One of you -- and I'm sorry but I forget who -- said it best in one of the threads the other day, so I'll paraphrase: since Z has had bad Augusts the last two years, someone please go into the clubhouse today and tell him it's "September 0".
In the meantime, Z says he's having the dreaded "dead arm" that many pitchers go through this time of year. The good news is, that most of them get past it and get their "second wind", as Z did a year ago. And Lou says it's NOT "dead arm":
"He doesn’t have a sore arm and he doesn’t have a dead arm. He might have a little bit of a tired arm. It’s muscular," Cubs manager Lou Piniella said.Whatever it is, Lou is going to make sure both the rotation and bullpen are well rested.
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Yeah, Jamie Moyer is old. No old jokes here: Moyer is having a fine season, his best overall in five years, and is one of the big reasons the Phillies are contending. Because of his long stint in the AL, he's made only five career starts vs. the Cubs, and is 2-0, 4.34 against them. The last one of those was on April 13 in Philadelphia, when the Cubs won in extra innings. Mark DeRosa homered off Moyer that day (a HR that was disputed and if it were hit now, would probably be subject to replay), and Reed Johnson, who'll start today, is 10-for-30 (.333, 3 doubles, a HR) vs. Moyer.
OK, ONE old comment: Moyer made his professional debut in the Cubs system two months before his current teammate, Kyle Kendrick, was born.
Z is 3-3, 3.38 in seven career starts vs. Philly, but 2-0, 1.66 at Wrigley Field in three starts there against them. He lost to Brett Myers on April 11 in Philadelphia and Pat The Bat homered off him that night. Burrell is the only Phillie on their active roster who has homered off Z; he has handled the rest of them pretty well.
Today's game is on WGN and WPSG in Philadelphia. For more info 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 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.