Game Preview: Pirates (26-50) vs. Cubs (33-43)
First, the lineups...
Tabata, LaRoche, McCutchen, Jones, Milledge, Alvarez, Doumit, Cedeno, Karstens
vs.
Fukudome, Theriot, Lee, Ramirez, Colvin, Soriano, Hill, Castro, Lilly.
Now, the news...
- Z gets sent to the corner with his dunce cap and Grab-Ass to the disabled list with a sprained knee. Miles says Grab-Ass should be out 3-4 weeks. Jeff Stevens and James Russell get the call-ups with Tom Gorzelanny scheduled to start tomorrow.
- Jon Morosi of Fox Sports says that the Red Sox and Cubs discussed a deal for Mike Fontenot before the Red Sox grabbed Eric Patterson after he was DFA'd by the A's. Morosi also says that the Cubs are "halfway" to sell mode...half-assing it as always.
- The Smokies landed 9 on the Southern League All-Star team after taking the first half division title. They are:
OF Tony Campana
C Robinson Chirinos
C Steve Clevenger
1B Blake Lalli
OF Ty Wright
RHP Austin Bibens-Dirx
RHP David Cales
LHP Ryan Buchter
RHP Hung-Wen Chen
Andrew Cashner and Starlin Castro were also early contributors to their run.
- Bruce Levine put this piece of info out there in his chat today.
The reasons Hendry was enabled to sign people to long-term deals was Sam Zell's insistence that they build up the product so he can get a higher buyout from the Ricketts family. Hendry was on an airplane when the Soriano deal was done by other team executives. Jim has to take his share of blame, but let's not start with revisionist history.
As one of our readers pointed out, Zell hadn't even bought the team by that point (wasn't until April of 2007), so Levine seems to just be shoveling whatever B.S. Hendry is feeding him...or just made an honest mistake about the timeline of ownership.
Cubs try to solve the Pirates puzzle today...recommended for ages 4-5, but does require adult supervision.
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