Masahiro Tanaka is the king of the worst stat in baseball: pitcher win-loss record. He hasn’t “lost” in a couple years, and he hasn’t lost yet in the States. Perhaps the Cubs can be the ironic first.
Of course, here’s the thing: Tanaka also fares damn well by every other stat out there, including the ones that do a good job of describing and predicting pitcher performance. He’s just good. He made the Cubs look silly in New York, and, if you were betting, you’d bank on it again tonight.
Hopefully, then, Jason Hammel can hold down the Yankees’ bats, in turn.
There’ll be some kind of Derek Jeter ceremony before the game, which is nice. Probably should have been some kind of Alfonso Soriano ceremony, too. In any case, folks better give him a damn nice round of applause when he comes to the plate. The guy deserves it.
Game Info
New York Yankees (23-20) at Chicago Cubs (15-27), 7:05 CT on WGN.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Game threads now live here in the comments – and with Disqus, they should be even more enjoyable.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Masahiro Tanaka (2.17 ERA, 2.78 FIP, 2.17 xFIP; 9.43 K/BB)
versus
Jason Hammel (3.06 ERA, 3.36 FIP, 3.60 xFIP; 3.58 K/BB)
New York Yankees Lineup
1. Brett Gardner, LF
2. Derek Jeter, SS
3. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
4. Mark Teixeira, 1B
5. Brian McCann, C
6. Alfonso Soriano, RF
7. Yangervis Solarte, 3B
8. Brian Roberts, 2B
9. Masahiro Tanaka, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Emilio Bonifacio, CF
2. Junior Lake, LF
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Luis Valbuena, 2B
6. Nate Schierholtz, RF
7. Mike Olt, 3B
8. John Baker, C
9. Jason Hammel, P