DALLAS -- It's hot and humid here in north Texas this afternoon as the Cubs get ready to play the Rangers in their first interleague series of the season. Here are a few more notes on interleague baseball.
Over the last several years, the American League has become dominant in interleague play. The NL hasn't won more games since 2003, and except for 2004, when the AL "won" by only one game, it hasn't been close.
The Cubs are about in the middle of the National League pack, going 90-96 all-time in interleague play. They have faced the Rangers, this weekend's opponent, twice since interleague competition began in 1997, and lost two of three each time -- at Wrigley Field in 2002 and in this weekend's venue in Texas in 2007.
And one more thing: GO BLACKHAWKS!
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Colby Lewis has had an unusual career -- he's no kid; he will be 31 in August. He bounced around from the Rangers to the Tigers to the Athletics and then spent the last two years pitching in Japan. He threw well enough there that the Rangers invited him back and he's been decent for them so far this year. The righthander has faced only two current Cubs, Alfonso Soriano and Marlon Byrd; Soriano is 4-for-7 against him.
Well, this is interesting, considering recent developments. Ted Lilly has 13 career appearances vs. the Rangers (12 starts), but the only one that's really relevant is the one he made with the Cubs the last time they came to Texas on June 21, 2007. Ted threw pretty well, giving up five earned runs in seven innings and striking out ten. He left with the score tied 5-5. And then guess what? Bob Howry blew the game! Michael Young is 10-for-34 lifetime vs. Ted. The only other current Rangers he has faced are Vladimir Guerrero, Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton.
Lineup via tweet from Carrie:
#cubs lineup fri rf fuke, 2b riot, 1b lee, lf sori, cf byrd, 3b font, dh nady, c soto, ss castro
Today's game is on CSN Chicago and something called "TXA-21" in Dallas. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Rangers site Lone Star Ball.
Tonight's first pitch thread will be up at 7 pm CDT, and the overflows will post at 8, 9 and 9:45 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.