I have to admit, I'm feeling the pull of unrealistic hopes and dreams that Trans talked about last night. Maybe that's why I'm on my way toward three posts in one day. Of course, it could also be because The Lovely Wife and (Not So) Tiny Baby are out of town. Whatever the reason, my increased output is your theoretical gain -- before I post the lineups for tonight's game, here's a look at the next seven days. First up, a trip to Chavez Ravine, home of the mellifluous Vin Scully. One of the nice things about the Extra Innings package is getting to hear Vin call some game throughout the summer -- I'm hoping tonight is one of those nights. Maybe I'll watch the game on the tiny TV in the bedroom so I can drift off to Vin's dulcet tones. I'll keep my eye out for Rob G. in the stands -- I imagine he'll be the guy who's still there in the 8th inning. Know Your Enemy: Dodger Thoughts, 6-4-2 Monday: Greg Maddux vs. Brett Tomko Tuesday: Carlos Zambrano vs. Derek Lowe Wednesday: Sean Marshall vs. Brad Penny The Dodgers will be without Jeff Kent tonight and possibly longer. They're already without Nomar Garciaparra (shocking, I know) and Eric Gagne, but still have plenty of weapons, like Cub Nation's winter mancrush Rafael Furcal, the currently-uninjured D.J. "J.D." Drew, and Bill Mueller, who just keeps hitting. By the way, Tueday's matchup ought to be interesting, as two of the biggest grounball pitchers in the game (Derek Lowe was 33 in the majors last year, Zambrano #14) face off. Could be a nice tight game, as long as Z keeps his emotions in check and Lowe lays off the sauce. After L.A., it's on to St. Louis, and our first look at new Busch stadium. Know Your Enemy: Get Up Baby, Cardnilly Friday: Glendon Rusch vs. Sidney Ponson Saturday: Greg Maddux vs. Mark Mulder Sunday: Carlos Zambrano vs. Jason Marquis Cubs.com has Jerome Williams scheduled for Friday, but I'd say it's more likely Williams will be skipped so that the rest of the starters can stay on normal. By Friday Albert Pujols' consecutive at-bats-with-a-homer streak could be up to about 15, and Izzy's blown save streak should be just about as high. Jim Edmonds is sitting out the current Pirates series after getting cortisone injections, but he'll be kind enough to return in time for the Cubs series.

I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep this up all season, but I went through all the box scores for the Cubs and all their minor-league affiliates and tallied who had started at what position, and how often. At the beginning of the season, before too many injuries, demotions, etc., this should give a good idea of who is considered the "starter" at each position and at each level. I will leave it to Arizona Phil to come along and add his interpretation and analysis; for now, here are the numbers: CHICAGO CUBS C: Barrett 8, Blanco 3 1B: Lee 11 2B: Walker 7, Hairston 3, Perez 1 3B: Ramirez 9, Perez 2 SS: Cedeno 11 LF: Murton 11 CF: Pierre 11 RF: Jones 6, Pagan 3, Bynum 1, Mabry 1 SP: Zambrano 3, Rusch 3, Maddux 2, Marshall 2, Williams 1 IOWA CUBS (AAA) C: Soto 8, Kopitzke 3 1B: Sing 9, Deardorff 2 2B: Fontenot 6, Theriot 4, Coats 1 3B: McGehee 9, Coats 1, Deardorff 1 SS: Ojeda 6, Theriot 5 LF: Restovich 4, Strong 4, Deardorff 3 CF: Pie 11 RF: Coats 5, Restovich 5, Theriot 1 SP: Ryu 3, Walrond 2, Valdes 2, Guzman 2, Hill 2 WEST TENN DIAMOND JAXX (AA) C: Richie 7, Reyes 2, Farina 1 1B: Hoffpauir 8, Dopirak 1, Lewis 1 2B: Patterson 10 3B: Moore 8, Lewis 2 SS: Rojas 7, Cates 3 LF: Montanez 7, Lewis 2, Hoffpauir 1 CF: Walker 9, Greenberg 1 RF: Greenberg 8, Montanez 2 DH: Lewis 3, Moore 1, Cates 1 SP: Mathes 2, Marmol 2, Wells 2, Mateo 2, Cash 1, Baez 1 DAYTONA CUBS (A+) C: Fox 8, Rick 2 1B: Craig 10 2B: Spears 8, Salas 2 3B: Spearman 10 SS: Simokaitis 10 LF: Jackson 5, Culpepper 4, Salas 1 CF: Fuld 10 RF: Harvey 6, Culpepper 4 DH: Jackson 5, Fox 1, Harvey 1, Rick 1, Wick 1 SP: Berg 2, Gallagher 2, Hagerty 2, Holliman 2, Johnson 2 PEORIA CHIEFS (A) C: Muyco 5, Reed 4, Morgan 1 1B: Norwood 9, Garcia 1 2B: Chirinos 9, Rivera 1 3B: Taylor 10 SS: Johnston 7, Rivera 3 LF: Valdez 6, Defendis 4 CF: Gregg 8, Ciaramella 2 RF: Ciaramella 6, Defendis 2, Valdez 2 DH: Garcia 8, Chirinos 1, Norwood 1 SP: Veal 2, Blackford 2, Billek 2, Yepez 2, Atkins 2

