All right, enough already. No more getting lost on the highway, no more grand slams given up, no more losing.
Just win, baby.
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Sometimes, the guy who you least expect to do well steps up. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but I expect Jason Marquis to have his "A" game on tonight. In his last five starts he's 3-1, 3.60 with only one home run allowed in 30 innings -- there's that inning-eating thing he's so good at, averaging six per start. The Cubs need that tonight. Adam Dunn, Marquis' longtime tormentor, is gone -- the best remaining Reds hitter against him is Edwin Encarnacion (6-for-13, 2 HR). Every Cub pitcher should try to steer clear of Joey Votto, the 21st Century's newest Cub-killer, who is hitting .383 (18-for-47) with 8 HR and 16 RBI in 13 games against the Cubs this year. (That's a career for some people.)
Johnny Cueto is up and down. Sometimes he's unhittable -- as he was two weeks ago at Wrigley Field when he gave the Cubs only four hits in seven innings, only to see the Reds bullpen blow the game. Other times he is very hittable -- he's given up 16 HR at home (compared to 10 on the road) at the launching pad known as GABP. That's what the Cubs need to do tonight, bring out the big lumber again.
Today's game is on cable in Chicago and Cincinnati and since it starts after 7 pm EDT, it'll be on EI. Also see the MLB.com Mediacenter.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Once again, a reminder that you can find the overflow comment threads, including the first pitch thread, on the right sidebar of both the front page and any interior page in the box headed "RECENT STORIES IN GAME THREADS". Today's first pitch thread posts at 6 pm CT, and the overflow comment threads will post at 7 pm, 8 pm and 8:45 pm CT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.