	88 	.450
11 	Colorado Rockies 	72 	88 	.450

Except for the Cubs and Padres, none of these teams play each other the final two games, so there could be some shifts in this standing; the Cubs could finish anywhere from fifth to 11th in the draft order for next June. Very likely, the players available through those positions will be very similar talent-wise; you can guess who they might be now, but that could change between now and next spring.

The point is: win the games. Even 11th pick should be a good one.

Cubs lineup:

Castro SS, Barney 2B, Ramirez 3B, Pena 1B, LaHair RF, Soriano LF, Byrd CF, Soto C, Garza P

Padres lineup:

Venable rf, Bartlett ss, Maybin cf, Guzman lf, Headley 3b, Hudson 2b, Blanks 1b, Martinez c, Bass p

Today's Starting Pitchers

Matt Garza Cubs vs. Anthony Bass Padres 9-10 W-L 2-0 3.35 ERA 1.66 189 SO 22 61 BB 19 14 HR 2 vs. SD -- vs. Cubs

I'm well aware that individual pitcher wins mean little these days. But for Matt Garza, winning tonight to even up his record at 10-10 would be an accomplishment, since at the end of July, he was 4-8 with a 3.99 ERA. Since then in 10 starts he has gone 5-2 (and the team 8-2 in those games), with a 2.21 ERA, a 1.168 WHIP and just five HR allowed in 69.1 innings. He's been the "ace" the Cubs thought they were getting. Garza threw six scoreless innings against the Padres on April 20 at Wrigley Field, allowing just six singles and three walks, and striking out nine. I'd really like to see Garza finish the year with a strong start. With his first K tonight he will establish a new career high for a season.

Anthony Bass is a rookie who made his MLB debut on June 13, long after the last Cubs/Padres series in Chicago in April. Thus he has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the roster. He's made two starts -- one of them in that MLB debut, another on September 21 vs. the Rockies, in which he threw five scoreless innings. You know what happens when Cubs teams face guys like this. Clearly, we are doomed.

Today's game is on CSN Chicago and CH4 San Diego. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Padres site Gaslamp Ball.

Today's first pitch thread will be up at 9:05 p.m. CDT and the overflow threads will post at 10 pm, 11 pm and 11:45 pm CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.