Yesterday's 15-8 Cubs loss to the Diamondbacks lasted so long that by the time it got into the middle innings I was actually able to pick up WGN radio, driving through central Illinois, on my car radio and listen to the end of it that way instead of the MLB AtBat app. (I can also report that the app is exactly one minute behind real time, based on when I heard the WGN hourly tone via the app.)

There's not a whole lot to say about this game, except that the first four innings took more than two hours to play. Home runs were hit by people who may never see a major league regular season game, including a pair by David Winfree (no relation to Oprah, we presume), who finished his Cactus League season hitting .500/.481/.808 (that's right, an OBP lower than his BA due to no walks and a sac fly). Pretty much everyone who pitched in the game for the Cubs got pounded, especially Scott Maine, who gave up three Arizona homers. Only Kerry Wood and Sean Marshall were untouched.

There is one point made by Matt Garza yesterday that's worth mentioning -- something I alluded to a couple of weeks ago. Garza's entire career has been spent with domes as his home parks, and he's never had a spring training in Arizona before. Here's what he said about pitching in the desert:

"First year in Arizona and it [stinks]," Garza said. "I don't care about the travel, it [stinks] here because it's so dry. I can't wait to get to Chicago where there's more moisture in the air.

"You grab a ball and you feel like you're throwing slime, because it's so slippery and you can't get anything on your fingers -- not enough spit or rosin or nothing, it dries out right away. That's not the reason I threw why I did. ... I feel great and the ball is coming out of my hand the way I like. Hopefully, my luck turns."

Well. He says it's not an excuse ("That's not the reason I threw why I did"), and other Cubs starters (Randy Wells in particular) have had few problems this spring. Nevertheless, if this is true for Garza, we should see improvement beginning in his first start Sunday.

Today's charity exhibition game (proceeds to Cubs Charities) does not count in the Cactus League standings (where the Cubs finished a bad 14-19) nor in the attendance numbers; the Cubs finished with a total of 160,527 after drawing 11,309 showed up yesterday. The total is a little more than last year, but the average of 9,443 is down. The Diamondbacks and Rockies set records at their new park; the Giants drew very well being defending champions, but most other Cactus League teams were down -- I don't have the total league figure yet, but it was either flat or up slightly, in quite a few more total dates.

The charity game will pit the major league Cubs (most of whom will depart after a few innings) against some of the best from the the Cubs' minor league camp. The game has an unusual starting time -- 11:05 a.m. MST, or 1:05 p.m. CDT. There's no radio or TV coverage; if the usual MLB.com Gameday format is correct, this link should take you to a Gameday page where you can follow along. I'm not posting a separate thread for this game, nor an overflow, unless it appears we need one later this afternoon -- use this thread throughout the day on Wednesday.

PHOENIX, Arizona -- It's always strange to walk into a major league stadium for the first time in any baseball season after attending several games at spring training parks, which are small and intimate, have a close-in-to-the-game feel, and (generally) have all day games.

Instead, last night I walked into what the locals call the "airplane hangar" in downtown Phoenix, a huge edifice that seats nearly 50,000 -- although it wasn't anywhere near that many last night -- for my first night game of the season. The roof at Chase Field stayed open for the game; that surprised me, as in the past Diamondbacks pitchers have always wanted it closed, to have more controlled conditions (no wind, although there wasn't any during last night's game).

It was also the first time I'd set foot in Chase Field since the disaster there that was otherwise known as the 2007 NLDS. Unlike those games, the park was far less than sold out Friday night. Announced attendance was 20,025, but it seemed like little more than half that in the park, maybe 12,000-13,000, just about enough to make a full house at HoHoKam Park. Nearly half the "throng" consisted of Cubs fans.

Both teams played like they had a plane to catch; the first five innings were zipped through in little over an hour, punctuated only by Mark Reynolds' two-run homer after a walk to Ryan Roberts. Other than that, Ryan Dempster had a good tuneup outing, striking out five. I'm still a bit puzzled as to why, after starters get stretched out in each spring start, adding an inning at a time, they then throw only four innings in their final preseason start; Z did this and so did Randy Wells.

The Cubs managed only three hits through the first seven, one of them a triple by spring hitting machine Tyler Colvin. In the eighth they broke through with Kosuke Fukudome's first HR of the spring; three more hits (including another XBH from Colvin) produced two runs to tie it 3-3.

