Cubs vs. Brewers Preview, Tuesday 8/12, 7:05 CT

Not-so-fun fact: the Cubs have struck out 53 times and walked twice on this homestand. The K's don't bother me as much as the lack of walks. This could be random; it comes in the wake of a road trip where the Cubs walked 28 times in six games. The Cubs rank 19th in MLB in batter walks this year, an improvement over last year when they ranked 22nd. Last year the Cubs walked 2.71 times per game. This year the average is 2.75 per game, again, a small improvement. Baby steps.

Fun fact: in 14 major-league plate appearances, tonight's Cubs starting pitcher, Kyle Hendricks, has two walks, as many as the entire team posted in 152 PA over the last four games.

More facts -- tonight's game particulars (this weather forecast says the rain's all done):

Cubs lineup:

Coghlan LF, Baez 2B, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Valbuena 3B, Alcantara CF, Ruggiano RF, Castillo C, Hendricks P

Brewers lineup:

Gomez CF, Lucroy C, Braun RF, Ramirez 3B, Gennett 2B, Davis LF, Reynolds 1B, Segura SS, Peralta P

Today's Starting Pitchers

Kyle Hendricks Cubs vs. Wily Peralta Brewers vs. Mil -- vs. Cubs

Kyle Hendricks seems to get better with each start. Granted, he has yet to face a team twice and thus clubs have not been able to make the adjustments they often do make when facing a pitcher for the second time. He has never faced the Brewers nor anyone on their roster, so let the good times keep rolling as long as they can.

Wily Peralta has faced the Cubs twice this year and allowed nine earned runs in 12⅔ innings (6.39 ERA, 1.263 WHIP), along with three home runs. Anthony Rizzo homered off him twice in this game, May 31 at Miller Park. Considering Rizzo hasn't homered since July 22 (76 at-bats), tonight would be a good time to get off that 0-fer.

Today's game is on CSN Chicago.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Brewers site Brew Crew Ball. The usual caution is advised.

For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.

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.