4-16-1957 Traded Ray Jablonski and Ray Katt to the New York Giants. Received Dick Littlefield and Bob Lennon 4-16-1938 Traded Curt Davis, Clyde Shoun, Tuck Stainback and $185,000 cash to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received Dizzy Dean 4-17-1976 The Phillies are down 12-1 in Wrigley after three innings, as Steve Carlton fails to escape from the second. Rich Reuschel, Mike Garman, Darold Knowles and Paul Reuschel can't hold the lead, however, and the Cubs trail 15-13 after the Phillies score 3, 5, and 3 runs in the 7th, 8th and 9th. The Cubs rally to tie the game at 15 in the bottom of the 9th, but the Phillies score three more in the 10th, including Mike Schmidt's fourth home run and 8th RBI of the day. The Cubs rally for one more in the bottom of the 10th, but the Phillies win, 18-16, while the Cubs set a National League record for the largest blown lead to lose a game. 4-17-1974 Newly acquired catcher George Mitterwald hits a double and three home runs, including a first-inning grand slam, with 8 RBI. The Cubs beat the Pirates, 18-9. Mitterwald finishes the season with 7 HR and 28 RBI

GAME 11 REVIEW

CUBS 7 PIRATES 3 W: Glendon Rusch (1-2) L: Ian Snell (0-1) Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart

We saw several encouraging things in today's game. Glendon Rusch pitched six strong innings, marred only by Craig Wilson's homerun. Aramis Ramirez seems to be getting locked in - he followed up yesterday's long double with a two-out RBI single in the first, and a two-run homerun in the sixth. Juan Pierre had three hits and scored two runs, hopefully a sign that he's coming out of his early-season slump. Cedeno continued to hit the ball sharply and gave a strong performance in the field. Finally, the mildly injured Jacques Jones made an appearance as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk. But what's most impressive - and surprising - for me is Ryan Dempster. Admittedly, I was unable to follow the Cubs very closely at the end of last season. So while I knew Dempster was pitching very well, I didn't have a good sense for just how well. Pat Hughes tells me that Dempster now has a 28 and 1/3 scoreless inning streak, spanning 28 appearances, I believe. Is it premature (or perhaps, even over-due?) to talk about Dempster as one of the game's elite closers? As I write, the Cubs are 7-4, in a four-way tie for first place. They're there without Prior, Wood, and having had to start their 5th OF due to injuries. Feeling the pull of unrealistic hopes and dreams, yet?

GAME ELEVEN IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT] CHICAGO CUBS (6-4, 4th, -0.5) AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES (4-9, 6th, -4.0) PNC Park, 12:35 CDT Weather: Cloudy, 58, Wind right to left @ 8 mph TV: CSN, DirecTV 743 Radio: WGN, XM 185

Ian Snell, RHP 0-0, 9.00 ERA, 10 IP 7 K, 5 BB, 3 HR	Glendon Rusch, LHP 0-2, 8.00, 9 IP 6 K, 3 BB, 6 HR
*Juan Pierre, CF *Freddy Bynum, RF Derrek Lee, 1B Aramis Ramirez, 3B *Todd Walker, 2B Matt Murton, LF Ronny Cedeno, SS Henry Blanco, C *Glendon Rusch, P	* Nate McLouth, CF Jack Wilson, SS Jason Bay, LF Craig Wilson, 1B Freddy Sanchez, 3B *Jeromy Burnitz, RF Jose Castillo, 2B Humberto Cota, C Ian Snell, P
	Pirates vs. Rusch Jack Wilson: 15-33, 455/500/667, 1 HR, 3 BB Craig Wilson: 14-26, 538/571/769, 1 HR, 2 BB, 5 K Jeromy Burnitz: 2-20, 100/217/250, 1 HR, 1 BB, 2 K

