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A bigger series awaits the Cubs beginning Monday when the Cardinals come to town, but there is business to be taken care of first, by winning this series against the Marlins.
Jorge Soler is expected to rejoin the Cubs today after missing 30 games. Hopefully, some of the offense that's been missing will return along with Soler. At the time I wrote this preview, the 25-man roster move had not been announced, but I would expect it'll be Matt Szczur optioned to Iowa.
Cubs/Marlins note: the Cubs are 88-89 all-time vs. the Marlins through Saturday, so they can even up the all-time series with a win this afternoon. They're also 46-46 against Miami at Wrigley Field, so a win would put them one game over .500 against the Fish at home. (Those numbers do not include the 2003 NLCS.)
The late night at the ballpark and the holiday weekend are taking their toll on early lineup release. Neither team had posted a lineup for today's game at the time I wrote this post. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for today's lineups.
Here are the rest of today's particulars.
Today's Starting Pitchers |
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Kyle Hendricks pitched decently enough June 2 in Miami, with seven strikeouts in six innings, but he allowed four runs and the Cubs lost the game. Hendricks had a shaky stretch in the middle of June but was excellent in his last outing, last Tuesday against the Mets, where he allowed just three hits in six shutout innings. Another one just like that, please.
The Cubs are familiar with Mat Latos from his time with the Reds, but he is having the worst year of his career, with a 5.27 ERA and seven home runs allowed in 68⅓ innings (he allowed just 14 homers in 210⅓ innings in 2013, his last full season). He improved a bit in June with a 3.86 ERA in four starts. Current Cubs are 24-for-105 (.229) against Latos with two home runs (Dexter Fowler and Jorge Soler).
Today's game is on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
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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.