We’re taking back the High Life

The Cubs have 57 games remaining in the regular season.  Ten of those are against 2nd-place Milwaukee, and four of those start today at Miller Park.  This is without question the most important series thus far for the Cubs.

Here’s a look at the matchups:

• Mon. July 28, Lilly (4.49 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) vs. Sabathia (3.30, 1.15)
• Tues. July 29, Zambrano (2.96, 1.24) vs. Sheets (2.87, 1.13)
• Wed. July 30, Dempster (2.99, 1.17) vs. Parra (3.72, 1.48)
• Thu. July 31, Harden (2.10, 1.10) vs. Bush (4.51, 1.18)

And here are the teams’ stat lines this season:

    G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB   SO    BA    OBP   SLG  SB  CS  GDP
CHC 105 3660  549 1016 213 13 120  520 413  779  .278  .355  .441  55  25  83
MIL 105 3595  494  919 218 20 137  476 342  766  .256  .326  .442  73  25  59

    G    ERA   W   L  SV  GS  GF   IP    H    R   ER   HR  BB   SO   HBP
CHC 105  3.86  61  44 31 105 104 946.3  877  439  406 111  358  798  44
MIL 105  4.03  60  45 36 105  99 939.0  923  464  420 114  354  713  27

Monday on CSN, Tuesday and Thursday on WGN, and Wednesday is the ESPN game.

Fish fry

Home again home again, jiggety-jig.  –Mother Goose

Indeed.  It’s four against the Marlins (Actual W-L: 53-47, Pythagorean W-L: 48-52) at Wrigley, starting tomorrow.  7:05, 1:20, 12:05, and 1:20 Central are the respective start times.  This is our first encounter with the Fish this year.  What’s good for the Goose is good for a gander at some match-ups:

• Thu. July 24th, Zambrano (2.98 ERA, 1.26 WHIP) vs. Olsen (3.84, 1.29)
• Fri. July 25th, Dempster (3.05, 1.16) vs. Johnson (3.86, 1.37, 11 2/3 IP)
• Sat. July 26th, Harden (2.12, 1.11) vs. Volstad (2.16, 1.14, 16 2/3 IP)
• Sun. July 27th, Marquis (4.44, 1.41) vs. VandenHurk (6.10, 1.94, 10 1/3 IP)

Speaking of Henricus “Rick” VandenHurk, he’s the only current major leaguer from the Netherlands (Eindhoven to be precise) and one of only seven Nederlanders ever in MLB.  Notable among those, possible future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, who hails from Zeist.  VandenHurk is also quite high on the list of “most capital letters in a MLB player’s last name.”  But I digress.

Statistical summation:

    G   AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   BA    OBP   SLG   SB
CHC 100 3482  520  968 201 13 111  491 393  736  .278  .355  .439  53
FLA 100 3432  480  870 174 16 141  463 310  838  .253  .320  .437  49

    G    ERA   W   L  SV  GS  GF   IP     H    R   ER   HR  BB   SO
CHC 100  3.87  58  42 29 100  99  898.3  836  418  386 102  337  739
FLA 100  4.58  53  47 20 100 100  895.3  895  505  456 107  393  678

The Cubs really should take 3 or 4 here.  After this series, we head to Milwaukee (one game back) for four games, in what will definitely be the most significant series thus far.  After that, it’s home for nine against other Central foes, including the Cards (three games back).

The Cubs have 61 (regular season) games remaining: 10 against the Brewers and 9 against the Cardinals, 32 home games and 29 away games, and the rest of our opponents have a collective .509 winning percentage.

That battle for second

Tonight’s ESPN game is the Brewers vs. the Cardinals, at 6pm CT.  As much as it pains me, I think I’ll “root” for the Cardinals, as the Brewers will almost definitely be the bigger threat down the road.  It really is a shame that they can’t both lose.  But, a good game for some armchair advance scouting.  Brew Crew is 55-43, 3 games back, and the Birds are 57-43, 2 games back.  Enjoy (?).

Snakes on a field

Likely matchups for the three game set in Arizona (48-49, somehow leading the NL West):

• July 21st, Harden (2.19 ERA, 1.17 WHIP) vs. Johnson (5.23, 1.41)
• July 22nd, Marquis (4.44, 1.43) vs. Owings (5.02, 1.31) Petit (3.06, 0.74)
• July 23rd, Lilly (4.49, 1.33) vs. Davis (4.14, 1.53)

And statistical comparison:

      G   AB    R    H  2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO    BA    OBP   SLG  SB
CHC  97 3383  509  946 194 12 109  480 385  715  .280  .357  .441  53
ARI  97 3262  430  815 183 27  92  408 338  745  .250  .324  .407  31

     G    ERA   W   L   SV  GS  GF   IP     H    R   ER   HR  BB   SO
CHC  97   3.89  57  40  29  97  96  873.3  818  407  377  99  328  718
ARI  97   3.93  48  49  22  97  94  864.0  816  426  377  90  280  733

Meet George Jetson

Baseball is back in full swing tomorrow, and the Cubs (57-38) head to juicy Minute Maid Park (née Enron Field) to take on the Astros (44-51) for 3.  For your convenience, here are the teams’ stats through the first half.

    G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   BA    OBP   SLG  SB
CHC 95 3317  507  933 191 12 107  478 384  701  .281  .360  .443 53
HOU 95 3257  414  847 178 10  96  396 280  586  .260  .321  .409 84

    G   ERA   W   L  SV  GS  GF IP     H    R    ER   HR   BB   SO
CHC 95  3.89  57  38 29  95  94 857.3  804  401  371  98  320  707
HOU 95  4.53  44  51 26  95  95 840.0  888  458  423 131  314  611

Well it seems like the Cubs are just… better.  Here are the likely matchups:

• July 18th, Lilly (4.68 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) vs. Moehler (4.28, 1.39)
• July 19th, Zambrano (2.84, 1.23) vs. W. Rodriguez (3.48, 1.28)
• July 20th, Dempster (3.25, 1.18) vs. Backe (4.76, 1.56)

Hopefully Theodore Roosevelt Lilly can show us something on 8 days of rest, like some sweet curveballs.

Unfortunately, we won’t see Soriano back in this series as was once thought.  He should be back before the end of July.