Baseball In The Daytime: 8-22-08

It's yet another Friday, the next to last before the unofficial end of summer. I say summer ends on Labor Day. For some it ends with the first official college football games, which are coming up on Thursday. Which would make today the last Friday of summer. That doesn't fly with me--look at these games we're stuck with Thursday. They're horrible. Just go with my original game plan--summer ends on Labor Day.

And don't get me started with that equinox crap. This ain't no astronomy blog, Pointdexter.

So here's your standard preview for your standard Cubs game, just hop over the ivy...

Washington @ Chicago Cubs, 12:20 Mountain This one should be a treat. The Cubs come in with the game's best record and best run differential, they've scored a whopping 171 more runs than they've yielded. Meanwhile, the Nats are dead last in both categories. If this were, say, football, you'd install the Cubs as 30-point favorites.

But this is baseball, where anything can happen. John Lannan, today's starter for the Nationals, could throw a two-hit shutout. Ryan Zimmerman could hit three home runs off of Cub hurler Jason Marquis. Chicago could hit into seven double plays. The umps could botch a few calls, or Aramis Ramirez could make a few errors. Anything could happen, but what's most likely is that the Cubs win 8-2. Play Ball!