The Cubs' new hero, Rich Hill, goes again tonight in a rematch of last Saturday's game at Wrigley Field, the first CG and shutout of Hill's major league career.
It'll be a good test for Hill, seeing the same team twice in six days. Who will make the proper adjustments?
| Today's Starting Pitchers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Also, courtesy of Bruce Miles who emailed these to me:
| Tonight's Starting Lineups | |
| Cubs | Reds |
| Pierre, cf | Denorfia, lf |
| Theriot, 2b | Phillips, ss |
| Ramirez, 3b | Aurilia, 1b |
| Murton, lf | Dunn, lf |
| Pagan, rf | Encarnacion, 3b |
| Blanco, 1b | Ross, c |
| Cedeno, ss | Castro, 2b |
| Soto, c | Hopper, rf |
| Hill, p | Michalak, p |
The magic number for eliminating the Reds from the postseason (for both the NL Central and the wild card) is five. So, as the Reds did to the Cubs in 2004, the Cubs can go a long way toward eliminating Cincinnati this season. With the lefty Michalak going tonight, thankfully, Freddie Bynum will see the bench again. FWIW, the Cubs' record in games Bynum has started this year is 6-18, and the record in ALL games in which he has appeared is 16-48... a .333 percentage for both, or a 54-108 record over a 162-game season.
That seems just about right.
Record watch: Juan Pierre needs 11 hits in the remaining 9 games for 200; Bob Howry needs five appearances to break the club record; and Pierre needs eight more at-bats to break the club record -- so that one should fall tomorrow or Sunday.
Discuss amongst yourselves.