Chicago Cubs vs. Philadelphia Phillies preview, Friday 5/19, 6:05 CT

Today’s roster moves: Here

Friday notes...

• KEEPING THE STREAK ALIVE: The Cubs swept the season series from the Phillies in 2022, including a three-game sweep at Wrigley Field in September that nearly kept the Phils out of the postseason. The Phillies scored more than two runs in just one of the six games and overall the Cubs outscored them 33-10.
• STOP THE LOSING!: The Cubs’ current losing streak is their ninth of at least five games in the last three seasons: One each of nine through 12 in a row, one of 7 straight and four of five straight. Eight of the nine streaks have come since the Big Sell-Off in late July 2021. They have had only four winning streaks of at least five games in that time frame: Seven twice, six once and five once. The most recent, seven games, was Sept. 25-Oct. 2 of last year. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• SEIYA SOON: Seiya Suzuki, last seven games since May 10: .400/.484/1.000 (10-for-25, 1.484 OPS), three doubles, four home runs, five walks.
• HE’S HOT: Adbert Alzolay, last five outings since May 6: eight innings, four hits, one walk (0.625 WHIP), no runs (0.00 ERA), .167 opponents BA. (Why is this man not the Cubs’ closer?)

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Phillies lineup:

Marcus Stroman, RHP vs. Ranger Suarez, LHP

Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports

Marcus Stroman had his worst start of the year last time out vs. the Twins, not making it out of the third inning.

So we’re going to forget about that and hope Marcus has. Instead, I want to tell you about the seven-inning, four-hit, one-run outing he had vs. the Phillies September 27, 2022 at Wrigley Field, against most of these same guys. Here’s hoping for another one just like that.

Ranger Suarez spent most of the beginning of this year on the injured list with an elbow strain. He returned last Saturday against the Rockies and didn’t do too well: seven hits, three runs in four innings, 72 pitches, 44 strikes.

He could still be on a pitch limit here. The pitch selection chart for him below is from last year.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network. Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee.

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

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 2023 Game Thread procedure will be like last year’s, similar to what we’ve used for Spring Training.

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, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game, including the first pitch thread and the overflow thread, as well as the recap when it’s published. The recap will also live on the front page as a separate post.

You will also be able to find the preview, first pitch thread and the overflow thread in the box marked “Chicago Cubs Game Threads” at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

The first pitch thread will post at five minutes before game time, then an overflow thread at 90 minutes after the scheduled game time.

Discuss amongst yourselves.