Yet another walk (Cubs pitchers walked four), this one from Mitch Atkins, preceded the game-winning homer. The D'backs had only five hits, but made two of them count for four runs. And that's why walks are good, if you are the team getting them. Giving them up? Not so much.

Lou mixed and matched in the field; Colvin wound up playing all three OF positions, Xavier Nady (who made one throw, again, no detriment to the team) saw time at both RF and 1B, and (some here will be pleased to know) Jeff Baker played a couple of innings in left field. He made one putout, which turned into a sacrifice fly.

Since there's a game this afternoon in just a few hours, after the jump you'll find today's game preview info.

Continue reading this post »

I watched until the bottom of the third inning last night and then headed to the Bruce Springsteen concert at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale. Sounds like I made the right choice, as after I left Yankee hitters started teeing off on Ted Lilly, slamming three home runs in a 7-4 New York win over the Cubs in front of 48,402, about 3,000 short of capacity in the Yankees' new palatial estate. (Mini-review of show: long setlist, 25 songs, the usual outstanding Springsteen performance, though it did slow a little in the middle of the show with songs like "Johnny 99" and "The Ghost of Tom Joad". It ran two hours and 45 minutes after starting an hour after the scheduled 7:30 time.)

Many of those empty seats, from what I saw on the broadcast, appeared to be the $2,625 per game seats that are right behind the plate (those are going to look pretty embarrassing on TV all year if they don't sell). That's a lot of money for a baseball ticket even if you're a New Yorker, and you don't even get a mango-scented towel as you do at Camelback Ranch here in Arizona.

In any case, we have reached the end of this seemingly interminable spring training journey: one more game and then it's off for the Cubs to Houston to open the season on Monday.

Alfonso Soriano and Aramis Ramirez were taken out of last night's lineup because of the sketchy weather. But had they played last night, Lou said he was going to sit them today, so with today's weather looking windy but dry, expect to see both of them play. Soriano didn't get his wish to be the first batter at the plate in the new park, but any "firsts" last night don't go into the record books anyway -- those will wait for the Yankees' first regular season game there against Cleveland on April 16. Chris DeLuca details Lou Piniella's thoughts about the new stadium.

Today's game will feature Rich Harden vs. A. J. Burnett. It can be heard on WGN radio (I'm not sure I understand, either, why they sent Pat & Ron to NYC and only did one game), and televised on CSN Chicago. It is NOT on the MLB Network today (they are covering the Red Sox/Mets game at noon CT) but you can watch for free at the MLB.com Mediacenter. And if you didn't do this last night and want to do it today, definitely download the NexDef plugin. Watching via my laptop using that plugin was really impressive -- I can see why they gave away the telecast for free, it was a heck of a promotion for the service.

MLB.com Gameday

Discuss amongst yourselves.

A lot of scrubs played in today's 5-4 Cubs loss to the Indians. Only Derrek Lee and Milton Bradley, among regular players (I'm not counting Joey Gathright and Aaron Miles as starters, although they probably got credit for being so, to give the Cubs the four "regulars" they usually are required to bring to road games), got the start today. Both went 1-for-3 before departing, Gathright leaving for a pinch-runner -- which probably is the first time that's ever happened to the speedy Gathright in any pro game, spring training or no. It was 77 degrees at game time, yet another above-normal temperature day. There seemed to be a fair number of Cubs fans in the smallish crowd of 5,352, judging from the applause I heard over the WGN radio broadcast when the Cubs did something good.

The biggest blows today were struck by Brad Snyder, a two-run single in the first inning, and a single and a triple by Nate Spears, who, surprisingly, participated in the Arizona Fall League (usually a showcase for prospects) and then was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. He wasn't invited to spring training, but got into this game because of all the extra players needed. Spears is a Mike Fontenot type who might have a shot at being a utility player in the majors; Snyder isn't really a prospect, but will probably be a starting OF at Iowa this year and might provide some injury protection.

Chad Gaudin had a shaky first inning and then settled down. Good news: he didn't walk anyone, and the rest of the game was pitched by guys who won't be on the major league roster. So, the 5-4 loss, which resulted from hits and walks given up by Justin Berg, doesn't mean all that much.

Bob Brenly's son Michael, who was drafted last year in one of the later rounds, was brought over to Goodyear with some of the other minor leaguers, but didn't get into the game. So, I thought I'd post this cubs.com article about him, just to give him some exposure. Michael Brenly isn't a top prospect, but if he can hit even a little bit, he's got a chance to perhaps be a backup catcher in the major leagues.

