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Chicago Cubs vs. Pittsburgh Pirates Preview, Tuesday 7/31, 7:05 CT

By Al Yellon
Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs hits three-run homer against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)
Anthony Rizzo of the Chicago Cubs hits three-run homer against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

There's not too much I can add to today's trade of Ryan Dempster to the Rangers; you can continue discussion here.

At the time I wrote this post (about an hour before posting time), the Cubs' lineup was not available. I am going on the assumption that Casey Coleman will take Dempster's start tonight; that was the rumor as Coleman came to Chicago earlier today. If it's different -- well, this has been a pretty wild day. Me, I'm glad the deadline has passed. I'll let Josh weigh in on the two prospects the Cubs acquired in the Dempster deal later on.

I am going to ask one thing. I have received complaints from female BCBers regarding the nearly-naked and suggestive photos posted in the game threads. This has to stop. There aren't any "but"s here. I'm not going to have the women of this site chased away by that. Thank you.

There was no Cubs lineup available at the time I wrote this post; check the BCB Twitter feed for the Cubs' lineup.

Pirates lineup:

Marte LF, Snider RF, McCutchen CF, Jones 1B, Walker 2B, Alvarez 3B, Barajas C, Barmes SS, Burnett P
Today's Starting Pitchers
Casey Coleman
Casey Coleman
Cubs 		vs. A.J. Burnett
A.J. Burnett
Pirates
0-1 W-L 12-3
7.32 ERA 3.52
11 SO 94
8 BB 35
4 HR 11
vs. Pit -- vs. Cubs
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Casey Coleman 0-1 16 0 0 0 0 1 19.2 30 16 16 4 8 11 7.32 1.93
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - A.J. Burnett 12-3 18 18 0 0 0 0 115.0 109 46 45 11 35 94 3.52 1.25

Casey Coleman last started against the Pirates September 3, 2011 at Wrigley Field; he actually threw six pretty good innings, and the Cubs lost on a Carlos Marmol meltdown. Coleman was awful in his previous stints with the Cubs this year; let's hope he's better tonight.

A.J. Burnett threw six shutout innings against the Cubs May 25 in Pittsburgh. That was near the beginning of a nice 13-start run for Burnett in which he's posted a 2.92 ERA; the Pirates have gone 12-1 in those 13 starts. Clearly, we are doomed no matter who was going to start this game for the Cubs.

Today's game is on WGN.

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 Pirates site Bucs Dugout.

Today's first pitch thread will post at 7:05 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 8:05, 9:05 and 9:50 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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