Open Thread: Cubs vs. Dodgers, Friday 5/25, 9:40 CT

Oh, you West Coast people must be laughing your heads off.

Seven-forty? What kind of silly time is that to start a game? OK, I admit -- no sillier than "7:11", but that's not a Cub thing, anyway. Seven-forty? What, is traffic in LA that bad? It'll be even worse for those of you who are watching from the Eastern time zone -- that's ten-forty there. Might as well just have breakfast by the time this one's over.

What this means is that I'll get to see even less of tonight's game than I usually do. Maybe that will result in more runs being scored. Who knows?

Today's Starting Pitchers

T. Lilly Cubs vs. D. Lowe Dodgers 4-2 W-L 4-5 2.69 ERA 3.84 54 SO 42 10 BB 24 3 HR 2 vs. LA -- vs. Cubs

Ted Lilly has been one of the best pitchers in the National League this season. He is eighth in ERA -- just behind his teammate, Jason Marquis -- and has walked the fewest batters (ten) of any pitcher currently qualified for the ERA lead (one inning pitched per team game). Lilly has faced very few of the current Dodgers; only Nomar Garciaparra has more than five career AB vs. Lilly. Nomar has played only three career games vs. the Cubs, going 4-for-15 (.267) with two doubles.

Derek Lowe is only 1-1 lifetime in four starts vs. the Cubs. But that one win was impressive -- a one-hit shutout at Wrigley Field on August 31, 2005. Derrek Lee ought to salivate seeing him -- lifetime, he is .471/.500/.647 vs. Lowe.

All three games this weekend will be available nationally -- well, sort of, in the case of tomorrow's game, which will be sent to 46% of the USA via Fox. Today's is on WGN and at the Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2006 version)

Discuss amongst yourselves.