Chicago Cubs vs. Colorado Rockies Preview, Friday 8/24, 1:20 CT

I had almost forgotten the Colorado Rockies existed. Except for a single rainout-makeup game June 27, 2011 at Wrigley Field, the Cubs have not played the Rockies since April 26, 2011 -- that's 261 games, one manager and a couple dozen different Cubs players ago. Great scheduling, right? That'll all be fixed next year. (Yeah, right.)

The Rockies have had a miserable season, much as the Cubs have, but for different reasons, primarily injuries: Troy Tulowitzki has missed much of this year, Todd Helton is done for the season and so is Michael Cuddyer, and the pitching staff is even more of a monstrosity than the Cubs'. Today's starter, Drew Pomeranz, has the best ERA of any of their starters, and it's 4.87.

But hey, we'll get to see our old buddies Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu today. Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler are having good years for the Rockies, but that's about it for their offense. Let the battle for the 2013 No. 2 draft pick begin -- and remember, while the Cubs have gone 4-17 this month, the Rockies are 12-5 since August 6 and have won nine of their last 11.

Cubs lineup:

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

I... I... I'm... speechless. The Cubs are leading off today with a player who has a .256 OBP. Who'd be better? Well, Starlin Castro, for one. Even Darwin Barney would be a better choice than Joe Mather.

Rockies lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Check the BCB Twitter feed for the Rockies lineup.

Today's Starting Pitchers

Jeff Samardzija Cubs vs. Drew Pomeranz Rockies 8-11 W-L 1-7 4.17 ERA 4.87 146 SO 56 52 BB 31 17 HR 8 vs. Col -- vs. Cubs

Jeff Samardzija has very few appearances against current Rockies, especially given the long time since the Cubs last faced them. Players currently on the Colorado active roster are just 4-for-13 against him, so there's no clue there. Shark has a 2.91 ERA and 1.085 WHIP in seven starts covering 43⅓ innings since the All-Star break, and that also means he's averaging more than six innings per start in that time. That's a good sign for the future, I think. He's really been pretty good all year, proving me wrong; looks like he can be a solid starter for years to come.

Drew Pomeranz was the No. 1 pick (fifth overall) of the Cleveland Indians in the 2010 draft, and came to the Rockies last year in the Ubaldo Jimenez deal. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the current roster. You know what that means: doomed.

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 Rockies site Purple Row.

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. 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.