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The Cubs play much better on the road than at home this year: 25-41 at home, 29-32 on the road. That's the second-worst home record in the major leagues; only the Astros are worse. Meanwhile, only five National League teams have better road records than the Cubs.
But! The last time the Cubs made a trip to San Diego and Los Angeles, they got swept (last August), although that was part of an eight-game streak that hit right after all the trades before last year's deadline. Also, guys like Brett Jackson and Josh Vitters got a lot of playing time on that trip.
The Cubs split four games with the Padres at Wrigley earlier this year, but have lost five of their last six in San Diego.
The Padres are in a stretch of playing 18 of 24 games at home. They have a winning record overall at home (34-31), but are just 7-8 so far in the current stretch.
Since the All-Star break the Cubs are 9-7 on the road, 3-15 at home. I know, that makes no sense at all.
None of this is intended to make sense, nor can it be used for predictive value. I post the numbers; you make the analysis.
Cubs lineup:
Castro SS, Rizzo 1B, Navarro C, Schierholtz RF, Lake CF, Murphy 3B, Bogusevic LF, Barney 2B, Jackson P
Padres lineup:
Venable RF, Denorfia LF, Alonso 1B, Gyorko 2B, Headley 3B, Amarista CF, Forsythe SS, Hundley C, Volquez P
Looks like both teams are playing split-squads today.
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Edwin Jackson had his worst start of the year against the Padres, April 30 at Wrigley Field. I have given up trying to use Jackson's past as a predictor, because he is so erratic this year. This game could look like that one, or he could throw a shutout. I really have no idea. What's most interesting about that boxscore is that, out of the 16 Cubs who played in that game, eight of them are not currently on the 25-man roster. Jackson has also never defeated the Padres -- 0-4 in nine starts, 5.68 ERA. Yuck.
Edinson Volquez was Jackson's opponent in that April 30 game. He gave up seven hits and four runs in 5⅔ innings, including home runs by Starlin Castro and Luis Valbuena, but it didn't matter because Jackson was so awful. Volquez has kind of been the San Diego version of Jackson -- sometimes really good, sometimes terrible. Let's hope for terrible tonight.
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.
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.