Cubs vs. Padres Preview, Friday 5/23, 9:10 CT

The Cubs have won four of their last five. That's good!

They did this one other time this year -- from April 27 to May 3 against the Brewers, Reds and Cardinals.

Before that, the last time the Cubs won four of five was July 24-28, 2013, in Arizona and San Francisco -- remember that sweep of the Giants? Seems like a very long time ago, doesn't it.

The Cubs have never had much luck in San Diego. They haven't won a season series from the Padres since 2008, and since 2000 they're 22-28 in San Diego -- and it isn't much better all-time. In fact, Thursday night's win put the Cubs over .500 in San Diego all-time (114-113). That's only 16-21 in Petco, though.

You'd think this weekend would be a good time to make those records better. Good start last night... keep it going!

Cubs lineup:

Bonifacio CF, Lake LF, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Valbuena 2B, Castillo C, Schierholtz RF, Olt 3B, Jackson P

Padres lineup:

Cabrera SS, Maybin CF, Smith LF, Headley 3B, Alonso 1B, Gyorko 2B, Venable RF, Grandal C, Stauffer P

Today's Starting Pitchers

Edwin Jackson Cubs vs. Tim Stauffer Padres vs. SD -- vs. Cubs

Edwin Jackson has thrown 20 innings in May, posted a 0.95 WHIP and 1.80 ERA and has 23 strikeouts in those 20 innings. Which leads to the questions: "Who is this guy? And can we keep him around a while?"

I dunno. You think Jackson can keep being this good? I don't. But maybe he'll surprise me. Members of the current SD roster are 38-for-109 (.349) against him with five home runs (by five different players).

Doesn't sound so great. Surprise us, Edwin.

Tim Stauffer is being pressed into service as a starter tonight due to an injury to Robbie Erlin. Stauffer, a former No. 1 draft pick of the Padres (2003), hasn't started a game since 2012 and hasn't been in a rotation since 2011. Current Cubs are 4-for-37 (.108) against him with eight strikeouts. I think you know what that all means -- doom.

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 Padres site Gaslamp Ball.

For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.

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.