Now, on to tonight's matchup.

West Coast game start times already, and it's not even April yet... the Cubs and White Sox are meeting in early-March Las Vegas games on two weekdays, as opposed to the final-weekend-of-the-spring matchups with the Mariners and/or Padres they've had in Vegas the last two years.

The Cubs will be the "home" team tonight and bat last. Jeff Samardzija gets his second spring start and will face the Sox' John Danks. Here's MLB.com Gameday, in case you don't have access to the telecast on WGN-TV (announced by Len & Bob, as will be tomorrow afternoon's contest).

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Last night, I braved the wilds of Chicago-area expressways and tollways to hie myself out to Naperville to have dinner with some friends.

After dropping off the sherpa (how on Earth do people live out there and drive to work downtown every day? It would drive me nuts), we had a nice evening out, my kids babysitting their three-year-old twins. And thus I missed most of the Cubs' 7-1 loss to the Phillies, only the second time all year they've been totally blown out of a game. Ominously, the other one, the second game of the season on April 2, was also started by Ted Lilly.

And that does concern me. A year ago, many of us were making the comparison between Lilly and Bronson Arroyo, who came to the NL Central in 2006 from the tougher AL East, and had a pretty good year. Lilly's 2007 season wasn't very different from Arroyo's 2006 (Arroyo 2006: 14-11, 3.29, ERA more than a run lower than 2005; Lilly 2007: 15-8, 3.83, ERA more than half a run lower than 2006). However, Arroyo regressed in 2007, going 9-15 with an ERA of 4.23, more in line with his career norms. Lilly has looked pretty bad in his first three starts, going 0-2 with a 9.95 ERA, and 19 hits and 3 HR allowed in 12.2 innings.

We might call this "Bronson Arroyo Disease", and if this is what's going to happen to Ted Lilly, the Cubs are going to have pitching trouble... unless Ryan Dempster continues his good early showing. Because if Dempster doesn't do that, that leaves the Cubs with, essentially, one solid starting pitcher (Carlos Zambrano). It is too early to panic. But it is not too early to be concerned.

I'm not even that worried about the offense, which has been pretty pathetic in this series. It'll get untracked; these hitters are too good not to. It's the pitching that worries me. Bad as the last two days have been, win today and it's still a successful road trip at 4-2.

Notes: Thanks to Jason, a sharp-eyed BCB reader in South Bend, for sending me this photo of what is presumably a Cubs billboard there:

If you're new to BCB this year, this will be the type of post you'll see when there's a day game after a night game, both home and road -- a recap combined with the (first) game thread. There will still be an overflow post, which (at least for the time being) will post an hour and a half after the scheduled game time. Now, onward (and Jason Marquis, please try to remember how you pitched in the first two months of 2007, and replicate that. Thank you).

Today's Starting Pitchers

J. Marquis Cubs vs. J. Moyer Phillies 0-0 W-L 1-0 6.75 ERA 4.66 2 SO 4 1 BB 4 1 HR 1 vs. Phi -- vs. Cubs

I'm sure you've had enough of the "Jamie-Moyer-is-older-than-dirt" comments (he is the oldest player in the majors at 45 and was drafted by the Cubs two months before his current teammate Kyle Kendrick was born), but he has been around long enough that Alfonso Soriano, despite having four HR off Moyer, is only hitting .205/.217/.500 against him (44 career AB). Reed Johnson, who will likely get the start again today vs. the lefty Moyer, is .333/.357/.556 facing him (9-for-27, 3 doubles, a HR). I'd also expect Henry Blanco to get a start today (3-for-9 vs. Moyer, and it's a day game after a night game, and Geovany Soto has started all but one game so far).

Both Geoff Jenkins (.313/.405/.531) and Pat Burrell (.357/.486/.536) pound the heck out of Jason Marquis. Advice: pitch around them. (Yeah, I know, master-of-the-obvious.) Jimmy Rollins is still out, and Shane Victorino was placed on the DL after straining a calf muscle last night, so the Phillies are a bit shorthanded today.

Today's game is available, in case you didn't know, nationally on TBS (TBS coverage will be blacked out in Chicago, where you'll see it on CSN). This is the first year TBS, under the terms of the new TV contract that had them doing the Division Series last year, will carry a non-exclusive Sunday afternoon game. Let's hope they do a better job than they did in the 2007 playoffs. For more see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Discuss amongst yourselves.

