Baseball In The Daytime: 8-13-08

I woke up in a cold sweat this morning, remembering two things. One, my student loan payment is due tomorrow. God I hate my student loan payment. All that stupid shit I bought because the dumb government gave me the money.

The other is Baseball In The Daytime. Twas to be an easy beat today, with just a lone Yankee game on the docket. But lo, Mother Nature interjected and rained out the Cubs and the Braves last night, doubling my workload. Doubling! So now I don the tools of ignorance--coffee, keyboard, green eyeshade--and tap tap tap away at another installment of America's favorite feature.

Briquettes of insight after the jump...

Chicago Cubs @ Atlanta, 11:10 Mountain This is the first game of a precipitation-precipitated double-dip. If you only have the time or the means to take in one, by all means make it the nightcap featuring Rich Harden and Jorge Campillo. Should you be stuck with the matinee, well, crack an Old Style and make the best of it. Your visiting Cubbies hand the ball to Jason Marquis, your basic 4/5 starter who's given his club some innings this year while managing to avoid shitting his pants. I wouldn't imagine we'll see Marquis much come October unless things go horribly wrong...oh fuck, there I go jinxing the Cubs again. All apologies.

Meanwhile, the home Braves go with a gentleman named Charlie Morton. I know nothing about him, which doesn't mean much. It could be that Charlie Morton is a great undiscovered baseball treasure. Or Charlie Morton is the single crappiest pitcher to hike an MLB mound this season. Back in the old days, when the Cubs and the Braves were the only two teams you could regularly watch (on WGN and WTBS respectively), I hated these series because it meant being stuck with the same two clubs we always watched.

NY Yankees @ Minnesota, 11:10 Is this the final game for the Bronx Bombers at the old Metrodome? You have the Internet, you can find out for yourself. Alls I know is the Yanks are handily tanking, and the Baby Boss has all the excuses. Yes, Hank Steinbrenner emerged from his playroom yesterday and issued all sorts of proclamations--that these Yanks are the most injury-plagued team in history, that this season is a lost cause, that next year God damn it we're taking it all. OK then. You have to admit, any Yankee year that prominently leans on Darrell Rasner is probably not going well. The woebegotten righty faces Kevin Slowey today as New York tries desperately to stay relevant. Keep you chin up and Play Ball!