Bynum #2 and Walker #5, huh? I think it would be smarter to put Walker #2, move Murton and Cedeno up, and bat Bynum #7. But, of course, Bynum is fast, therefore he has to bat at the top of the order. This could this be Rusch's last chance to keep his rotation spot, though more likely he'll stick around until Kerry Wood is ready, even if he's merely mediocre. But we can hope, can't we? The guy he's matched up against, Ian Snell, hasn't been too impressive this year either, but at least he hasn't given up six home runs. Angel Pagan's hamstring injury from last night is serious enough that he'll probably head to the DL. There's a chance Felix Pie will be called up, but Mike Restovich seems more likely. I haven't seen or heard an official annoucement yet. I'll post the transaction here as soon as I know it. And, of course, it's time for my annual MLB blackout rules rant. When I was living in San Diego, I didn't get to see the Padres, even though I was more than 60 miles from San Diego and the town I lived in did not carry the cable channel the Pads were on. Now that I live in Pennsylvania, I'm lucky enough to have four teams blacked out: Phillies, Nationals, Orioles, and Pirates. I get Baltimore, Philly, and Washington games either via the regional sports channel or over the air, but I'm too far away from Pittsburgh for DirecTV to give me the Fox Sports channel from Pittsburgh. So, no Pirates games to be found anywhere. It's just silly.

GAME 10 REVIEW

CUBS 1 PIRATES 2 W: Zach Duke (1-1) L: Jerome Williams (0-1) S: Mike Gonzalez (2) Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart

Ugh, a tough game to lose. Zach Duke returned to last season's form. After the Cubs had forced him to scuffle and struggle and throw pitches in the first two innings, the lefty settled down, pitching seven strong innings. The Cub defense let down Jerome Williams, aiding the Pirates in the only two runs they would need. Cedeno got charged with a throwing error on a difficult play in the hole, which allowed Craig Wilson to score from third. Bynum, (who replaced Pagan in right field after Pagan seemed to seriously injure his left knee while running to first) misplayed a Wilson drive off the right field wall, and then jogged after the ball while Wilson legged out a triple. (What was up with Wilson's wheels? He stole a base in advance of the Cedeno error, and eventually scored after his triple. Wilson hit one triple and stole three bases all of last year!) Williams also threw a ball away on a pickoff play, giving Cub fans everywhere a sense of deja vu. The Cubs had one golden scoring opportunity in the eighth, with runners at first and second, one out, Duke out of the game, and Ramirez and Barrett up; Ramirez popped up, Barrett struck out, and that was pretty much the game. If that's the bad news (and indeed, it's considerable), the good news is that Williams pitched quite well - certainly well enough to merit another start, while our horde of supposedly near-ready injured starting pitchers continues to recuperate. Murton kept raking, and Eyre looked good in relief. While I'm not sure that this really counts as good news, I'll also add that Aramis managed to not pull a leg or butt muscle, when he had to go from a walk to a sprint in a single step upon realizing that his 410 ft. double was not, in fact, going to be a home run. Congrats, Aramis.

GAME TEN IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT] CHICAGO CUBS (6-3, 1st) AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES (3-9, 6th, -4.5) PNC PARK, 6:05 CDT Weather: Clear, 72 degrees, wind out to center 15 mph TV: WGN Radio: WGN, XM 186 -->

Zach Duke, LHP 0-1, 6.55, 11 IP 6 K, 5 BB, 3 HR	Jerome Williams, RHP 0-0, 3.60, 5 IP 2 K, 5 BB, 1 HR
*Juan Pierre, CF Jerry Hairston, 2B Derrek Lee, 1B Aramis Ramirez, 3B Michael Barrett, C #Angel Pagan, RF Matt Murton, LF Ronny Cedeno, SS Jerome Williams, P	Chris Duffy, CF Jack Wilson, SS Jason Bay, LF *Jeromy Burnitz, RF Craig Wilson, 1B Joe Randa, 3B Jose Castillo, 2B Humberto Cota, C *Zach Duke, P

After writing how the Pirates haven't been using Craig Wilson enough, we'll see him tonight in place of Sean Casey, who will be out 6-8 weeks with two fractures in his lower back after a collision with John Mabry last night. Yeowch. In other Pirate (and ex-Cub) injury news, Jody Gerut has been placed on the Restricted List after electing to have knee surgery against the wishes of the team. The Cubs made a roster move too, sending Michael Wuertz to AAA where he blongs and recalling the 100% valley-fever-free Roberto Novoa. Todd Walker gets four hits last night and sits tonight. Get used to it, Cubs fans. Jerome Williams makes his first start of the season tonight. As Kerry Wood, Wade Miller and Mark Prior inch closer to returning (Wood threw to hitters today and both Miller and Prior had 40-pitch sessions yesterday), Williams needs to establish himself if he hopes to stay in the rotation past May. Then again, he could always take Glendon Rusch's spot.

