Murton, Payton Not Starting Today

The Cubs are again sitting Matt Murton today.  That’s two days in a row he was expected to start and didn’t.  Of course, it may just be that Lou Piniella doesn’t like him.  We’ll see.

Meanwhile, Jay Payton is out of the lineup for the Orioles-Yankees game today.  He typically starts in left field, but it’s Jay Gibbons today.  This could also just be Dave Trembley’s preference and nothing more.  He sat Payton in favor of Gibbons on Thursday as well.  Gibbons is 6 for 18 lifetime against Chien-Ming Wang while Payton is 1 for 6.

Discussions regarding a Payton-to-Chicago deal were getting pretty serious last night.