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Thursday night's rainout produced a very rare event in modern baseball: a single-admission doubleheader between the Cubs and Phillies. With the large amounts of money at stake in the game today, postponements are almost always made up as split-admission DH so as not to lose the ticket sales from rainouts. But in this case, that wasn't possible.
It's been quite some time since the Cubs have had one of these. The last single-admission DH the Cubs played was at Wrigley Field against the Diamondbacks on August 3, 2006, forced because the previous night's game was rained out, it was the last date between the teams that year and they had no common off days remaining.
The last single-admission doubleheader the Cubs played on the road was September 20, 2004 against the Marlins in Miami, a twin bill necessitated by Hurricane Frances, which postponed an entire series the Cubs were supposed to have played there from September 3-5. One of those games was made up as part of a doubleheader at Wrigley September 10, the other two squeezed onto that September 20 off day.
It has been even longer since the Cubs and Phillies, who used to be division rivals but haven't been such since 1993, have played a doubleheader. The last DH between the Cubs and Phillies was at Wrigley Field April 18, 2001, and the last DH a Cubs team played in Philadelphia was June 15, 1990.
In any case, since it's been a while, for a single-admission DH the teams will play, take about 30 minutes or so in between games, then play Game 2. I will likely post a recap of Game 1 shortly after it ends, which can serve as a preview of Game 2 as well. See below for special game-thread procedures for this doubleheader.
Here are the rest of today's particulars.
Cubs Game 1 lineup:
Fowler CF, Jackson RF, Bryant LF, Rizzo 1B, Castro 2B, Baez 3B, Ross C, Arrieta P, Russell SS
.@JArrieta34 opens up the doubleheader in Philly. #LetsPlayTwo Game 1 preview: http://t.co/vCpDvPkXuv #LetsGo pic.twitter.com/j4jFvUTLeT
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) September 11, 2015
This is the same lineup that was announced for last night's rainout.
Phillies Game 1 lineup:
Hernandez 2B, Galvis SS, Herrera CF, Francoeur LF, Howard 1B, Altherr RF, Asche 3B, Ruiz C, Morgan P
The Phillies are also going with the lineup they posted for last night's game.
Game 1 Starting Pitchers |
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Yes, you read these previews yesterday. Since the pitching matchup for Game 1 remains the same as Thursday's scheduled matchup, you get to read them again!
Jake Arrieta is awesome. You can surely find the numbers elsewhere, but this is the most dominating Cubs pitching season since Mark Prior's in 2003. Before that, Greg Maddux in 1992. Before that... well, you might have to go back to the deadball era. Even Fergie Jenkins' great years weren't dominant in the way Arrieta is dominating.
Jake was the losing pitcher in Cole Hamels' no-hitter, which must have made him so angry he thought, "I'll just throw one of these myself."
Adam Morgan was the Phillies' third-round pick in 2011 and has made 13 starts in the big leagues this year, some good, some not, including his last one where he was lit up by the Red Sox for eight hits and six runs in 6⅓ innings. He has never faced the Cubs or anyone on the current Cubs roster, so I hope they have good scouting reports on him. He had shoulder surgery that caused him to miss much of the 2014 season. Here's a further scouting report for you from BCB reader Brian Smith, who saw Morgan pitch quite a bit for the University of Alabama from 2009-11:
He's not a power pitcher that will overpower you with high velocity. He is mainly a control-type pitcher and has a fastball that sits in the high 80's / low 90's. He throws an occasional curveball and still throws his slider a good bit of the time. He has developed a pretty solid change-up that will fool you pretty good. His development as a pitcher has been a little slow since the surgery, but once he is all the way back, I'd see him as a middle or back of the rotation type of pitcher.
Game 2 Starting Pitchers |
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Kyle Hendricks has just got to be better. Since the All-Star break he has a 5.48 ERA and 1.510 WHIP. He used to be better throwing strikes, but he's walked 21 in 47⅔ innings since the break. He has never faced the Phillies or anyone on their roster. Maybe that'll help.
Alec Asher was one of six players the Phillies got in the Cole Hamels deal. He's made two major-league starts and was hit hard in both of them, so he comes in with a 10.61 ERA and 2.036 WHIP. The Cubs should be able to take advantage of this. Obviously, he has never faced the Cubs or anyone on their roster.
Both of today's games are on CSN Chicago.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview for Game 1
Baseball-reference.com game preview for Game 2
SB Nation game preview for Game 1
SB Nation game preview for Game 2
Please visit our SB Nation Phillies site The Good Phight. If you do go there to interact with Phillies 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. Note special game thread procedures below for today's doubleheader!
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 for Game 1 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. For Game 2, I'll take careful note of when Game 1 ends and schedule the Game 2 threads for appropriate times and let you know in the threads somewhere. Most likely, I will write up a recap of Game 1 before Game 2 begins.
Discuss amongst yourselves.