All you need to know about last night's 10-2 Cubs loss to the Mariners is contained in this note from the above link:

Raul Ibanez added a line-drive, two-run shot barely missing an inflated cow atop the right-field fence.

That's not all that happened last night, of course (Seattle hitters pounded five other HR off Ted Lilly and Jason Marquis, and in less baseball-related news, Kosuke Fukudome was photographed next to a Las Vegas showgirl, looking extremely uncomfortable), but that note made me laugh, as did the HR itself when I saw it, which was just about the last thing I saw before going to sleep to get up for work this morning. Good thing, too.

Let's hope that what Marquis and Lilly did DOES "stay in Vegas", as the saying goes, because that's not a good sign if it doesn't. The only other Cub who pitched last night, Kevin Hart, threw a quiet scoreless inning. The linked article also says:

Manager Lou Piniella expects to use all of his bullpen over the two days in Las Vegas.

Matt Murton may be traded before tomorrow. Or not:

The Cubs don't want to rush the process, in part to make sure they get the best deal possible but also because an injury in one of the two exhibition games in Las Vegas could create a need for Murton on the roster.

Gordon Wittenmyer writes that Lou says both Sean Marshall and Carmen Pignatiello will pitch today, and I would also expect Kerry Wood to throw an inning. Meanwhile, remember Michael Wuertz? Quietly, he's had the best spring on the staff, throwing nine innings, allowing five hits and no runs, with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Lou, for his part, spent some down time "using some of the casino services:

Were the services kind to him? "The casino services were cooperative," replied Piniella, who likes to play the ponies at the sports book.

Ryan Dempster starts today against Seattle's Jarrod Washburn. The Cubs will be the "away" team today and bat first. As last night, there's radio in Chicago (WGN) and Seattle (KOMO), TV on WGN-TV and also MLB Audio and MLB.TV via MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)

Discuss amongst yourselves.

It's an old baseball saw: "Doubleheaders tend to split". And it's true -- I don't have stats handy, but the vast majority of doubleheaders DO split, and that goes for conventional DH (ones played with the old-fashioned 20 or 25 minutes in between) as well as the new-fashioned ones that force players, employees and broadcasters to spend twelve or thirteen hours at the ballpark. (They all hate it, from what I hear.)

And that's what we got yesterday, a split, winning 3-2 in game one, losing 4-3 in game two, and in the process losing half a game off the division lead, since the Brewers beat the Reds 5-3.

The two games were, in fact, somewhat similar -- a two-run Alfonso Soriano HR in each one, the Cubs trailing late in each one, good bullpen work in each one... it's just that I kept sitting there, wishing, hoping, for the elusive comeback in game two that never happened.

Where do I start? Soriano's power stroke came back not a moment too soon, and now we know why it vanished earlier:

And now it's nine home runs in 18 games since he came back -- twenty-seven in all -- and if he can keep this up over the last thirteen games, not only will he wind up in the mid-thirties in HR, near his career norms, but those HR ought to help the Cubs to victories, as they did in game one. Props also in game one to Ted Lilly, who made one bad pitch (the one that Jim Edmonds smacked for a two-run double, and yes, I think both runs would have scored even if Daryle Ward or any other outfielder had made a better play than Ward did on the ball), Kerry Wood, who threw an efficient scoreless inning to record his first victory as a relief pitcher, and Ryan Dempster (where are you now, Dempster-bashers?), who had an easy 16-pitch, 11-strike inning for his 26th save.

Game two was just frustrating, especially with going out to a 3-0 lead, mainly courtesy of Soriano's 27th HR of the year (with Sean Marshall on base after a rare base hit). I don't think any of you really want to rehash the carnage of St. Louis' four-run third inning off Marshall. A lot of the damage wasn't Marshall's fault -- the throwing error by Jason Kendall helped make two of the four runs unearned -- but after seventy pitches in less than three innings, I guess Lou figured he had to get him out of there.

Which is where the bullpen took over, and if they keep throwing like this the rest of the year, the Cubs are in really, really good shape. Props to Michael Wuertz (even though he gave up the hit that allowed the fourth run to score, and I was a bit surprised to not see Sean Gallagher in that spot, considering it was only the third inning), Will Ohman, Kevin Hart, Kerry Wood and Scott Eyre combined for 5.1 innings, two hits, a walk and five strikeouts, allowing no further runs, and keeping the game close in what proved to be a fruitless attempt to help the Cubs get the lead back.

