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Houston Astros at Chicago Cubs, 1:20 CDT

Jason Jennings Carlos Zambrano
1 - 4, 4.07 10 - 7, 4.03

Nice. What a wonderful way to dash whatever hopeful vibes we were able to muster over the break, and with the return of Lidge.

Starting for the opponent in our first game back, it's only the pitcher who most baffles us, who most mistreats us, who most torments us, who most flat-out embarasses us.

I don't know if it's literally true that no-one has a better statistical record vs. the Astros than Zambrano. Actually, it's probably not. There's very likely some unknown reliever somewhere who's got a 0.00 ERA with 0.50 WHIP in 10 games, or something.

But as I was posting on another thread earlier, reputation matters, and the prospect of facing Zambrano cannot possibly overjoy our hitters, just as it does not overjoy us as fans.

Still, you can, if you wish to, look at the whole Z thing today as a tremendous opportunity. How better to establish that the second half is going to be a whole new ballgame than to beat the pitcher who most baffles us, who most mistreats us, etc. etc?

Can't say I think we'll beat him, but if we do, what a nice statement that would be.

Z vs. the Astros
  W L ERA WHIP K/9
Overall 9 5 2.41 1.11 8.1
Wrigley 3 4 2.18 0.97 8.5
2nd Half 4 6 2.75 1.14 8.7
July 2 1 1.54 0.57 10.4
Since 2006 4 0 0.46 0.79 8.3