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I am heading to Geneva, Illinois, this afternoon to check out the Kane County Cougars game against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Unfortunately, I'll miss Albert Almora, who's on the disabled list, but I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the squad, including Tayler Scott, the scheduled starting pitcher.
So I'll have two recaps to post later this afternoon -- one on the Cubs/Cardinals game, which I'll be able to follow primarily through Gameday, and a separate recap on the Cougars game, hopefully with photos.
If you're going to the Cougars game today, check the BCB Twitter feed; I'll tweet my seat location when I get there.
In the meantime, check out this CSN Chicago article in which Dale Sveum tells it like it is:
As the organization heads toward another winter of rebuilding, the focus will again be on Anthony Rizzo and Starlin Castro, who are supposed to be fixtures for years to come. "We definitely have to get Rizzo and Castro going on a consistent basis these last seven weeks of the season," manager Dale Sveum said. "We have to get these guys hot or we’re going to really struggle."
No question about it. Management has made a statement that those two players were supposed to be the beginning of the new "core" by handing them both long-term contracts. It's time for them to start producing.
Cubs lineup:
DeJesus cf, Lake lf, Rizzo 1b, Castillo c, Schierholtz rf, Murphy 3b, Castro ss, Barney 2b, Jackson p
The Cardinals lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post, had to head out early to get to Kane County. Check the BCB Twitter feed later for the Cardinals lineup.
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Edwin Jackson has two starts against another of his former teams, the Cardinals. The one at Wrigley Field was really good; the one in St. Louis, not so much. Despite having a rough outing against the Phillies in his last start, Jackson has a 3.38 ERA and 1.103 WHIP in his last seven starts (since June 30). He's walked just nine in 45⅓ innings in those starts, struck out 30, and given up only three home runs. Keep that going and today could be a success.
Joe Kelly threw 5⅓ decent innings against the Cubs July 12 at Wrigley Field. Since then he has made three more starts and allowed just one earned run in 17⅔ innings. The Cubs will have a tough time with him today; current Cubs are a small-sample-size 9-for-29 against Kelly.
Today's game is on WGN.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos.
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.