Since 2003, the Cubs are 11-12 in Dodger Stadium; oddly enough, their only sweep came in 2005, a year the Cubs finished under .500, and the awful 2006 team managed to win two of three in LA, though that was in April before the wheels fell off -- and that was the series where Derrek Lee suffered his wrist injury.
Last year -- not so much. After losing the first game of a four-game set 7-2, the Cubs gave the Dodgers only five runs in the next three games, but lost two of three, by scoring only four times.
This year the Cubs have already shut out the Dodgers twice at Wrigley Field; I would expect this series to be another low-scoring affair. When the Cubs finished their series win at Wrigley they were 23-25; they've gone 15-22 since. The Dodgers were only slightly better at 26-21, but they've stayed close to the Padres by going 20-17, including six of their last nine.
Good pitching and timely hitting won the series in Phoenix for the Cubs. They can keep it going by doing the same thing this weekend.
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Clayton Kershaw's only career start vs. the Cubs was on May 25 at Wrigley Field. He gave up no earned runs in six innings, but the Cubs won 3-0 on outstanding pitching from Ryan Dempster and Carlos Marmol. Kershaw gave the Cubs three singles and a double by Derrek Lee.
Randy Wells pitched well twice last year vs. the Dodgers -- a 1.32 ERA in two starts -- but got two losses because the Cubs didn't hit for him. That's a theme this year, so hopefully the Cubs will keep up the good hitting they had in the last series. Current Dodgers are hitting .283 (13-for-46) against Randy.
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Today's first pitch thread will be up at 9 pm CDT, and the overflows will post at 10:15 pm, 11:15 pm and midnight pm CDT.
Discuss amongst yourselves.