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Open Thread: Cubs vs. White Sox, Sunday 5/22

I had a really good joke ready for this morning. Brandon McCarthy is making his major league debut today. So I figured that perhaps Yahoo, which is the source for the pitcher photos I post here for the daily starters, might not have his photo available yet, and so I was going to post this:

Today's Starting Pitchers
Mark Prior
M. Prior
Cubs
vs. Brandon McCarthy
B. McCarthy
White Sox
3-1 W-L ---
2.93 ERA ---
52 SO -
14 BB -
6 HR -

But, I was wrong. Yahoo is right on top of things, and had McCarthy's photo available right after his callup was announced, so here it is:

Today's Starting Pitchers
Mark Prior
M. Prior
Cubs
vs. Brandon McCarthy
B. McCarthy
White Sox
3-1 W-L ---
2.93 ERA ---
52 SO -
14 BB -
6 HR -

Accurate? Sure. Funny? Nope. And we could use some funny right about now.

One stat note: the only stat that really means something for this team is the eight blown saves already: 8 saves in 16 opportunities. Convert half of the blown ones and the Cubs would be 22-18 and 3 games out of first place and we wouldn't be filled with angst.

There are three other teams -- Detroit, Texas and Oakland -- with that many blown saves, and of those three, only the Rangers have a winning record in spite of that. Why? Because they're tied for third in runs scored, while the Cubs are twenty-fourth.

Enough. Discuss amongst yourselves.