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The Cubs have played the Cardinals six times in Busch Stadium this year and won once.
They shouldn't feel too bad about that. Just two teams have defeated the Cardinals more than once this year in St. Louis and just one did it in one series: the Tigers, who won two of three from them in a set last month. Other teams to beat the Cardinals in their home park this year: Brewers (twice, once in each of two series), Phillies and Dodgers.
That's odd, right? Of the seven home losses given to the Cardinals this year, three of them are from the two worst teams in the major leagues. The Cardinals have swept, at home, the Reds, Pirates, Diamondbacks, Royals and Twins (the latter two in two-game sets, though the Royals series was supposed to be three -- one game was rained out).
As I said in the recap to last night's disaster, it's not just the Cubs. But they can at least get out of St. Louis with one win, tonight.
Once again, weather could get in the way of tonight's game. Storms are in the forecast. If for any reason they can't play tonight, the teams do both have Monday off for a possible makeup date.
Here are today's particulars.
Cubs lineup:
Fowler CF, Bryant 3B, Rizzo 1B, Montero C, Castro SS, Coghlan LF, Denorfia RF, Hammel P, Russell 2B
Cardinals lineup:
Wong 2B, Carpenter 3B, Peralta SS, Heyward RF, Grichuk LF, Molina C, Scruggs 1B, Jay CF, Martinez P
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Despite the fact that the Cubs have had two series against the Cardinals this year, Jason Hammel has not faced them. He faced them once last year, May 4, 2014 at Wrigley Field, and threw six decent innings. Current members of the Cardinals are 29-for-81 (.358) against Hammel with two home runs, both by Jhonny Peralta.
Maybe this will work. Carlos Martinez started against the Cubs May 4 in St. Louis and the Cubs scored five runs off him in the first inning and seven overall. He didn't make it out of the fourth inning, by far his worst start of the year. Anthony Rizzo homered off him.
Since May 20 he has an ERA of 1.33 in seven starts with 51 strikeouts in 47⅓ innings. So which is the real Martinez? Hopefully, the May 4 version shows up tonight.
Today's game is on ESPN.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Cardinals site Viva el Birdos. If you do go there to interact with Cardinals fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.
The 2015 Game Thread procedure has changed a bit. Here's how it will work going forward.
You'll find the game preview posted separately on the front page, two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).
At the same time, a StoryStream™ containing the preview will also post on the front page. The First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads will be published in that stream, as well as the recap. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post, and at the time I write the recap I will rename the stream "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
You will also be able to find the preview, First Pitch Thread, all the overflow threads and recap 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 the game's StoryStream™ as noted above.
The First Pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at one hour, two hours and 2:45 after the scheduled game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.