At last! Baseball again. By the time the Cubs play tonight, they'll know how their nearest competitors have fared -- I wanted to get this posted early, and some of the games have not yet been completed, plus the Brewers have the second game of their split doubleheader in Philadelphia tonight.
Here's the deal on TV tonight: the Cubs website is correct. The game is on WGN -- but only in Chicago, not on the national WGN feed. HOWEVER. The White Sox just announced that they are giving up the idea of playing a split (1:05/7:05) doubleheader today and are going to start a straight doubleheader as soon as it stops raining -- but that may not be for a couple more hours. The Sox' 2nd game is to be the ESPN game tonight. If the Sox start at 4:00 and play a long first game, I would imagine ESPN will pick up at least part of Cubs coverage. So, tune in... you might see some of the game, at least. Tomorrow's 1:05 Cubs/Astros game will be on CSN, and also on EI.
Here is today's gratuitous picture of Geovany Soto (taken last year in Cincinnati):
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The above numbers are Wolf's numbers with the Astros only. For Wolf's full-season stats see the pitcher box above.
Randy Wolf threw a six-hit shutout vs. the Cubs 11 days ago at Wrigley Field. But on May 12, also at Wrigley, the Cubs pounded him. So which Wolf shows up tonight? FWIW, he has pitched twice in Miller Park (vs. the Brewers, of course) since donning an Astros uniform with a 9.72 ERA in 8.1 innings.
Z's last start was 12 days ago vs. the Astros, the game he took himself out of. He says he's feeling great and is ready to go. Z has one of his best career marks vs. the Astros -- 11-7, 2.85 in 25 appearances (23 starts) -- and is 6-5, 3.67 in Miller Park (11 starts vs. the Brewers there). He is also a .267 career hitter in Miller Park and has hit five of his 16 career homers off Astros pitching.
See above for TV information for tonight. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter. I'm not certain, but I believe MLB.TV viewers can watch tonight's game. Field reports would be appreciated, later today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
As always, 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 7 pm CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 8 pm, 9 pm and 9:45 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.