What more can be said? The Cardinals had lost nine in a row, including the first game, and losing streaks that long do tend to get snapped, eventually. But a Cub win today will have accomplished what all of us hoped would be a good result coming out of this series -- three out of four -- and would match what the Cubs did to the Cardinals over a week's period in 2003 (four out of five, including the makeup game last Monday at Wrigley Field). More on today below; first a quick review of "The Brave One", Jodie Foster's new film. Basic plot summary: she plays a radio talk show host ("Erika Bain") who goes around New York with a microphone, recording "the sounds of the city", then talks about them on what appears to be a NPR-type station. She's out walking her dog in Central Park with her fiance, when they are attacked; the fiance is murdered and Erika is badly wounded. (And no, that's not a spoiler.

The rest of the film is an examination of what happens to a person when they are attacked in this way, and how someone like that can be driven to do horrific things, things they would never have thought of doing before. It's not just a shoot-em-up, although there's enough of that; the shootings, which in any other movie might leave you just horrified, make you think instead. Terrence Howard, who was so good in "Crash", plays a police detective investigating a string of what appear to be random shootings, and who befriends Foster's Erika character. Playing a minor role is 18-year-old Zoe Kravitz, daughter of Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet, and a NYC TV reporter is played by actual NYC cable news reporter Dean Meminger, and if that name sounds familiar, it should: his father, also named Dean, nicknamed "The Dream", played six years for the NY Knicks in the 1970's, including on their 1973 NBA championship team.

Anyway, this wasn't the greatest movie ever made, but it makes you think. I like films like that.

AYRating:

Today's Starting Pitchers

J. Marquis Cubs vs.  M. Mulder Cardinals 11-8 W-L 0-2 4.17 ERA 12.38 98 SO 3 69 BB 4 22 HR 3 vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

Well, isn't this appropriate. Jason Marquis, maligned former Cardinal, the guy who was so bad last year he got left off their postseason roster, is the guy who has to beat his old team to put his new team closer to the postseason this year. Marquis is 2-1 vs. the Cardinals this season, though with a 4.34 ERA (not too far from his season ERA of 4.17). After a tough stretch, Marquis is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in his last three starts, walking only two and striking out ten in 18.2 IP.

Mark Mulder is a work in progress, obviously -- he has gotten pounded in both of his starts since returning from offseason shoulder surgery. The last time he faced the Cubs was June 6, 2006 in St. Louis -- that team hit him hard, too, including a grand slam from Aramis Ramirez, who's one of only three position players who played in that game (Matt Murton and Jacque Jones the others) who's even still on the ballclub. Overall Mulder is 2-3, 4.22 vs. the Cubs in six career starts; Murton, for one, has hit him well (6-for-15). So has Jones -- Mulder's one of the few lefties he hits well (8-for-21, four doubles, .381/.458/.571). And Derrek Lee pounds him -- .733/.765/.933 (11-for-15, a HR; Lee was out with the broken wrist when the Cubs faced Mulder last year). It's time to improve on the Cubs' poor 15-22 record vs. left-handed starters.

Today's game is on WGN. It's not in the digital cable EI list, but sometimes these games show up on satellite anyway. Also check the Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2006 version)

MLB.com Gameday for the Brewers/Reds game (1:05 CT starting time)

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Well, it's a good thing Daryle Ward is on this team, right? Ward hit a bases-clearing double in the top of the ninth inning, making a 2-1 game into a 5-1 game, and leaving some breathing room for Ryan Dempster -- who had a bad ninth inning, getting hit hard, allowing two HR and another hit -- but Bob Howry came in and shut the door (but not before allowing two more hits, putting the tying and winning runs on base), and the Cubs hung on for a paramedic-call 5-3 win over the Cardinals, solidifying their hold on first place, now a lead of 1.5 games after the Brewers lost to the Reds 6-5, an eerily similar game in which Cincinnati appeared to be in charge with a three-run ninth inning lead, but Bill Bray made it close by allowing a two-run HR to Brewers September callup catcher Mike Rivera, making it 6-5, before he finally closed it out.

About Ryan Dempster: yes, he sucked last night. In fact, Dempster's a standup guy: if you asked him, he'd probably tell you, "I sucked." Does that take away all the good outings he's had? No, it doesn't. Does that mean someone else should be the 9th-inning pitcher? No, it doesn't, because as was pointed out in the comments in the game thread, sometimes it's more important to get outs in the 7th or 8th, and Carlos Marmol and Bob Howry have been very, very good in those slots.

