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Pregame Thread: Cubs vs. Nationals, Saturday 8/23, 12:05 CT


Next Game

Washington Nationals
@ Chicago Cubs

Saturday, Aug 23, 2008, 12:05 PM CDT
Wrigley Field

Odalis Perez vs Ryan Dempster

Partly cloudy with a 40-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to center field at 5-15 m.p.h. Game Time temperature: Around 80.

Complete Coverage >


There isn't a whole lot, I suppose, that anyone here wants to remember about yesterday's disaster. I will, however, point out that yesterday appeared to have been "Beat The Heck Out Of First-Place Teams Day", as the White Sox and the Angels both also lost blowouts on Friday.

Here are a few photos worth seeing from yesterday:

A trophy!
Chicago native Chris Chelios shows off the Stanley Cup before the game

Safe!
Alfonso Soriano is safe at home on a double steal, the Cubs' first steal of home in two years

At the hop!
A more pronounced hop than usual for Soriano in catching Ryan Langerhans' fly ball in the fourth inning

I sent my friend Jim in search of Nats fans. He found a busload:

A whole bus of 'em!

Click on photos to open a larger version in a new browser window. First three photos by David Sameshima; last photo by Jim McArdle

Today's Starting Pitchers
Ryan Dempster
R. Dempster
Cubs
vs. Odalis Perez
O.
Perez

Nationals
14-5 W-L 5-9
2.92 ERA 4.06
149 SO 83
64 BB 44
11 HR 18
vs. Was -- vs. Cubs

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2008 - Ryan Dempster 14-5 26 26 1 0 0 0 163.1 126 60 53 11 64 149 2.92 1.16


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2008 - Odalis Perez 5-9 23 23 0 0 0 0 124.0 136 62 56 18 44 83 4.06 1.45

Odalis Perez has had some success vs. the Cubs -- and has never lost at Wrigley Field (3-0, 2.45 in three starts). Far past time to change that. Aramis Ramirez is 5-for-11, 2 HR vs. Perez and Reed Johnson, who should get the start again in CF, is 6-for-10.

Ryan Dempster can counter Perez's record with a 6-0, 3.33 career mark in 11 starts and eight relief appearances. He left trailing 3-2 on April 25, a game which the Cubs tied up and then lost when Bob Howry allowed a two-run walkoff HR to Wil Nieves. Dempster has handled the current Nats lineup pretty well -- no Nats player who will appear today has ever homered off him.

Today's game is on CSN and MASN -- which means, thanks to the ridiculous Fox blackout rules, EI viewers won't get it. It should be on MLB.TV -- for details see the MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

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 noon CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 1 pm, 2 pm and 2:45 pm CT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.