Ryan Dempster will try to stem the bleeding today (you’ll note I didn’t say “stop”) for the Cubs, who’ve made the bottom-feeding Twins look like the formerly-awesome Twins. Bryan LaHair sits again against a lefty, which is probably as much abou protecting his numbers as it is about trying to get Jeff Baker to crush some lefties before the end of July.
At least the game’s on WGN, right? And at least the Cubs are facing Francisco Liriano, who’s been brutally bad this year. So they’re guaranteed to dominate, right?
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (19-40) at Minnesota Twins (24-34), 1:10pm CT on WGN.
Game Thread and Series Preview
The Game Thread lives here. You should participate in the madness. And, of course, for those who aren’t into message board-style game threads, please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts.
The Series Preview for this series lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Ryan Dempster (1-3, 2.59 ERA, 1.076 WHIP)
versus
Francisco Liriano (1-6, 6.46 ERA, 1.739 WHIP)
Minnesota Twins Lineup
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Ben Revere, RF
3. Joe Mauer, DH
4. Josh Willingham, LF
5. Justin Morneau, 1B
6. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
7. Brian Dozier, SS
8. Drew Butera, C
9. Jamey Carroll, 2B
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Reed Johnson, LF
2. Starlin Castro, SS
3. David DeJesus, RF
4. Alfonso Soriano, DH
5. Jeff Baker, 1B
6. Joe Mather, CF
7. Darwin Barney, 2B
8. Ian Stewart, 3B
9. Koyie Hill, C