Remember, the following paragraph is supposed to be humor. Not serious. Anyway:
During the 2006 season -- a lost cause, anyway -- something odd happened as the season went by. (Yeah, I know, a LOT of odd stuff happened in 2006... but this is specific.) The Cubs lost eighteen straight games that were WGN telecasts. On June 11, the streak ended in Cincinnati. It got so bad that even Len and Bob mentioned it on WGN's airwaves. It's happening again. The Cubs are now 27-13 in games telecast on CSN and 17-16 in WGN games. Yes, I know this really shouldn't matter. Still, this is a very odd coincidence. For whatever it's worth, there are 40 remaining telecasts on CSN (including today), and 27 on WGN. The remaining ten games: four on WCIU -- one of which, Monday, August 4 vs. Houston, will also be on ESPN; three Saturdays on Fox, and three TBA Sunday games, some of which might wind up on ESPN.
If you're really set on the Cubs acquiring C. C. Sabathia, or another big-time body, before the trading deadline, Jayson Stark's column today is a cautionary tale well worth reading.
And, I have it on good authority that tonight's pitchers are in line to be stunt doubles on the next Wayne's World movie:
| Today's Starting Pitchers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Thanks to BCB reader pfd89 for the new Gallagher headshot.
The good news is, the Cubs faced Lincecum twice in 2007 and won both games, even though Lincecum pitched pretty well both times -- 2.51 ERA in the two starts, 14.1 IP. He did walk six Cubs in those 14.1 innings, and that was before the new, improved, take-some-pitches Cubs of 2008. With the shadows today, waiting him out might be the best strategy.
Sean Gallagher's going to have to be on his game today. He threw a ton of pitches in his last start vs. the White Sox and after a rocky start, took one for the team by finishing six innings. He has never faced the Giants.
And who on Earth picked this starting time? No one is going to be able to see anyone's pitches for the first six innings.
Today's game is, thankfully if you believe the above TV won-lost record, on CSN Chicago. And CSN Bay Area; if you think CSN is good luck for the Cubs, this is a double dose! Also see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)
MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Today's first pitch thread goes up at 6:00 pm CT and the overflow comment threads will post at 7:15 pm and 8:15 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.