:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/12564087/20130501_jrc_ag5_181.0.jpg)
Before these consecutive four-game series with the Marlins and Padres began, I said I'd be disappointed if the Cubs didn't win at least three of four in each one. They accomplished that in Miami; this afternoon, they have the chance to do the same to the Padres at Wrigley Field. If they do so, they'll have a Star Trekkian seven-of-nine winning skein going -- and they played the Reds well in Cincinnati despite losing two of three there. The Reds are 12-4 at home.
This team, with a bit better defense and relief pitching, could have won three or four more games. They seem competitive within their division. I'm still not forecasting any sort of contention for this year's Cubs, but they are clearly a better team than the 2012 version.
After a couple of days of summerlike weather in Chicago, back to what's been our "normal" for this spring:
A 4O percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. North northeast wind 1O to 15 mph.
The average high for May 2 in Chicago is 66. According to the link above, we might get back there by next Wednesday. Maybe. It does appear the rain will hold off for most of the afternoon.
Cubs lineup:
Sappelt CF, Ransom 3B, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Castro SS, Castillo C, Hairston RF, Barney 2B, Wood P
Maybe Scott Hairston will finally start hitting. (I won't hold my breath waiting, though.)
The Padres lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Check the BCB Twitter feed for the Padres lineup.
Today's Starting Pitchers |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Travis Wood had a pretty good outing against the Padres August 6, 2012 in San Diego, giving up two runs in six innings. Naturally, the Cubs got shut out. Does this sound familiar? Maybe being at home will help. Current Padres, though, are hitting .339 against Wood (20-for-59) with five home runs. Hmmm. We could be doomed.
Wow, Eric Stults is still around? (Pitching poorly, I might add.) He put up pretty good numbers for the Padres last year, though, and that included 5⅓ shutout innings against the Cubs in that August 6 game in San Diego. Current Cubs are 14-for-49 (.286) against him with one home run (Alfonso Soriano). In short, who knows?
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Padres site Gaslamp Ball. Be careful over there.
Here's the scoop on game threads for 2013. You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.