Well, this one worries me. The Cubs have been outstanding at home this year. But for some reason, the Florida Marlins have had their number -- both at home and on the road. The Marlins have defeated the Cubs ten consecutive times; the last Cub win vs. Florida was by the awful 2006 team, at Wrigley Field on April 25, 2006. Look at the Cub record after that game, too -- 12-7. From there to the end of the season they went 54-89.
Ugh. Enough of that. That was then and this is now. The Marlins have played well this year -- they stand one game out of first place and five games behind the wild-card leading Brewers -- but the Cubs are a better team.
Interesting baseball note totally unrelated to the Cubs: the Seattle Mariners are responding to fans who have kids with peanut allergies by setting up peanut-free sections for two games later this year. Before you say something like "oh, they're banning everything", keep in mind that the first symptom of a peanut allergy can be death.
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Scott Olsen, who went to Crystal Lake South HS and was one of the mob outside of Wrigley Field during the 2003 playoffs (this AFTER he had been drafted by the Marlins!), is 1-0, 3.80 in four career starts vs. the Cubs. He hasn't faced any current Cub hitter for more than 10 AB; Aramis Ramirez is 4-for-9 (one HR) vs. Olsen.
Z was uncharacteristically wild in his last start in Houston, walking six. That's not the way to win. He is 5-0, 2.25 at home -- thank heavens, 13 of the next 17 games are at home, and the other four in Milwaukee, where the Cubs have played well the last few years. He is 3-1, 2.54 in seven lifetime starts vs. the Marlins, but has not faced most of the current bunch; the most career AB for any current Marlin vs. Z is 16 (Luis Gonzalez, 5-for-16).
Today's game is on cable: FSN Florida and CSN Chicago. Lately, EI has been carrying both home & road feeds for some games. Also see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
MLB.com Gameday (2007 version)
MLB.com Gameday (2008 version)
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Today's first pitch thread will be up at 7 pm CT and the overflow comment threads will post at 8:15 and 9:15 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.