This is game 143 of 162, another random regular season game that has little meaning beyond players' individual statistics and the (presumed) desire of major league baseball players to go onto the field of play and do their best to win the game.

Basically, I'm writing that because there's little Cubs news today and I don't have a heck of a lot to say about these two teams. If you're not tired of seeing the Reds, fear not; the two teams will play four times in Cincinnati next week. That will make 18 games between the Cubs and Reds this season, the most for the Cubs against any 2011 opponent. Cincinnati leads the season series 8-5 going into tonight's contest.

At least the rain has moved out of the area. MLB could have the most rainouts this year of any year in the last decade; 48 games have been rained out so far this year (including four Cubs home games), second only to the 50 in 2004.

I guess I did have a couple of things to say. Carry on.

Cubs lineup:

Castro ss, Johnson ss, Ramirez 3b, Pena 1b, Soriano lf, LaHair rf, LeMahieu 2b, Hill c, Dempster p

Apparently the other split squad is back in Mesa.

Reds lineup:

Phillips 2b, Renteria ss, Votto 1b, Bruce rf, Alonso lf, Stubbs cf, Francisco 3b, Hernandez c, Cueto p

Today's Starting Pitchers

Ryan Dempster Cubs vs. Johnny Cueto Reds 10-11 W-L 9-5 4.75 ERA 2.29 167 SO 99 62 BB 46 20 HR 8 vs. Cin -- vs. Cubs

These two pitchers matched up against each other on May 8 at Wrigley Field. Dempster threw seven good innings; Cueto was better, and the Reds won 2-0. All told, Dempster has made three starts vs. the Reds this year with a 2.37 ERA in 19 innings, with only one HR allowed in those games. In Cueto's other start against the Cubs on August 6 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs hit him pretty hard, including a home run by some guy who isn't on the team any more.

Dempster's going to wind up with his highest ERA in his four years as a Cubs starter, but since May 1 the Cubs are 14-9 in his 23 starts and he's posted a decent 3.67 ERA. It would be nice to see him finish the year strong.

Today's game is on WCIU and FSN Ohio. 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 Reds site Red Reporter.

Today's first pitch thread will be up at 7:05 p.m. CDT and the overflow threads will post at 8 pm, 9 pm and 9:45 pm CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.