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Yet another oddity about the 25th anniversary of the first scheduled night game at Wrigley Field today: the Cubs have the same opponent today as they did that day, the Philles. Except it's on the road, and in a day game. This means virtually nothing, of course, it's just a weird coincidence. Here's a bit more on the night-game anniversary from Chris Jaffe at Hardball Times.
The Cubs have a chance to win their fifth road series since late June, with a victory today. Since June 25 the Cubs are 12-8 on the road; they've won only one home series since then and have a home record of 6-11 since that date.
Nope, I don't get it either.
ICYMI earlier this morning, the Cubs have made yet another roster move. This time, it's someone who was just here:
#Cubs place Guerrier (elbow), Neal (shoulder) on DL. C J.C. Boscan & RHP Sanchez called up from Iowa
— Carrie Muskat (@CarrieMuskat) August 8, 2013
Too bad, because Guerrier was doing a good job in middle relief. Maybe this time, Sanchez will get a chance to show what he can do in more important situations. While Dioner Navarro appears OK for now:
Navarro walking slowly, fortunate that he taped his ankles
— Mark Gonzales (@MDGonzales) August 8, 2013
... the Cubs have recalled Boscan just to make sure they have a second catcher, likely just for a short time. I assume they'll try to locate another outfielder, as again, there are just four outfielders (David DeJesus, Junior Lake, Nate Schierholtz and Cole Gillespie) on the 25-man roster.
Cubs lineup:
DeJesus CF, Lake LF, Rizzo 1B, Schierholtz RF, Murphy 3B, Castillo C, Castro SS, Barney 2B, Samardzija P
Phillies lineup:
M. Young 1B, Ruiz C, Utley 2B, Brown LF, Ruf RF, Asche 3B, Mayberry CF, Martinez SS, Martin P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Jeff Samardzija seems to enjoy torturing us by putting together awesome starts (July 29 vs. Milwaukee) and then following them up with mediocre ones (August 3 against the Dodgers). Which one is the real Shark? He has very little track record against the Phillies; current members of the team are 7-for-23 against him.
Ethan Martin was the Dodgers' No. 1 pick (15th overall) in 2008. He was acquired by the Phillies last year in the Shane Victorino deal. He made his major-league debut last Friday against the Braves, and got pounded (eight hits, six earned runs in 4⅓ innings). I don't think I have to tell you what happens when the Cubs face pitchers like this. We. Are. Doomed.
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 Phillies site The Good Phight.
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.