GAME NINE IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT] CHICAGO CUBS (5-3) AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES (3-8) PNC PARK, 6:05 CDT Weather: Overcast, 68 degrees, wind right to left @ 12mph TV: CSN+ Radio: WGN, XM 186

Victor Santos, RHP 1-1, 4.66 ERA, 9 2/3 IP 9 K, 4 BB, 0 HR	Sean Marshall, LHP 0-0, 8.31 ERA, 4 1/3 IP 2 K, 1 BB, 1 HR
*Juan Pierre, CF *Todd Walker, 2B Derrek Lee, 1B Aramis Ramirez, 3B Michael Barrett, C *John Mabry, RF Matt Murton, LF Ronny Cedeno, SS *Sean Marshall, P	*Nate McLouth, CF Jack Wilson, SS *Sean Casey, 1B Jason Bay, LF Joe Randa, 3B *Jeromy Burnitz, RF Jose Castillo, 2B Humberto Cota, C Victor Santos, P
Cubs vs. Santos Michael Barrett: 2-19, 105/150/158, 1 BB, 2K Derrek Lee: 3-18, 167/286/500, 2 HR, 3 BB, 3 K Aramis Ramirez: 7-16, 438/438/938, 1 HR, 1 K

Aramis is back in the lineup, as is Todd Walker. Jacque Jones will apparently miss the entire series, allowing Dusty to use Mabry tonight and probably Angel Pagan tomorrow. Who knows, maybe Freddie Bynum will get a start on getaway day. I'd like to see Marshall last a little longer than he did in his first start. In his (short) outing, he wasn't too bad, and now he has a chance to build on his spring success and force Dusty's hand when Wood/Miller/Prior are ready to return. GO CUBS!!!

As the Cubs head to Pittsburgh to start their first road trip of the season, I thought I'd take a few minutes to tell you what you need to know about this NL Central rival. When their fans close their eyes at night, they see Sid Bream in their nightmares. My buddy Mark might want to avert his eyes for the next few paragraphs. In the early '90s, the Pirates were the class of the NL East. They won three staight division titles from 1990-1992 behind an exciting core of young players which included Bobby Bonilla, Andy Van Slyke, Doug Drabek, Jay Bell, John Smiley, and Barry Bonds, who won his first two MVP awards in 1990 and 1992.

Mike Kiley reports in the Sun-Times that Kerry Wood is scheduled to pitch a simulated game tomorrow at Fitch Park in Mesa, and probably another next Thursday. If all goes well, that would put Woody's first minor league rehab start on April 25th, keeping him on the same pitching schedule as the temp #5 starter. If he stays on that schedule (pitching the same days as the temp 5th starter), and depending on how many rehab starts he needs to make (probably at least two, those being the April 25th and April 30th Iowa Cubs home games in Des Moines), Wood could return to the Cubs starting rotation on Friday night May 5th at SD, or certainly no later than Wednesday night May 10th at SF (again, if all goes well and there are no setbacks). It is possible (but not real likely) that he could make just one rehab start (April 25th at Des Moines) and return to the Cubs rotation at Wrigley Field on Sunday April 30th versus MIL. There is no specific schedule suggested for the return of Mark Prior or Wade Miller at this point. As far as the current 3-4-5 starters are concerned, all three (Sean Marshall, Jerome Williams, and Glendon Rusch) are scheduled to pitch the three games this weekend in Pittsburgh. Pitching tonight, Marshall is the only one of the three who could start next Wednesday night in LA, but don't forget that Angel Guzman is "shadowing" Marshall at Iowa, pitching on the exact same schedule. So if Marshall gets blasted tonight, Guzman could be recalled to replace Marshall in the starting rotation as early as next Wednesday in LA. And between Williams and Rusch, whichever one pitches best this weekend will probably get the start next Friday night in STL, with the other skipped until a 5th starter is needed on April 25th. That 5th starter slot (needed permanently beginning on April 25th) is the one Kerry Wood would slip into, either on April 30th, May 5th, or May 10th (depending on how the rehab goes).

