clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals Preview, Wednesday 4/25, 1:20 CT

By Al Yellon
Bryan LaHair of the Chicago Cubs rounds the bases after hitting a home run to tie the game in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field on April 24, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images)
Bryan LaHair of the Chicago Cubs rounds the bases after hitting a home run to tie the game in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Wrigley Field on April 24, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Brian Kersey/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Famous (OK, maybe not-so-famous) lasts:

  • Last time the Cubs swept a series: August 1-4, 2011, at Pittsburgh
  • Last time the Cubs swept a series at Wrigley Field: July 22-24, 2011, vs. Astros
  • Last time the Cubs swept the Cardinals: Sept. 13-15, 2010, at St. Louis
  • Last time the Cubs swept the Cardinals at Wrigley Field: July 27-30, 2006

In fact, that awful 2006 Cubs team, that lost 96 games, swept the Cardinals twice at Wrigley Field -- they also did it from April 7-9, and wound up 11-8 against the team that wound up winning the World Series that year. This year's Cubs team might not be very good, either, but they've got a chance to do something that no Cubs team has done in six years -- sweep their division rivals at home.

Sounds good to me.

Cubs lineup:

DeJesus RF, Campana CF, Castro SS, LaHair 1B, Soriano LF, Stewart 3B, Clevenger C, Barney 2B, Volstad P

Cardinals lineup:

Furcal ss, Carpenter 1b, Holliday lf, Beltran rf, Freese 3b, Molina c, Descalso 2b, Robinson cf, Lynn p
Today's Starting Pitchers
Chris Volstad
Chris Volstad
Cubs		 vs. Lance Lynn
Lance Lynn
Cardinals
0-2 W-L 3-0
6.19 ERA 1.42
14 SO 17
4 BB 4
1 HR 2
vs. StL -- vs. Cubs
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Chris Volstad 0-2 3 3 0 0 0 0 16.0 18 13 11 1 4 14 6.19 1.38
W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP
2012 - Lance Lynn 3-0 3 3 0 0 0 0 19.0 10 3 3 2 4 17 1.42 .74

We have yet another pitching rematch this afternoon; these two pitchers matched up in St. Louis on April 14. Volstad wasn't bad -- he got a "quality start" out of the outing by giving up three runs in six innings -- but Lynn was better, allowing the Cubs just one run. The Cubs offense was pretty meek that day, with just five singles and a double. Perhaps today will be better.

Today's game is on WGN. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos.

Today's first pitch thread will post at 1:20 p.m. CDT and the overflows at 2:20, 3:20 and 4:05 p.m. CDT. If you need more overflows due to extra innings or rain delays, post them in the fanshot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

More From Bleed Cubbie Blue