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The Great Fox Blackout Wizard hath decreed that this day, Saturday, July 11, 2009, shall have two major league baseball games televised across the land of the United States of America.
And further decreed is that one game shall be the New York Yankees vs. the Los Angeles Angels, and thus denizens of the coastal areas of the land shall see that game. The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs shall be visible only to those in the provinces, thusly:
Alexandria, LA; Austin, TX; Baton Rouge, LA; Biloxi, MS; Bowling Green, KY; Cedar Rapids, IA; Champaign, IL; Chattanooga, TN; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, MO; Columbus, MS; Columbus, OH; Davenport, IA; Dayton, OH; Des Moines, IA; Evansville, IN; Fort Smith, AR; Fort Wayne, IN; Grand Junction, CO; Grand Rapids, MI; Green Bay, WI; Greenwood, MS; Harlingen, TX; Houston, TX; Huntsville, AL; Indianapolis, IN; Jackson, MS; Jackson, TN; Joplin, MO; Kansas City, MO; Knoxville, TN; La Crosse, WI; Lafayette, LA; Lake Charles, LA; Lansing, MI; Lexington, KY; Lima, OH; Lincoln, NE; Little Rock, AR; Louisville, KY; Madison, WI; Memphis, TN; Meridian, MS; Milwaukee, WI; Minneapolis, MN; Monroe, LA; Nashville, TN; North Platte, NE; Oklahoma City, OK; Omaha, NE; Ottumwa, IA; Paducah. KY; Peoria, IL; Phoenix, AZ; Quincy, IL; Rochester, MN; Rockford, IL; Sioux City, IA; Sioux Falls, SD; South Bend, IN; Springfield, IL; Springfield, MO; St. Louis, MO; Terre Haute, IN; Topeka, KS; Traverse City, MI; Tucson, AZ; Tulsa, OK; Wausau, WI; Wichita, KS
As usual, the divvying up of TV markets for these games appears to have been done by monkeys throwing darts. Cities that usually get an American League game when there's one game from each league, such as Kansas City and Minneapolis, are getting the Cubs today -- but not Dallas. Houston gets the Cubs, but not San Antonio; Phoenix and Tucson get the Cubs, but not Yuma. It looks like you'll see the Cubs if you're in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Kansas, and portions of Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Arizona, Ohio, South Dakota and Colorado. Otherwise you're out of luck. Bizarre.
If you missed the FanShot posted by SydKyd last night, this news was buried in the recap of the Iowa Cubs' 11-5 win over Oklahoma City last night:
[Sam] Fuld was taken out of the game because he was called up by Chicago to take the roster spot of the injured Geovany Soto.
I hope he starts all three games in left field the rest of the weekend.
Also, Dave van Dyck reports in the Tribune that the Cubs have "great interest" in B.J. Ryan...
But they can't negotiate with him until Monday, once he clears waivers.
This is one signing I hope is done before the season resumes next Thursday.
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Brad Thompson was supposed to start yesterday. Then he wasn't. Then he was again. By the time yesterday's preview thread had posted, the Cardinals had chosen Chris Carpenter to throw, but I had already written this about Thompson. Thus, you get to read the Thompson preview again, since he is now (apparently) definitely starting this afternoon. He has had a couple of decent starts this year and several mediocre ones. The only current Cub to have more than a handful of AB vs. Thompson with any success is Derrek Lee (3-for-6, 2 HR). Aramis Ramirez is 0-for-6 against Thompson; maybe this would be a good day for him to sit.
Ted Lilly is 5-1, 1.96 in eight starts at Wrigley Field this year. He's faced the Cardinals once this year, on May 19 in St. Louis, threw pretty well (3 ER in 7 IP) but the Cubs got shut out. I'm not going to bother posting Ted's splits vs. Albert Pujols, because it is my opinion that they should put Pujols on every single time he comes up this weekend -- well, except maybe if the bases are loaded. On the other hand, Pujols has had 9 PA with the bases loaded so far this year. He is 6-for-8 in those 9 PA with 4 HR and 20 RBI (the non-AB was a sac fly). Maybe walking him with the bases loaded minimizes the damage. All told, though, members of the current Cardinals roster are hitting .197 (37-for-188) against Ted.
See the list above the fold for the markets carrying today's game on Fox. For other games today see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
I was remiss yesterday in not giving a plug to our friends at the SBN Cardinals site Viva El Birdos. There are several posters there who visit BCB regularly and we always welcome them. Feel free to go over there, too -- just be nice and talk baseball.
Overflow comment threads will post today at 4:15 pm, 5:15 pm and 6 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.