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Open Thread: Cubs vs. Pirates, Monday 4/7, 12:35 CT

The Cubs travel to Pennsylvania all week -- Pittsburgh, then Philadelphia, for three-game series vs. each team. Today is the Pirates' home opener, so expect a full house. They'll have nice weather this afternoon, too (sunny and 64).

The only real information of note this morning is that if the Cubs get into a 9th-inning save situation today, it'll be Carlos Marmol instead of Kerry Wood. No, nothing's wrong with Kerry:

"We're just trying to be a little prudent," [Lou] Piniella said.A blowout win would solve this problem, right? The Cubs' three wins have been by three runs, two runs, and one run, respectively.

Today's Starting Pitchers
Ted Lilly
T. Lilly
Cubs
vs. Tom Gorzelanny
T. Gorzelanny
Pirates
0-1 W-L 0-1
7.71 ERA 4.50
4 SO 3
0 BB 3
1 HR 1
vs. Pit -- vs. Cubs

Ted Lilly was 1-0, 3.20 in three starts vs. the Pirates last year; in 19.2 IP he struck out 15, walked only three, and allowed only one HR (to Ronny Paulino in a game the Cubs won anyway).

Derrek Lee, who's hot right now, is 5-for-9 lifetime vs. Oak Lawn native Tom Gorzelanny (2 doubles and a HR). Otherwise Gorzelanny can be tough on the Cubs: 2-2, 2.60 in four lifetime starts. Expect Reed Johnson to start again in CF today, and here's a hint for Lou: start Ronny Cedeno at SS in place of the slumping Ryan Theriot. Cedeno is 4-for-7 in his career vs. Gorzelanny (one double).

I'm going to add this link to each day's game thread: the baseball-reference.com game preview, which has team and pitcher records and splits in one easy-to-read page.

TV today: WGN and FSN Pittsburgh; local radio, XM 183, and the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)

MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)

Discuss amongst yourselves.