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25 years ago today, Andre Dawson, finishing up his first month as a Cub, had perhaps the greatest game of his career. After a slow start to the season, he went 5-for-5 that day, hitting for the cycle, and also threw out a hitter (OK, so it was just the opposing pitcher) on what should have been a clean single to right field.
Chris Jaffe has the details at Hardball Times.
Yes, the Cubs won the game, 8-4 over the Giants.
Only one Cub has hit for the cycle since that day -- Mark Grace on May 9, 1993, almost 19 years ago. The Cubs lost that game, despite Grace's three-run homer with two out in the bottom of the ninth.
The Cub most likely to hit for the cycle on this year's team is probably Starlin Castro. There was a cycle Friday night, the first of 2012: Scott Hairston of the Mets did it, and in his first four at-bats.
Cubs lineup:
Campana CF, Barney 2B, Castro SS, LaHair 1B, Baker RF, Stewart 3B, Mather LF, W. Castillo C, Garza P
Phillies lineup:
Rollins ss, Pierre lf, Pence rf, Wigginton 3b, Victorino cf, Nix 1b, Schneider c, Galvis 2b, Kendrick p
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Matt Garza is off to a good start this year and current Phillies are hitting just .184 (19-for-103) against him. Last year, he started twice against the Phillies and allowed only one earned run in 13 innings, while striking out nine and not giving up a home run. The only current Phillie who has any real success against him is Hunter Pence (4-for-10, all singles).
Kyle Kendrick has bounced up and down between Triple-A, the Phillies bullpen, and the Phillies rotation for several seasons. In so doing, he has just two career appearances against the Cubs. On June 9, 2011, he started and threw three scoreless innings against the Cubs, but did not return when the game resumed after a long rain delay. The only current Cub who has more than two at-bats against him is Ian Stewart, who is 3-for-10 with a home run.
Today's game is on WGN. Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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Discuss amongst yourselves.