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The Cubs have not been no-hit since Sandy Koufax threw a perfect game against them September 9, 1965. This is something you likely already know.
Here are numbers you might not know: 7,401 games have gone by since then, and the Cubs have had at least one hit in every one of them. Note: The Elias Sports Bureau, which keeps official track of things like this, counts this streak at 7,361 games -- they don't count games of less than nine innings when referring to anything regarding no-hitters. Anyway.
Justin Verlander is pitching for the Tigers this afternoon. He has thrown two no-hitters in his career. He took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Pirates on May 18 and finished with a one-hitter, striking out 12; he's allowed two or fewer hits in a start seven times since the beginning of 2011. This could be the day the streak ends.
The Giants' Matt Cain threw a perfect game Wednesday night; there were two such games within a month in 2010 (Dallas Braden, Roy Halladay). Could it happen again?
Cubs lineup:
Campana CF, Castro SS, DeJesus RF, Soriano LF, LaHair 1B, Clevenger C, Barney 2B, Valbuena 3B, Wood P
Tigers lineup:
Jackson CF, Boesch RF, Cabrera 3B, Fielder 1B, Young LF, Peralta SS, Raburn 2B, Laird C, Verlander P
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Travis Wood has never faced the Tigers. The only member of their team he has faced is Prince Fielder, who's 4-for-10 against him (all singles).
Once again, Justin Verlander? Justin Verlander is facing the Cubs? Hahahahahahaha! Biggest potential mismatch between a pitcher and a lineup he's facing this season. Or maybe for the last several seasons.
Oh, you want to know about matchups. Verlander has one career start against the Cubs, June 17, 2006 at Wrigley Field. Go ahead and look, particularly at who was that day's starting pitcher for the Cubs. You'll be amused.
Just one current Cub has more than two career AB vs. Verlander: David DeJesus, who is 14-for-46 with four doubles.
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 Tigers site Bless You Boys.
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.