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Forget about everything else regarding tonight's game, go check out the beards on Scott Feldman and Andrew Cashner. I'm thinking "Hatfields and McCoys" here, or maybe Feldman's Amish-style beard (weird, for a Jewish guy) and Cashner's beard, which is... well, what style is that, exactly? It's not exactly chin beard, because it has a mustache attached, but there's an awful lot of hair below the chin.
Feldman is from California and used to play for a team from Texas. Cashner is from Texas and is playing for a team from California. Maybe there's some weird synergy going on here, I dunno. Anyway, vote in the poll.
Apart from that, there's another baseball game to be played in warm, windy conditions tonight. Anyone care to over/under on the number of home runs hit tonight at Wrigley? There have been 21 home runs hit in the 10 games so far at Wrigley (17 by the Cubs, three by the Padres, one by the Giants). Feldman has allowed three home runs in 20⅔ innings so far this year, Cashner two in 19⅓.
Cubs lineup:
DeJesus CF, Borbon LF, Valbuena 3B, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Schierholtz RF, Navarro C, Barney 2B, Feldman P
Well now, that's different. Luis Valbuena's been hitting, sure, but third? Not so excited about Starlin Castro fifth, either. But hey, maybe it'll work.
Padres lineup:
Cabrera SS, Amarista CF, Headley 3B, Quentin LF, Alonso 1B, Gyorko 2B, Venable RF, Baker C, Cashner P
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Scott Feldman hasn't faced current Padres much -- they're 12-for-39, and 3-for-14 of that is Carlos Quentin. Feldman did finally have a good outing in his last start against the Marlins. Maybe we have to hope that's the start of a trend. Otherwise, I got nothin' here.
The last time Andrew Cashner started a game at Wrigley Field, he left the game in the sixth inning and didn't pitch again in a big-league game for five months. After 27 relief appearances last year, the Padres tried him as a starter again -- bang, back on the DL. They're doing it again now -- five relief appearances, then two starts, one of which was OK, the other one pretty good. Given his history, I pretty much expect his right arm to be launched into outer space tonight. That'd be worth the price of admission, right? Seriously, Cashner seems particularly ill-suited to starting, but could be a lockdown closer. Will teams ever learn?
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 Padres site Gaslamp Ball. Be careful over there.
Here's the scoop on game threads for 2013. You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.