Baseball In The Daytime: 8-20-07

Ah, the reacharound. Sometimes, a series is just a little to hefty to fit inside the frame of a weekend. So instead of streaking off to the next venue Sunday night, big league clubs linger for another day and play a Monday matinee.

Batting leadoff today are the Giants and the Marlins, at 11:05 Mountain from a football stadium in South Florida. I was shocked--shocked--to look at the starting assignments for this game and see the name of one Russell Reid Ortiz. I had no idea--no idea--that Russ Ortiz was still drawing a baseball paycheck. It's not a very big one, relatively speaking, as the Giants are paying Ortiz the minimum this season to log a few innings. His old club, the Diamondbacks, are still on the hook for about $16 mil through next year after cutting him in '06. What a country.

Ortiz takes on Sergio Mitre, and you can sample this event on XM 183 and DTV 735.

Up at Wrigley, the Cubs and Cards will attempt to finish up their series at 12:20 on XM 187 and DTV 735. I have no idea why, after last night's ESPN game was rained out, the clubs aren't logging a doubleheader today. But the vagaries of scheduling this stuff are for smarter people than me--I ain't no rocket surgeon.

Ted Lilly takes the ball for Chicago as the Cubs try to sweep the Redbirds, who'll be represented by the rejuvenated Joel Pineiro. Pineiro can feel free to eat a shit sandwich at any point, after sucking all season in Boston then dominating upon his arrival in St. Louis. The Cubs are alone in first at 63-59, while the Cards sit four games back in the NL Central. Technically the Brewers are in second in between the two clubs, but it's the standings equivalent of a ghost runner on second. Bernie Brewer is a dead man walking, and Jim Mora will be surprised if Milwaukee wins another game. Playoffs?