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In 1962, the Mets, on their way to a 40-120 season, had a pitcher on their roster named Bob Miller, who played for 10 teams in all in his career, including the Cubs in 1970 and 1971.
For some reason, that wasn't enough for them. On May 7, 1962, they traded for another pitcher named Bob Miller. Just to keep a Cubs connection to this, they traded Don Zimmer for him.
It sent a bad team's pitching staff into chaos. The players got each other's mail. They got confused as to who was supposed to warm up in the bullpen, even though the first one (we'll call him "L" after his middle initial) was righthanded and the other (middle initial "G") was lefthanded. Just to continue the Chicago connection, "G" was born and raised in the Chicago area.
"L" was on his way to a completely winless year -- hey, maybe that initial meant something -- until one day before the end of the 1962 season, September 29, 1962, he threw a complete-game 2-1 victory. Over the Cubs, of course, at Wrigley Field. It was the Mets' 40th and final win of the 1962 season.
I mention all of this because the Cubs are recalling Chris Carpenter to be in their bullpen, starting tonight. Chris Carpenter is no relation to Chris Carpenter, the Cardinals pitcher (or Cris Carpenter, who pitched for the Cardinals in the late 1980s and early 1990s). Chris the Cardinal is from New Hampshire. Chris the Cub is from Ohio. Let's hope Chris the Cub is half as successful as Chris the Cardinal.
And (h/t to Harry Pavlidis), if you need to tell them apart, you can't use their middle names. It's "John". For both of them.
Cubs lineup:
Fukufome rf, Castro ss, Ramirez 3b, Pena 1b, DeWitt lf, Soto c, Baker 2b, TBD cf, Wells p
Reed Johnson will be activated and play CF if MLB clears paperwork in time. Otherwise it will be ether Tyler Colvin or Tony Campana. Darwin Barney is getting the day off.
Brewers lineup:
Weeks 2b, Morgan cf, Braun lf, Fielder 1b, McGehee 3b, Hart rf, Betancourt ss, Lucroy c, Gallardo p
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Randy Wells made three starts against the Brewers in 2010; one was good, one mediocre and one pretty bad. Overall he had a win, a loss, a no-decision and a 6.23 ERA. Ryan Braun is hitting .353 (6-for-17) against him and Prince Fielder .400 (6-for-15, a HR). Clearly, we are doomed.
The Cubs were actually doing OK against Yovani Gallardo on April 10 in Milwaukee and had the lead until Kerry Wood coughed it up in the eighth inning. Gallardo has been up and down this year -- has had many good starts, and then mixed it up with bad ones like his last outing vs. the Mets (10 hits and four runs in four innings). Current Cubs are hitting .269 (25-for-93) against him; Geovany Soto has homered off him in the past.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago and FSN Wisconsin. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. As always, be careful over there.
Today's first pitch thread will be up at 7 pm CDT and the overflow threads will post at 8 pm, 9 pm and 9:45 pm CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.
Discuss amongst yourselves.