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Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee Brewers Preview, Tuesday 8/21, 7:10 CT

By Al Yellon
What are Starlin and Alfonso thinking here? Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro cannot catch a bloop hit by Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Norichika Aoki at Miller Park. Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE
What are Starlin and Alfonso thinking here? Milwaukee, WI, USA; Chicago Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro cannot catch a bloop hit by Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Norichika Aoki at Miller Park. Credit: Benny Sieu-US PRESSWIRE

Here are the roster moves for tonight, first reported late Monday by CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney:

Adrian Cardenas barely played, anyway. Jeff Beliveau got lit up Monday night, so the Cubs wouldn't probably have used him for a couple of days, and Alex Hinshaw takes over that lefthanded spot in the bullpen. Here are more clues as to what might happen after tonight:

Brooks Raley, who was sent back to Triple-A Iowa after Saturday's start, is scheduled to return Saturday against the Rockies at Wrigley Field. He's likely to stay in the rotation.

[Manager Dale] Sveum said he didn't have any plans for Rusin beyond Tuesday and that Chris Volstad will remain in the rotation. Rusin doesn't know if he can stick after this audition.

"I have no idea," he said. "They just told me I was starting and I'll go from there."

My guess is that since Raley and Volstad are staying in the rotation (along with Jeff Samardzija, Travis Wood and Justin Germano), that Rusin gets sent down after tonight's start, with a position player replacing him -- maybe Tony Campana comes back. Matt Garza was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Rusin on the 40-man roster.

Ten days from now, this will all be moot when rosters expand; Cardenas and Beliveau probably return at that time. Rusin's debut will make him the 47th different player (and 25th different pitcher) to appear for the Cubs this season. The team record is 51, set in 2000. Rusin will take over Geovany Soto's old No. 18; Hinshaw wears No. 59.

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus RF, Vitters 3B, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Castro SS, Castillo C, Jackson CF, Barney 2B, Rusin P

Brewers lineup:

Aoki RF, Weeks 2B, Braun LF, Ramirez 3B, Hart 1B, Lucroy C, Gomez CF, Segura SS, Estrada P
Today's Starting Pitchers
Chris Rusin
Chris Rusin
Cubs		 vs. Marco Estrada
Marco Estrada
Brewers
making W-L 0-5
his ERA 4.52
major SO 87
league BB 19
debut HR 16
vs. Mil -- vs. Cubs
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Marco Estrada 0-5 21 15 0 0 0 0 89.2 91 47 45 16 19 87 4.52 1.23

Chris Rusin is making his major-league debut tonight. Good luck, Chris. (You're gonna need it.)

Marco Estrada has made one start and had one relief appearance against the Cubs this year, totalling two earned runs allowed in seven innings. Current Cubs are a small-sample-size 3-for-17 against him with no home runs. Insert "doomed" thoughts here.

Today's game is on CSN Chicago Plus (check your cable system for the channel).

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 Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. The usual caution is advised.

Today's first pitch thread will post at 7:10 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 8:10, 9:10 and 9:55 p.m. CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section. Also please note: due to some under-the-hood changes, the sidebar box with the game thread links is no longer available. It seems you've found them with no problems, but if you haven't been able to find the overflow threads, click the "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" link under "Sections" on the left sidebar. They're all in there.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

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