Chicago Cubs vs. Los Angeles Angels preview, Tuesday 6/6, 8:38 CT

Tuesday notes...

• GET THOSE BATS GOING, PLEASE: The Cubs had just four hits Monday night. It was the fifth time in their last 10 games that they had five or fewer. They had made no more than five just six times in their first 49 games. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• STARTING PITCHING: Cubs starters in their last seven games since May 29 have posted a 2.36 ERA (nine earned runs in 34⅓ innings) and allowed 27 hits (.189 opponents BA) with 10 walks and 29 strikeouts, contributing to a 1.078 WHIP.
• LOTS OF GUYS ON BASE: The Cubs’ .328 on-base percentage ranks fifth in the National League, and their 223 walks rank third in the N.L.
• BUT: The North Siders are tied for the second-most left on base in the majors with 436, trailing only the Blue Jays (455).
• A HINT OF HEAT: Ian Happ has reached base in five of eight PA over the last two games (two hits, three walks).

Here are today’s particulars.

Cubs lineup:

Angels lineup:

Also of interest for tonight:

Hayden Wesneski, RHP vs. Tyler Anderson, LHP

Hayden Wesneski has made nine appearances (eight starts) for the Cubs this year. Of those, seven of them can be characterized as “decent to excellent.” In the other two, yikes: 6⅓ innings, 13 hits, 12 earned runs, five walks, 2.842 WHIP, 17.05 ERA, five home runs.

So in the seven better outings: 2.70 ERA, 1.009 WHIP in 36⅔ innings, four home runs.

The talent is there, we saw it last September and in flashes so far this year. He just needs more consistency.

He’s obviously never faced the Angels or anyone on their active roster.

Tyler Anderson parlayed a very good 2022 season with the Dodgers (4.3 bWAR, made the N.L. All-Star team) into a three-year, $39 million deal with the Angels.

Whoops. Something must happen when traveling down the freeway from L.A. to Anaheim, because Anderson’s been pretty bad for the Angels so far this year. The White Sox hit him hard in his last start, May 30 on the South Side, one of four starts this year (out of 10) where he’s allowed at least five runs.

Anderson made two starts vs. the Cubs last year and posted a 3.75 ERA, with 11 strikeouts in 12 innings. A fair number of those Cubs aren’t on the team anymore. Nico Hoerner homered off him at Dodger Stadium July 8, 2022.

Statcast

Statcast

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.Here’s a list of providers currently carrying Marquee. It’s also on MLB Network (outside the Cubs and Angels market territories).

Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit the Angels site Crashing The Pearly Gates. If you do go there to interact with Angels 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.