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The Cubs played 18 road games against the National League West in 2012. They won one of them -- the last one, September 30 at Phoenix against the Diamondbacks. (They were 11-5 against the same teams in Wrigley Field in 2012. That's a really bizarre split.)
The Cubs have played four road games against the National League West in 2013. They have won two of them. So already, this is an improvement over last year. The remaining six games on this trip are at NL West parks, and I'd say the Cubs have a pretty good shot at splitting those six, at least. The Cubs are 6-8 against NL West teams at Wrigley Field this year -- go figure.
Cubs lineup:
Lake CF, Castro SS, Rizzo 1B, Soriano LF, Ransom 3B, Navarro C, Gillespie RF, Barney 2B, Wood P
Diamondbacks lineup:
Eaton LF, Pollock CF, Goldschmidt 1B, Ross RF, Chavez 3B, Prado 2B, Nieves C, Gregorius SS, Corbin P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Travis Wood last pitched against the Diamondbacks September 28, 2012 at Chase Field. He got hit pretty hard -- oddly enough, he allowed a home run to his current teammate Cody Ransom -- but that was a different Travis Wood; he seems far more confident this year, with a better pitch selection among his improvements. Wood hasn't pitched in nine days, so let's hope the layoff hasn't affected him.
Patrick Corbin came into his June 2 start at Wrigley Field having dominated the league up to that time. Cubs hitters did pretty well against him, scoring four runs. Scott Hairston homered off ... oh, wait. That doesn't matter now, does it? Corbin's still been quite good since that start, though he has not pitched in 11 days, except for his inning of work in the All-Star Game.
Today's game is on WGN.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Diamondbacks site AZ Snakepit.
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, and for this late-night series in Arizona, two and a half hours.
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.