There's an old saying: "A picture is worth 1000 words." If that's true, here are 4000:
All photos above by David Sameshima
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Adam Wainwright missed two months on the DL, came back in August, threw pretty well and then got hit hard in his last start vs. the Pirates. His only start vs. the Cubs this year was a no-decision on May 2, a game the Cubs won in 11. (Who's that guy who started for the Cubs that day? Never heard of him.) Aramis Ramirez is the Cub who likes to hit Wainwright the best (7-for-19, .368/.455/.684, 3 doubles, a HR).
You all know what Z did in his last start. The Cardinals are one of the teams he throws best against: 9-5, 2.77 in 21 lifetime appearances (20 starts), though they beat him up pretty good on August 9 at Wrigley Field, even though Z homered in that game. Albert Pujols also homered in that game (and so did three other Cardinals), but has only a .250 lifetime average vs. Z.
You asked for it, you got it! Today's Gratuitous Geo Photo:
Today's game is again on cable in Chicago and St. Louis, and at the MLB.com Mediacenter.
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 1:15 pm CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 2:15, 3:15 and 4 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.