One more time....

The Cubs make their lone trip of the season to Dodger Stadium next week and I was wondering who might be up for a little venture to Chavez Ravine for the Monday night game, April 17th; 7:10pm PST? The tentative pitching matchup is Greg Maddux versus Brett Tomko. Enjoy a little baseball, beverage and world famous "Dodger Dogs", (apparently world famous for their sucktitude). Email me if you're interested, we'll figure out the ticket situation once we know how many people are going. Those who think it's a good idea to leave before the 9th inning need not apply....

GAME 8 REVIEW

REDS 8 CUBS 3 Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart | Photos W: Eric Milton (2-0) L: Carlos Zambrano (0-1)

The first piece of good news is we don't face the Reds again until the end of May. The second piece of good news is we're off to play the Pirates next and they've struggled mightily out of the gate. The third piece of good news is Matt Murton broke out of his mini-slump with 2 RBI's, 2 Hits and a Home Run. The final piece of good news is I saved a bunch of money on my car insurance.

What I really took from this game was the importance of on-field leadership. Without Henry Blanco catching and Neifi manning the hot corner, we could really see the calming influence they both had on Carlos Zambrano as he really settled down after gettting into some tough jams early. Oh wait, no he didn't, he tried to pick off Eric Milton from first for no apparent good reason and then he tried to pick off Eric Milton later in the game from third base for no apparent good reason. And I believe at one point I actually saw steam coming from his ears. At least Barrett's all well and rested. Hopefully his bat won't cool off with the rest.

What's there to say? The Cubs stunk up the joint today, Baker should of forgotten about getting the scrubs some starts today and put some better bats in the lineup, waiting until we were a bit closer to full strength (or at least until Aramis came back). Walker hits lefties just fine and Milton just fine as well, same goes for Barrett. Off for a nine game road trip from Pittsburgh to LA to St. Louis. Let's get them tomorrow Sean Marshall!!!

GAME EIGHT IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT] CINCINNATI REDS (5-3) AT CHICAGO CUBS (5-2) WRIGLEY FIELD, 1:20 CDT Weather: Cloudy, 74 degrees, Out to Center @ 18mph TV: WGN Radio: WGN, XM 186

Carlos Zambrano, RHP 0-0, 4.42 ERA, 10 2/3 IP 10 K, 9 BB, 2 HR	Eric Milton, LHP 1-0, 2.57 ERA, 7 IP 3 K, 0 BB, 1 HR
Ryan Freel, CF #Felipe Lopez, SS *Adam Dunn, LF Rich Aurilia, 3B *Scott Hatteberg, 1B Austin Kearns, RF Brandon Phillips, 2B Dave Ross, C * Eric Milton, P	*Juan Pierre, CF Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B Derrek Lee, 1B Matt Murton, LF #Angel Pagan, RF Ronny Cedeno, SS #Neifi Perez, 3B Henry Blanco, C # Carlos Zambrano, P
Reds vs. Zambrano Adam Dunn: 6-25, 240/355/600, 3 HR, 5 BB, 8 K Austin Kearns: 3-16, 188/381/313, 4 BB, 5 K	Cubs vs. Milton Aramis Ramirez: 9-24, 375/375/833, 3 HR, 4 K Neifi Perez: 3-20, 150/190/300, 1 HR, 1 K Derrek Lee: 4-17, 235/222/765, 3 HR, 2 K Michael Barrett: 6-16, 375/444/813, 1 HR, 2 BB, 1 K

Big Z goes to the mound for the third time this season and tries to win the Cubs their 2nd series of the year. I understand Barrett can't catch every game and I kind of expected Blanco to be Z's personal catcher for most of the year. It seemed that Z was a little annoyed by Barrett in some comments I heard, plus the whole Venezuelan brothership thing going. But Barrett's been smoking hot and without Ramirez in the lineup (should be back tomorrow), you'd think it would be a good idea to bend the rules for a game. Of course with Homer Happy Milton on the mound and some gusty winds hopefully Blanco can lift a couple into the jet stream. GO CUBS!!!

