:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/13673317/169488083.0.jpg)
The Cubs have lost six in a row. What more can be said? So, here's a photo of a cat with a baseball:
Image via Wikimedia Commons
And here's a rainbow and a unicorn!
Come to think of it, is Matt Murton available? The Cubs could use someone who could hit lefthanded pitching. (I'd much rather have Murton on the roster right now than Scott Hairston, for example.) FWIW, Murton is currently hitting .355/.405/.489 for the Hanshin Tigers in NPB, with 11 doubles and four home runs in 186 at-bats.
Will the Cubs lose 100 again? Vote in the poll.
Cubs lineup:
DeJesus CF, Castro SS, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Schierholtz RF, Castillo C, Valbuena 3B, Barney 2B, Garza P
Reds lineup:
Choo CF, Cozart SS, Votto 1B, Phillips 2B, Bruce RF, Frazier 3B, Paul LF, Hanigan C, Cueto P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Matt Garza had an excellent beginning to his 2013 season last Tuesday in Pittsburgh. He threw 82 pitches and was on a limit of 85-90 that night; perhaps he'll be allowed to go longer this afternoon. Matt did not face the Reds last year; current Reds are a small-sample-size 17-for-69 (.246) against him.
Johnny Cueto spent a month on the DL with a similar injury to the one that sidelined Garza, a strained lat. Last year he started four times against the Cubs, covering 28⅓ innings, and allowed 16 hits and three earned runs. Current Cubs are hitting .213 against him (32-for-150), with four home runs (all by Alfonso Soriano). Looks like doom is in our future.
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 Reds site Red Reporter. Be careful over there, though.
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.