Wednesday Afternoon Liveglog Club: April 2008 Archives

Is this really the first regular season game I'm liveglogging between two American league teams? Well, I've only done three liveglogs so far so don't get your pantaloons in a knot.

Today's game features the White Sox and Twins facing off in the ol' Metrodome. The light-hitting White Sox face Minnesota rookie pitcher Nick Blackburn for the second time this season. They've already served him the injustice of a no-decision in a 7-5 White Sox win that saw Blackburn give up but 2 runs in five innings of work.

The even lighter-hitting Twins will face White Sox spot starter Nick Masset, who made his only other major league start last year against the Cubs at Wrigley Field. Masset's earlier appearance against the Twins was a huge mess as he allowed five runs in 3 innings of relief on April 20th.

Joe Christensen, yet another sportswriter who should not be using his own headshot in his blog's sidebar, has the lineups. BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY I HAVE THE LIVEGLOG AFTER THE JUMP.

The powers that be have declared that today, Wednesday April 23rd, is to be the only Wednesday of the entire season without an afternoon game. So so sorry, fans of liveglog action. To make it up to y'all, I will let you choose which game I will liveglog next Wednesday afternoon. Here are your choices:

    White Sox @ Twins, 1:05 PM
    Pirates @ Mets; 1:05 PM
    Reds @ Cardinals; 1:15 PM
    Astros @ Diamondbacks; 3:40 PM
    Rockies @ Giants; 3:45 PM
    Braves @ Nationals; 4:35 PM

You just know I want that Nationals game so I can get away with glogging just 2 innings of action. Let me know in the comments which game I should glog next week.

Today's liveglog will go from 3:45PM until 5:15PM. I'd like to do more but I have an urgent meeting at 5:30PM, so you're going to have to follow along with the MLB Gameday doodad after that point.

Hey, this is the second week in a row that the Diamondbacks are part of the ol' liveglog. Good thing they are the most potent offense in baseball so far...they should pad their stats today against lefty Barry Zito of the Giants. Zito will face all righties today except Stephen Drew. Three different hitters have five home runs so far: Chris Young, Mark Reynolds, and Justin Upton; the team is scoring well over 6 runs per game. The D-Backs send ace Brandon Webb to the mound, so I'm not expecting much of a contest.

Hop the jump to follow the glog!

Thanks to the good people at the LA Daily News (read: Tony Jackson), I have obtained the lineup for today's matchup:

Dodgers:
Rafael Furcal. SS
Matt Kemp. CF
Andre Ethier. RF
Jeff Kent. 2B
James Loney. 1B
Russell Martin. C
Blake DeWitt. 3B
Juan Pierre. LF
Hiroki Kuroda. P

D-Backs:

Chris Young. CF
Eric Byrnes. LF
Orlando Hudson. 2B
Conor Jackson. 1B
Mark Reynolds. 3B
Justin Upton. RF
Augie "Doggie" Ojeda. SS
Robby "Banana" Hammock. C
Micah Owings. P

Pre-game thoughts: Joe Torre has quite the quandary on his large Italian-American hands when he fills out his lineup card: four mediocre outfielders and Andre Ethier. Andruw Jones is slumping, Juan Pierre outright sucks, Delwyn Young has a funny first name, and Matt Kemp never got a tag at Walkoff Walk. Today, Andruw Jones is the odd man out.

Unlike last year where they couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with a cowpie, Arizona currently leads the majors in runs scored. It's still early, but don't tell Chris Young, Mark Reynolds, or Justin Upton; they've combined for 12 home runs so far. A cursory glance at the batting stats for the team shows that only Eric Byrnes is underperforming expectations. Odd, because he was the only member of the team last year who could (a) hit or (b) paddle.

Onto the liveglog! Click through and follow after the jump.

Brewers
2B Rickie Weeks
CF Gabe Kapler
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
3B Bill Hall
RF Corey Hart
SS J.J. Hardy
RHP Jeff Suppan
C Jason Kendall

Cubs
SS Ryan Theriot
LF Alfonso Soriano
1B Derrek Lee
3B Aramis Ramirez
RF Kosuke Fukudome
2B Mark De Rosa
C Geovany Soto
CF Felix Pie
LHP Ted Lilly

Thanks to the Brewers Blog for providing a lineup. It's a shame that the Cubs blogs in the Chicago newspapers SUCK, so I stole this from the comments at Bleed Cubbie Blue.

I will be listening to the Cubs radio team, Pat Hughes and Ron Santo. I promise to not make any amputee jokes because (a) it's cruel and (2) he deserves to be in the hall of fame. One of the best third basemen ever. With our without legs.

The glog starts soon, after the jump:

Hey, Wednesday Afternoon Liveglog Clubbers, come back this afternoon at 2:20 for Walkoff Walk's very first liveglog of a game (in North America) that counts in the standings, as the Milwaukee Brewers visit the Chicago Cubs. Your pitching matchup today is Jeff Suppan versus Ted Lilly; let's see if the bullpens can get the job done if either team has a close lead late today. If you haven't registered as a commenter yet and you want to join in on the fun, please read this helpful combudsman post. We'd love to have you follow along with me as I struggle to figure out what's going on in a game I'm listening to on the radio.