What else can we do now? I'm not giving up completely on this year yet, but I did want to point all of you, in case you missed it, at SB Nation Chicago, where George Castle wrote this profile of Tyler Colvin. I think it shows that Colvin is a keeper, and quite possibly, a leader to be in 2011 and beyond for this team. (And yes, it's a shameless plug for you to check out SBN Chicago.)
In the meantime, there is a game to be played today. The Cubs can even-up their all-time series vs. the Angels (currently 2-3) with a win. Yes, I'm reaching here. A win would also even-up the Cubs' 2010 interleague record (currently 5-6). As usual, the American League is dominating interleague play. With today and two more series for most teams (this upcoming week) remaining, the AL leads the NL 84-70.
Aramis Ramirez went 0-for-3 with a walk last night in a rehab game for Peoria. He batted second and played 3B. He'll play again for Peoria this afternoon and is expected to rejoin the Cubs in Seattle on Tuesday.
Thought I'd give another plug, this time for a charitable cause. If you want to meet some of the Stanley Cup winning Blackhawks and give to a good cause, there's a Casino Night scheduled for Ryan Dempster's foundation at the House of Blues on July 21. Details at that link; I'll also note that you can help out the Dempster Family Foundation by purchasing a BCB/Dempster Foundation T-shirt
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Joe Saunders has never faced the Cubs, but like many of the AL West pitchers the Cubs have faced this week, he has a long history vs. Marlon Byrd: 4-for-18, but 2 HR. Saunders has walked a lot of batters and given up a lot of home runs this year. None of this seems to make any difference for pitchers facing the Cubs this week.
Carlos Zambrano has never faced the Angels; the current Angels player who has faced him most, from his NL days, is Bobby Abreu -- 7-for-13 (.538) with two doubles, a HR and four walks. As a starter this year (seven starts) Z is 2-4, 6.23. However, take his horrible Opening Day start in Atlanta out of that record and the ERA drops to 4.32.
Today's game is on WGN and FSN West. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Angels site Halos Heaven.
Today's first pitch thread will be up at 1:15 pm CDT, and the overflows will post at 2:15, 3:15 and 4 pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.