That said, though, I was glad to see Lou get Howry up after Dempster started to melt down, and to go get him when it was clear he (Dempster) had nothing. I don't think Lou will hesitate to put someone else out there if Dempster is shaky again. That's a good thing. But to shake up the entire bullpen? That wouldn't be a good idea, I think.

It almost negated a terrific outing from Carlos Zambrano, who allowed only four hits and a solo HR from Albert Pujols in what (for him) was an efficient 101-pitch 8 innings. There was much debate, both on the air (Bob Brenly said he'd have taken Z out) and here and by me about whether Z should start the 9th. I think that if he weren't coming back on three days' rest to start on Tuesday, Lou might have let him. But given that he IS coming back on three days' rest, it was the right call.

It gave us all heart failure. But a win's a win, right? You could see the Cubs, as they all went on the field to exchange high-fives, also exchange sheepish grins, as if to say, "Man, did we dodge a bullet tonight." And they did, and does it matter how they accomplished the feat? Not to me, it doesn't. I'll say it again: a win's a win.

Here's how loose the Cubs are right now -- Torii Hunter got thrown out of the Twins/Tigers game for arguing a strike call, and his friend and former teammate Jacque Jones had some fun with him:

More about ejections: I was flipping over to the Brewers game between innings, and at one point I switched just in time to see Geoff Jenkins rung up by 3B umpire John Hirschbeck on a check-swing for a strikeout. Jenkins, naturally, didn't like this, and Hirschbeck started jawing at him from third base, and tossed Jenkins pretty fast. Now, not that I mind a Brewer being tossed, but this is just plain wrong. Umpires shouldn't be jawing at players from 90 feet away. It's as if Hirschbeck wanted to see himself on SportsCenter. I've seen more and more umpires do this in recent years -- trying to be part of the show. This sort of thing ought to stop -- and right now.

Another non-Cubs note: did you see who's filling in for Baltimore manager Dave Trembley while he's suspended?

And that AP recap linked above spelled Tom Trebelhorn's name wrong, too.

During the telecast Len and Bob had fun by mentioning that it was the 21st anniversary of the game in which Brenly made four errors in one inning, playing third base, a position he didn't play often or well (three booted grounders and a bad throw, leading to four unearned runs). The kicker, of course, is that Brenly hit two HR in that game -- including a walkoff off ex-Cub Paul Assenmacher.

Hey, we can have some fun after a game like that, right? Especially when it's onward to a long day's baseball journey into night:

Game One Starting Pitchers

T. Lilly Cubs vs.  B. Looper Cardinals 15-7 W-L 12-10 3.85 ERA 4.70 156 SO 80 51 BB 43 26 HR 19 vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

Game Two Starting Pitchers

S. Marshall Cubs vs.  J. Piñiero Cardinals 7-7 W-L 5-4 3.92 ERA 4.79 61 SO 46 32 BB 21 13 HR 12 vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

If Tony LaRussa had scheduled his pitchers differently, we could have had the third Lilly/Piñiero matchup in the last month. Instead, Lilly will face Braden Looper, who threw a decent game against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on August 17, but was defeated by a two-run Jacque Jones HR. Looper's thrown almost twice as many innings this year (157) as in any other year in his career, majors or minors, and got pounded by the Diamondbacks in his last start, a good sign now that the Cubs seem to have their power bats cranked up again.

Sean Marshall has made only one relief appearance since his last start 16 days ago; perhaps the rest will do him good. He beat the Cardinals at Wrigley Field on August 18 in his only start this year against them.

For more info on Lilly and Piñiero check the gameday thread from last Monday, when they faced each other at Wrigley Field.

Site note and TV notes: this DH is as a result of the game that was cancelled on April 29 after the death of Josh Hancock. It was originally supposed to be on ESPN. The regularly scheduled game today was originally a Fox game, at 2:55 pm CT. Neither network will carry any Cub/Cardinal game today (and what a surprise: Fox will show the Red Sox and Yankees in Chicago today. Aren't we lucky!); the first game is on WGN, the second on cable in Chicago, over-the-air in St. Louis, on EI, and at the Mediacenter. This thread will serve as the recap and gameday thread for both games; I'll write up a DH recap and combined game thread tomorrow morning.

MLB.com Gameday for game 1 (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday for game 1 (2006 version)

MLB.com Gameday for game 2 (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday for game 2 (2006 version)

MLB.com Gameday for the Brewers/Reds game (6:05 CT starting time)

Discuss amongst yourselves.