For some reason, the weather forecast didn't make it into the preview box, so here it is:Today: Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Calm wind becoming west between 6 and 9 mph. A great day for baseball and another win.
Bruce Miles has updates on the status of Kosuke Fukudome, Chad Gaudin and Rich Harden.
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Just one year after being a Cy Young candidate, Aaron Harang has been... bad. Blame whoever or whatever you want, but he's spent time on the DL and when he hasn't been hurt, he's been getting hit hard, ranking 2nd in the NL with 15 losses and tied for 2nd (with Ted Lilly) with 31 HR allowed. The Cubs are responsible for four of those homers and have beaten him three times already this year; he's got a 7.27 ERA against the Cubs in 2008, a lot of it coming in this game at Wrigley Field on July 8. Derrek Lee is .310/.396/.714 lifetime vs. Harang (13-for-42, 2 doubles, 5 HR).
Sean Marshall's only career start vs. the Reds was on July 28, 2007 at GABP; he gave up one run in six strong innings and got the win. He'll need to repeat that performance today, thankyouverymuch. Only one Red who'll play today has more than three career AB vs. Marshall -- Brandon Phillips (1-for-5, a HR).
Today's game is on WGN -- no Reds TV. Also 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 noon CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 1 pm, 2 pm and 2:45 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.