Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Game 2 Preview, Tuesday 7/7, 7:05 CT

Just the facts!

Here are today's particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Fowler CF, Rizzo 1B, Bryant 3B, Soler RF, Denorfia LF, Castro SS, Teagarden C, Beeler P, Russell 2B

Cardinals lineup:

Pham LF, Carpenter 2B, Peralta SS, Heyward LF, Molina C, Reynolds 3B, Scruggs 1B, Bourjos CF, Cooney P

Today's Starting Pitchers

Dallas Beeler Cubs vs. Tim Cooney Cardinals vs. StL -- vs. Cubs

Dallas Beeler is making his 2015 major-league debut. He has never faced the Cardinals or anyone on their roster, and after a rough start at Triple-A Iowa he has been quite good since June 1, posting a 2.67 ERA and 1.154 WHIP with 28 strikeouts in 30⅓ innings and just five walks. Hopefully, that's a good sign. Beeler threw well in two big-league starts last year.

And, the preview for Cooney is pretty much the same. He has never faced the Cubs nor anyone on their roster. He has had a good year at Triple-A Louisville (2.74 ERA, 0.868 WHIP in 14 starts). He's made two callup starts for the Cardinals this year, one good, one not so much.

Neither of these pitchers walks a lot of hitters. They're pitch-to-contact guys, and thus this game could speed along quickly.

Today's game is on CSN Chicago. In most of the country this game will be seen on MLB Network (with Cardinals announcers). Check your cable/satellite listings.

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 Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2015 Game Thread procedure has changed a bit. Here's how it will work going forward.

You'll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream™ containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.

You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap 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 the game's StoryStream™ as noted above.

The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.