Last night, while most of you were sleeping the Twins beat the Angels 2-1 in 12 innings. Why is this relevant? Because it made the Angels 77-49, giving the Cubs at 78-49 the best record in baseball going into today's game. Thanks to research done by BCB reader scareduck last June, we know that this is the latest in a season the Cubs have had the best record in baseball since 1945.
Keep it up, is all I have to say. Here are a few photos from yesterday's win:
Ryan Theriot and Alfonso Soriano execute a perfect hit & run in the first inning
Did Brandon Phillips learn this move from Alfonso Soriano?
Jay Bruce has fun with RF bleacher fans after hitting his HR in the 8th inning
Kerry Wood pitches...
... striking out Javier Valentin to win the game.
Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. All photos by David Sameshima
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John Lannan faced the Cubs on April 27 in Washington; it was his best start of the year (and the only time he's faced the Cubs). He's had some other good outings but has also had some in which he's been pounded, including his last start vs. Colorado, when he allowed nine hits, four walks and eight runs in four innings. He usually issues some walks, so if the Cubs can be patient, they can probably beat him.
Jason Marquis hasn't faced the Nats since he came to the Cubs; in his last start vs. Washington on September 4, 2006 he faced exactly two players who are still on the team, Ryan Zimmerman and Austin Kearns. Kearns does hit Marquis well -- 8-for-19, .421/.476/.737 with 2 HR -- so if he can get Kearns, he should be able to handle the rest of the Nats pretty well.
Finally, I wanted to give a shoutout this morning to our SBN Nats blog, Federal Baseball. Check out the site and take them up on their offer to participate.
Today's game is on WGN and MASN -- so virtually everyone can see it. Also see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Once again, a reminder that you can find the overflow comment threads, including the first pitch thread, on the right sidebar of both the front page and any interior page in the box headed "RECENT STORIES IN GAME THREADS". Today's first pitch thread posts at 1:15 pm CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 2:15, 3:15 and 4:00 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.