GAME 7 REVIEW

CUBS 4 REDS 1 Recap | Box Score | Play-by-play | Game Chart | Photos W: Greg Maddux (2-0) L: Brandon Claussen (0-1) SV: Ryan Dempster (2)

A game loss by the Reds more than won by the Cubs, but take them anyway you can. The Reds committed an abysmal 5 errors, a few of them caused by the speed of Juan Pierre. He bunted for a hit to leadoff the bottom half of the first and 2 batters later attempted a steal of third which Javier Valentin air-mailed over the 3rd basemen's head for the Cubs first run. Lee was also stealing on the play and advanced to third on the throw, scoring on a Barrett sac fly. Pierre reached again when his speed forced Tony Womack to rush a throw to 1st. although the error was apparently given to 1B Scott Hatterberg. A little bit more of the Reds defensive foolishness followed and the Cubs scored their third run of the day on a Barrett grounder to third that Encarnacion muffed. On the type of day you dread when Maddux is on the mound (wind blowing out 18 mph+ to right), Maddog proved an old dog can learn new tricks. He kept the Reds batters fooled all day, locating his pitches to perfection and even throwing a few pitches that barely topped 60 on the gun. The only blemish was a walk to Dunn and then a double to Edwin Encarnacion. The Cubs had Dunn at the plate, but a less than perfect throw by Cedeno short-hopped Barrett, who made little effort of his own to get the ball despite having plenty of time to get the lumbering Dunn, and the ball skipped away. Barrett more than made up for it with a 2 out single to score the Cubs final run, ending the day 1 for 3 from the plate with 3 RBI's (I believe currently tied for the NL lead with 13). The bullpen went back to being fantastic, 2 scoreless innings by Scott Eyre and a rather uneventful 9th for Dempster. Eyre got through the 7th inning on a mere 8 pitches, so Dusty rightfully put him out for the 8th. He got himself into a little trouble by giving up a single to Brandon Phillips and a walk to Ryan Freel (who replaced Ken Griffey in center after Griffey left with stiffness in one of his knees). This left Eyre with the dubious task of having to face Dunn as the tying run, but Eyre quickly dispatched Dunn on a groundout to 2nd. Not the prettiest of games, the Cubs caused some havoc on the bases with their speed but also ran into some outs. The defense was generally solid beyond the one run scoring play for the Reds, Ronny Cedeno and Angel Pagan both making nice plays in the 9th to secure the victory. The Cubs try to win the rubber match tomorrow with Big Z going against Homer Happy Milton. The Cubs have now won 5 games, Glendon Rusch has lost two.

GAME SEVEN IN-GAME DISCUSSION THREAD [PARACHAT] CINCINNATI REDS (5-2) AT CHICAGO CUBS (4-2) WRIGLEY FIELD, 1:20 CDT Weather: Partly cloudy, 69 degrees, wind out to right @ 18mph TV: WGN, DIRECTV 734 Radio: WGN, XM 186

Greg Maddux, RHP 1-0, 1.42 ERA, 6 1/3 IP 1 K, 2 BB, 1 HR	Brandon Claussen, LHP 0-0, 5.40 ERA, 5 IP 5 K, 0 BB, 1 HR
*Tony Womack, 2B #Felipe Lopez, SS *Ken Griffey Jr., CF *Adam Dunn, LF Edwin Encarnacion, 3B *Scott Hatteberg, 1B Austin Kearns, RF #Javier Valentin, C Brandon Claussen, P	*Juan Pierre, CF Jerry Hairston Jr., 2B Derrek Lee, 1B Michael Barrett, C #Angel Pagan, RF Matt Murton, LF #Neifi Perez, 3B Ronny Cedeno, SS Greg Maddux, P
Reds vs. Maddux Tony Womack: 11-39, 282/293/308, 1 BB, 4 K Rich Aurilia: 8-39, 205/205/410, 2 HR, 5 K Adam Dunn: 4-26, 154/214/500, 3 HR, 2 BB, 6 K Austin Kearns: 7-22, 318/318/500, 1 HR, 6 K Ken Griffey Jr.: 9-20, 450/542/800, 2 HR, 3 BB, 6 K Ryan Freel: 5-18, 278/278/556, 1 HR, 2 K Javier Valentin: 6-10, 600/636/1800, 4 HR, 1 BB, 1 K	Cubs vs. Claussen Derrek Lee: 3-9, 333/455/1333, 3 HR, 2 BB, 2 K Aramis Ramirez: 4-9, 444/583/889, 1 HR, 3 BB, 1 K Todd Walker: 4-8, 500/500/1375, 2 HR

Let's hope the Cubs can put yesterday's shellacing behind them and paste a few against Claussen. This looks a little too much like a getaway day lineup to me, but with Ramirez and Jones both dinged up it's probably the best the Cubs could do.