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Cubs vs. Rockies

Rich Hill vs. Franklin Morales

SB Nation is doing maintenence, so I don't have the BCB preview, so...

By, well me...

Tonight the Cubs can make history. With a win tonight, the Cubs will not only continue their winning streak and at least maintain their lead in the central, but a win will mark the 10,000 in the franchise history. (A feat only accomplished by the Giants)

And on to tonight's game. The Cubs have been pounding the ball, average more than 8 runs a game on the last homestad, against some good starting pitchers. I wouldn't go that far when commenting on Franklin Morales. The 22-year-old Rockies's southpaw has struggled in his last two starts, giving up 11 runs in 9 IP against the Diamondbacks and Astros. His K-BB rate is 5-11 and GB-FB is 20-22. Those aren't good numbers when you're throwing in Coors. And although sofar this season, he has one good start against the Diamondbacks at home, last season in limited starts he had a 6+ ERA there. He has never faced the Cubs, or any of their pitchers.

The other lefty in this matchup is Cubs' starter Rich Hill. Hill comes in with a 1-0 record and 3.86 ERA, although he has struggled with his command early this season walking 11 in 14 IP. But Hill is coming off his best start of the season, a win where he went 5 innings, giving up only 1. Hill has never faired well against in Coors. In his two starts there, only career apperances against the Rockies, he has gone 0-2 with a 11.32 ERA, and a ton of other horrible stats that I won't get into.

Lineups

Cubs:

1. Reed Johnson
2. Ryan Theriot
3. Derrek Lee
4. Aramis Ramirez
5. Kosuke Fukudome
6. Mark DeRosa (Lf)
7. Geovany Soto
8. Ronny Cedeno (2b)
9. Rich Hill

Rockies

1. Ryan Spillborghs 
2. Clint Barmes
3. Todd Helton
4. Matt Holliday
5. Garret Atkins
6. Brad Hawpe
7. Troy Tulowiski
8. Yorive Torrialba
9. Franklin Morales

Should be a good night for offense

...that Ronny Cedeno has 1 more RBI, the same amount of HR, and is batting 95 points higher than Prince Fielder

ONEDEC!

Cubs vs. Mets

Carlos Zambrano vs John Maine

From BCB...

The best thing about Z's line so far this year is -- three walks in 26.2 IP. He's got much better control and command this year; he seems a man on a mission. That's exactly what we need him to be. The three best Mets hitters -- Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and David Wright -- are a combined 5-for-34 against Z with one HR (by Beltran).

The Cubs beat John Maine twice last year and in those games, scored nine runs off Maine in 7.2 IP. He has never beaten the Cubs in four career appearances (three starts). And those 12 walks in 16.2 IP this season is encouraging, because the newly-patient Cubs have drawn a ton of walks in the last week. The only Cub Maine has had a lot of success against is Alfonso Soriano -- good thing he won't face Maine tonight.

Here's the deal for TV tonight, as I understand it. The game is on WCIU in Chicago, a station you can see if you have signed up for the secret decoder ring. It's also on ESPN. According to a promo they ran on ESPN a couple of days ago, this game will not be blacked out anywhere, including in the Chicago and New York markets. Now, if this doesn't go down this way -- don't blame me, blame Bud Selig or ESPN or someone else. It should be available at the MLB.com Mediacenter.

Lineups:

Cubs

johnson cf
theriot ss
lee 1b
ramirez 3b
fukudome rf
derosa lf
soto c
fontenot 2b
zambrano p

Mets

Reyes ss
Castiilo 2b
Wright 3b
Beltran cf
Delgado 1b
Church rf
Casanova c
Chavez lf
Maine p

12-6 .5 up in division.

The week that was: And what a week it was. Cubs go 5-1 at home against the Reds and Pirates. (BTW we own the Pirates). Cubs beat Aaron Harang, Ian Snell and Tom Gorzelanny, all good pitchers. Cubs scored 9 or more runs in four of the wins. All five wins were granted to starting pitchers, and the lone loss was too. Dempster took in two of the those wins.

My prediction from last week: I said they'd go 4-2, they went 5-1. I did predict the one loss though.

The Hitting: In the last 7 days the Cubs have 5 hitters hitting .400 or better (Lee, DeRosa, Theriot, Johnson and Soto) Lee and DeRosa had multiple HRs, and Lee collected 10 RBIs. Overall the hitting was as good as ever.

The Pitching: Aside from Ted Lilly, the starting pitchers all gave the team the chance to win, and that's all you can ask for from them. Wuertz and Lieber struggled out of the pen, but I have faith that they will each bounce back. I couldn't ask much more out of my pitching staff.

Now you may counter with, "Hey the Cubs beat bad teams". And yes the Pirates are painfully awful, and the Reds aren't that much better. But hey at least we didn't lose 2 out of 3 to the Giants.

What to expect this week: 7 games, 5 on the road. A pair of two games sets to boot. The only two halfway decent pitchers the Cubs will face are John Maine and Aaron Cook. The Cubs will counter them with Zambrano and Marquis respectively.

My prediction: Cubs will take both games from the Mets, including a win for Ted Lilly. Then take 1 out of 2 from the Rockies, losing the Marquis vs. Cook matchup. Then in the Nationals series, the Cubs take 2 out of three, losing the first game. Kerry Wood gets 3 SVs on the week.