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Chicago Cubs vs. Minnesota Twins Preview, Saturday 6/9, 1:10 CT

By Al Yellon
Shawn Camp of the Chicago Cubs reacts during the tenth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Cubs 8-7. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Shawn Camp of the Chicago Cubs reacts during the tenth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Cubs 8-7. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Getty Images

MINNEAPOLIS -- It's a nice day in the Twin Cities today, although temperatures are supposed to be near 90 with increasing humidity.

Know what happens to baseballs when humidity rises? They can get hit farther. Given that there were five home runs in Friday night's game, and that both teams have pitching staffs that are horrific, maybe we'll see some sort of home-run record fall Saturday afternoon.

I'm reaching, I know. Got to have something of interest in this game, because these two teams certainly aren't. Unless, that is, you think the Cubs could set some kind of loss records this year. And they appear to be on the way to doing just that. They're already on the second-worst 23-game stretch in team history; the 4-19 run was exceeded only in 1954, when the Cubs went 3-20 in June. The 1954 team went 4-21 in June; this year's team is 1-7 so far. The 1954 team had two 11-game losing streaks; this year's team has had one of 12... so far. And the '54 team didn't even finish last; they went 64-90 (the equivalent of 67-95 in a 162-game season). The Pirates were 53-101.

This year's team is well on its way to being worse.

If you are heading to Target Field Saturday afternoon, stop by section 124, row 35 and say hi.

Cubs lineup:

Johnson LF, Castro SS, DeJesus RF, Soriano DH, Baker 1B, Mather CF, Clevenger C, Barney 2B, Stewart 3B

Twins lineup:

Span CF, Revere RF, Mauer C, Willingham LF, Morneau 1B, Doumit DH, Plouffe 3B, Dozier SS, Carroll 2B
Today's Starting Pitchers
Jeff Samardzija
Jeff Samardzija
Cubs		 vs. Scott Diamond
Scott Diamond
Twins
5-3 W-L 4-1
3.13 ERA 1.86
71 SO 23
24 BB 4
5 HR 4
vs. Min -- vs. Cubs
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Jeff Samardzija 5-3 13 11 0 0 0 0 69.0 64 26 24 5 24 71 3.13 1.28
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Scott Diamond 4-1 6 6 0 0 0 0 38.2 42 14 8 4 4 23 1.86 1.19

Jeff Samardzija has never faced the Twins. Three of their current players have faced him before, and have gone a total of 0-for-4. In short, who knows?

Scott Diamond will be making his 14th major-league start today. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on their roster. You know what usually happens when Cubs teams face guys like this. All together now: "Clearly, we are doomed."

Today's game is on CSN Chicago.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Twins site Twinkie Town.

Today's first pitch thread will post at 1:10 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 2:10, 3:10 and 3:55 p.m. CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

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