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Pregame Thread: Cubs vs. Cardinals, Saturday 8/9, 2:55 CT


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St. Louis Cardinals
@ Chicago Cubs

Saturday, Aug 9, 2008, 2:55 PM CDT
Wrigley Field

Complete Coverage >


Don't you wish you could do this?

The Grand Fox Wizard has decreed that the Cubs and Cardinals will be seen in 56% of the country; their other game, Yankees/Angels, goes to the rest. This means you won't have to listen to Buck & McCarver; instead you get Dick "I Can't Pronounce Aramis Ramirez's Name" Stockton, Eric Karros and Ken Rosenthal.

Otherwise that link appears pretty useless, as it indicates that some markets, including Chicago, are getting game "3", when there are only two games. So, my best advice is: "Check local listings". I'm guessing that the northeast, most of the West Coast and any city considered an AL market gets Yankees/Angels and everyone else gets Cubs/Cardinals.

Kerry Wood wasn't available yesterday because his back locked up on him. Hopefully, he'll be OK today. That article also says that Jason Marquis will NOT be skipped in the rotation and will start Tuesday in Atlanta. This is a good idea -- it gives all the starters extra rest.

Today's Starting Pitchers
Carlos Zambrano
C. Zambrano
Cubs
vs. Todd Wellemeyer
T. Wellemeyer
Cardinals
12-4 W-L 8-4
2.76 ERA 4.01
98 SO 87
47 BB 41
10 HR 15
vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2008 - Carlos Zambrano 12-4 22 22 0 0 0 0 146.2 130 48 45 10 47 98 2.76 1.21


W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2008 - Todd Wellemeyer 8-4 22 22 0 0 0 0 128.0 124 59 57 15 41 87 4.01 1.29

Todd Wellemeyer has faced the Cubs several times since they traded him to the Marlins at the end of spring training in 2006 for a couple of minor leaguers who never made it -- but never in Wrigley Field; today will be his first appearance there since September 24, 2005, when he threw a couple of innings in relief in an 8-3 loss to the Astros. He's 1-1 vs. the Cubs this year with a 4.50 ERA.

Z has always thrown well against St. Louis, going 8-0 in his last 11 starts against them and 9-4, 2.26 overall in 20 appearances (19 starts). He threw six shutout innings against them in St. Louis in a 2-1 win on July 4. He handles Albert Pujols particularly well (12-for-50, 10 strikeouts). Z's strikeouts are down this year, but that's a GOOD thing as he has gotten his sinker working and that's also reduced his walks and HR allowed.

Today's game is on Fox. Yes, I know, for some of you that doesn't work. For other games today 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 2:45 pm CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 3:45, 4:45 and 5:30 pm CT.

Discuss amongst yourselves.