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65 years ago today, Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers. So today, as has been the case for the last several seasons, all MLB teams will have players and coaches wear uniform No. 42 in Robinson's honor.
The number was retired across MLB in 1997, with the caveat that any player wearing it at the time could wear it until he retired. The last player to wear No. 42 is Mariano Rivera, who appears likely to retire at the end of this season; thus, after 2012, no one will wear that number except on Jackie Robinson Day. I can't think of a better "last" wearer of that number than Rivera, a class act and a great player.
Switching to silliness and ... well, just a bizarre pile of wrong, check out Phil Rogers' latest nonsense:
You think baseball was once a game for Irish-Americans? In adding Casey McGehee to a group that already included Andrew McCutchen, Nate McLouth, James McDonald and Michael McKenry, the Pirates became the fifth major league team since 1900 to have five players on their active roster whose surnames begin with "Mc.'' The other four were from 1902 to 1912.
Pssst. Phil. Gotta news flash for you. Andrew McCutchen and James McDonald aren't Irish-Americans.
Cubs lineup:
Johnson rf, DeWitt 2b, Castro ss, Baker 1b, Stewart 3b, Mather lf, Soto c, Byrd cf, Maholm p
So who's in the other split-squad lineup? Oh, wait... this isn't a spring-training game.
Cardinals lineup:
Furcal ss, Greene 2b, Holliday lf, Beltran rf, Molina c, Carpenter 1b, Robinson cf, Descalso 3b, Westbrook p
Hmmm. Cardinals appear to be playing a split-squad lineup too. So maybe there's a chance...
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Paul Maholm has made 15 career starts against the Cardinals and has a lifetime 3.72 ERA against them. That's pretty good. However, check this out: Cardinals hitters all-time vs. Maholm are 109-for-370 with eight home runs. That's a .295 BA. If you take out the numbers of Albert Pujols, that average drops to .263, because Pujols was 22-for-39 against Maholm. Among current Cardinals, Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran have both homered twice off Maholm.
Jake Westbrook threw very well in his first 2012 start, but last year in three starts against the Cubs, he posted a 6.46 ERA and walked six in 15 innings. Encouraging, right? Well, maybe not. Current Cubs are hitting .232 against him (26-for-112) with just one home run (David DeJesus).
Possible "x" factor for both pitchers today: it's going to be very windy in St. Louis this afternoon.
Today's game is on CSN Chicago. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos.
Today's first pitch thread will post at 1:15 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 2:15, 3:15 and 4 p.m. CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.
Discuss amongst yourselves.