The Pirates and Cubs are scheduled to play at 12:35 this afternoon, though the weather forecast is not pleasant. Since the Pirates and Cubs play about 100 more games this year and the two clubs played 16 innings last night, I’d be willing to guess they pull the trigger on canceling this one early, if it comes to it.
Wandy Rodriguez is scheduled to go for the Pirates. Obviously his health and things like his velocity compared to last year are very worth monitoring at this early-season juncture. Given the persisting silence on Jameson Taillon’s elbow (his second opinion was on Monday, so the silence is deafening at this point), a healthy Wandy Rodriguez is looking more and more like a vital part of a Pirate team that’s going to make a playoff run in 2014. That makes me nervous, but I’d feel a lot better with a solid first start.
The Cubs will send Jason Hammel to the mound. The first pitch today is at 12:35, weather permitting.
