Baseball In The Daytime: 7-13-07

It is outstanding to be back on the day baseball beat. Although there's only one game on this abbreviated Friday schedule, that one game is vitally important to my weekend. You see, I'm skeedaddling out of work at noon for two days of fishing, and listening to that Cubs-Astros game will get me all the way to a nice cabin nestled next to a mountain lake.

I'll be listening to XM 186 at 12:20 Mountain, as Jason Jennings takes on Carlos Zambrano. If you have the Extra Innings package on DirecTV you can also tune in to channel 734. The Cubs have amazingly crawled to within 4 1/2 of the Brewers, and are hoping that Big Z can continue his recent witchcraft (5-2, 1.75 ERA since June 6). You needn't worry about the Astros, they're a game and a half back of the Pirates and in fifth place.

I would like to note that in the wake of Julio Franco's dismissal by the Mets I hope the Rockies sign him. You just can't go wrong with Julio Franco.