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Since the two biggest current Cub-related topics -- Ryne Sandberg and Jake Arrieta -- are being discussed in other posts, why don't you have at the report that Ryan Braun is going to apologize for his actions, before we get into today's game.
That ought to be fun. Right?
Cubs lineup:
DeJesus CF, Lake LF, Rizzo 1B, Schierholtz RF, Castillo C, Murphy 3B, Castro SS, Barney 2B, Wood P
The Cardinals lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Cardinals lineup.
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Travis Wood put together one of his better starts of the year in his last outing, against the Reds, allowing just two runs in eight innings. Because it was the Reds, the Cubs lost; his two starts this year vs. the Cardinals (13⅔ innings, four earned runs, 12 strikeouts) have also been good. The just-activated Yadier Molina is 9-for-23 (.391) against Wood with two doubles and two home runs. All current Cardinals are hitting .344 (53-for-154) against Wood, so he'll have to bring his "A" game today.
The Cubs hit Joe Kelly pretty hard last Sunday in St. Louis; when Kelly left the game it was tied. We've already rehashed that one enough. Good pitching by Travis Wood and more hitting like this, and the Cubs can beat the Cardinals today.
Today's game is on Fox. Guess what? One of the other games is Yankees/Red Sox, so the Cubs/Cardinals game is relegated to second-class status. The Cubs and Cardinals will be seen in all of Illinois and Missouri, most of Indiana, Iowa, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Kansas and Arkansas, and portions of Kentucky, Nebraska, Tennessee and Mississippi. Here is the complete coverage map. Announcers: Rich Waltz and Tom Verducci. If you have never heard of Waltz before (and I confess, the name didn't ring a bell with me), he is the current play-by-play announcer for the Marlins and called some games for MLB Network during the World Baseball Classic.
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.