Open Thread: Cubs vs. Cardinals, Saturday 8/19, 12:20 CT

The old wizard was fired -- this happy guy is the one who's charged with deciding who sees today's Cubs-Cardinals game.

According to this Providence Journal article, the Red Sox/Yankees game will be carried in 80% of the country (gee, big surprise there, right?) -- so you're probably out of luck unless you live in Chicago or St. Louis or TV markets near those cities.

Today's Starting Pitchers

C. Zambrano Cubs vs. J. Suppan Cardinals 13-5 W-L 9-7 3.38 ERA 5.00 167 SO 74 96 BB 51 18 HR 19 vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

Z beat the Cardinals' ace Chris Carpenter on July 30 at Wrigley Field; oddly, even with 14 games having already been played between the two clubs this year, that's Z's only appearance against St. Louis so far in 2006.

Jeff Suppan is what baseball people tactfully call an "inning-eater". What this usually means is that he piles up high ERA's, but somehow manages to throw at least five innings per start -- something he's done twenty times this year. He hasn't faced the Cubs this year -- but Jacque Jones used to eat him alive in the AL; Jones is 11-for-33 (.333) lifetime with four homers and ten (!) walks.

No rain today -- but possible clouds & fog. And no, that's not a description of the Cubs' play yesterday, it's the weather forecast.

Also, even though Rich Hill would be on four days' rest throwing tomorrow, both Yahoo and the Cubs' website have Juan Mateo listed as Sunday's starter. This would push Hill back to Monday against the Phillies, although the Cubs website has "TBA" for the entire series.

Discuss amongst yourselves.