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Today is game No. 6 of the 2012 season.
And I'm already running out of things to say about this team. We have, the first time through the Cubs' rotation, seen three very-good-to-excellent performances, one that was okay, and one that was bad. Truth be told, that isn't a horrible way to begin a season -- if the bullpen for this team had been any good over those five games, the Cubs might be 3-2 or ever 4-1 instead of 1-4.
It's expected to be another chilly day at Wrigley Field this afternoon with temperatures struggling to get out of the 40s. All that great 80-plus degree weather was wasted on March.
It would be nice to defeat the Brewers, even once in this series. Maybe today will be the day. Maybe not. We'll see soon.
Cubs lineup:
DeJesus RF, Barney 2B, Castro SS, Soriano LF, Stewart 3B, LaHair 1B, Soto C, Byrd CF, Dempster P
You'd have thought today would have been a logical day to start Steve Clevenger -- day game after night game -- but Dale Sveum thinks differently. Maybe tomorrow.
Brewers lineup:
Aoki LF, Morgan RF, Weeks 2B, Ramirez 3B, Gamel 1B, Gonzalez SS, Kottaras C, Gomez CF, Gallardo P
Interesting. Ryan Braun gets the day off. Cubs fans awaiting a chance to boo him will be disappointed.
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Ryan Dempster was outstanding on Opening Day against the Nationals. If he can do that again, maybe the bullpen will even hang on to today's game. (Yeah, so I'm dreaming.) He made three starts vs. the Brewers last year, posting a 4.24 ERA in 17 innings and losses in two of the three games. Current Brewers are hitting .218 against Dempster (46-for-211) with four home runs. (See what losing Prince Fielder can do for those numbers?)
Yovani Gallardo, as opposed to Dempster, had a horrific first start, giving up four home runs to the Cardinals, three of them in the first inning. Last year, he posted a 2.37 ERA against the Cubs in three starts. New Cub Ian Stewart likes to hit Gallardo: 5-for-10, two home runs.
Today's game is on WGN 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. The usual caution is advised.
Today's first pitch thread will post at 1:20 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 2:20, 3:20 and 4:05 p.m. CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.
Discuss amongst yourselves.