:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/15470707/20130626_ajl_bs5_101.0.jpg)
Alfonso Soriano was hitting .272/.309/.438 through June 9. The .746 OPS, not great, was his high-water mark of the season to date.
Since that day he's hit .148/.145/.230 -- that's right, an OBP lower than his BA because he has one sac fly and no walks in that time frame -- and Dale Sveum has done the right thing by giving him not just one (yesterday), but two straight days off, leaving him out of Thursday's starting lineup.
Sveum has already announced that Soriano will likely be the DH in Seattle and Oakland on the next two legs of this road trip, with Brian Bogusevic getting the time in left field. That's a good thing for both of them. Soriano has 74 lifetime at-bats as a DH, in which he's hit .365/.397/.743 with five doubles, a triple and seven home runs.
If only the National League had the DH... but maybe that's an argument for another time.
Also, today is the 20th anniversary of Milwaukee's first Sausage Race. Here's video of the first one from June 27, 1993.
Cubs lineup:
Valbuena 3B, Castro SS, Schierholtz RF, Sweeney CF, Rizzo 1B, Bogusevic LF, Navarro C, Barney 2B, Garza P
Brewers lineup:
Weeks 2B, Aoki RF, Segura SS, Ramirez 3B, Francisco 1B, Schafer CF, Maldonado C, Gindl LF, Peralta P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Matt Garza has not faced Milwaukee this year; last year he was very good against them, making three starts covering 19⅔ innings and allowing just three earned runs. After being crushed by the Reds June 11, Garza has been dominant in his last two outings, giving up just one run in 15 innings, with 13 strikeouts. If he continues that dominance, he could very well find himself in another uniform soon.
Wily Peralta has started twice against the Cubs this year, once in Milwaukee, and both outings were pretty much identical: 6⅔ innings in each one, two earned runs allowed. Peralta had a good outing in his last start against the Braves, but in general has been hit hard this year, with a 5.59 ERA and 1.598 WHIP, and nine home runs in 87 innings, including one by Anthony Rizzo.
And no, Garza isn't that much taller than Peralta.
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 Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. 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.