Dusty Says

Game Preview for August the Third
Chicago Cubs (54-52) at Philadelphia Philles (55-52)

Broadcast:
Comcast

Lineups:

Pitchers

The Cubs will send JeroWilliams to the mound. The pitcher, a righty, is coming off the best start he’s had so far with the Cubs. He, though, is owned by the Phillies in his career; he’s 0-2 with a 9.82 in 7.1 innings of work against them.

Phillies rookie R. Tejeda will open for them. He’s a five inning pitcher who walks a lot of batters, so his pitch count should reach the high nineties by the sixth inning. He throws a sub par slider and a great fastball. This is his debut against the Cubs.

Game notes and streaks

C Michael Barrett was 21/68 for the last month, good for a .309 average; he walked 14 times and just struck out ten times. // Tejeda has allowed two earned runs or less in seven of his eight starts.

Game Preview for July the Twenty Second
Chicago Cubs (48-47) at St. Louis Cardinals (61-34)

Broadcast:
WGN; national television.

Lineups:

Pitchers

Carlos Zambrano will try to guide the Cubs to another win streak, as they have lost two in row. Zambrano, 7-4, has pitched 65.0 innings against St. Louis going 2-4 with a 3.18 ERA. He picked up the win in the game known as “John Mabry almost tied it up against LaTroy”, earlier this year.

Chris Carpenter is arguably the best pitcher in the NL right now. Though, he hasn’t been as efficient as his 2005 numbers have been against the Cubs in his career, where he’s went 5-1 with a 3.35 ERA. Okay, he’s been successful against us, too.

Game notes and streaks

Aramis Ramirez is most definitely going to be the NL’s player of the week, as he’s went 13/28 with a .448 average and six homeruns in his last seven games. // Cardinals placed Scott Rolen in the disabled list earlier today.

Game Preview for July the Twentieth
Chicago Cubs (48-45) at Cincinatti Reds (38-55)

Broadcast:
WGN; national television.

Lineups:

Pitchers

The Chicago Cubs will send righty Kerry Wood to the mound on Wednesday. Wood, 3-2, is trying to earn his second straight win and to extend the Cubs’ winning streak to four games. Wood is 12-3 with a 2.97 ERA and 161 strikeouts in 19 career starts against the Reds.

Reds will counterpart with the best pitcher in their rotation, Aaron Harang. He’s 5-8 with a sub four ERA, 3.95. He’s 1-0 in 23.o innings pitched against the Cubs. His main combination is the blazing fastball with a good change. He doesn’t walk a lot of batters, just 35 in over 100 innings.

Game notes and streaks

C Jason LaRue is batting .080 (2-for-25) with 11 strikeouts in his career against Wood. // OF Wily Mo Pena is batting .143 (5-for-35) with 11 strikeouts over his last 10 games.

Game Preview for July the Nineteenth
Chicago Cubs (47-45) at Cincinatti Reds (38-54)

Broadcast:
WGN; national television.

Lineups:

Pitchers

The Cubs will send Mark Prior to try to get his second strong outing in a row, the fifth overall since rejoining the team; he allowed two hits on eight innings, with ten strikeouts and three walks to defeat the Pirates 5-1 in his last start. He’s trying to earn his seventh win.

Luke Hudson, a righty, will face Chicago. Hudson’s had a rough shakeup in his last four starts, in which he has been 0-4 with an above 10 ERA, 10.61. He’ll look to regain his confidence against this team, reportedly after a couple of extra training in order to get his control back. He’s walked seven more batters than he has struck out.

Game notes and streaks

The Reds and Cubs hit six homeruns combined yesterday, the most in a Cub game this season. Five of them were by Cubs hitters. Rich Aurilia hit the lone Reds homerun.

Game Preview for July the Seventeenth
Pittsburgh Pirates (40-50) at Chicago Cubs (45-45)

Broadcast:
WGN; national television.

Lineups:

Pitchers

The Cubs will face Kip Wells, a struggling but good pitcher. Kip has been not really great in his last six starts, losing in five of them. He’s 4-9 overall with a sub five ERA, 4.46; though, in twelve starts in his career against the Cubs, he’s 3-1 with a 3.60 ERA.

Carlos Zambrano will open for the Cubs; he’s rebounding from a start in which he picked up a win, but offered a completely wild performance, in which he walked six batters but struck out seven batters. He’s just 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA in his last three starts.

Game notes and streaks

Michael Barrett, C, rejoins the lineup of the Cubs today after missing some games with a sore hip. // Jose Mesa, P, has 22 saves in 25 opp, two of those blows saves against the Cubs.

Game Preview for July the Sixteenth
Pittsburgh Pirates (39-50) at Chicago Cubs (45-44)

Broadcast:
WGN; national television.

Lineups:

Pitchers

Today, the Cubs are going to face one of the hottest pitchers of late in the MLB. Zach Duke, 22, has been completely lights out this season, earning a promotion from AAA right to the Pirates’s rotation; his line, so far, reads: 14 innings, 11 hits, three runs, 17 strikeouts, two walks. So, the Cubs won’t have to exercise patient hitting today, as this lefty doesn’t walk anyone.

The Cubs send righty Greg Maddux to the mound. He’s coming off the best start in the year for him, going eight innings of shutout frames against the Marlins last week. He’s been inconsistent this season, but this is the time in which he gets warm and finds his spots.

Game notes and streaks

Duke was three years old when Maddux made his major league debut with the Cubs in 1986. // Neifi! is batting .500 in his last sixteen atbats, and today’s another daygame (MOR!) // Aramis Ramirez has hit twenty homeruns in all of his MLB seasons, so far.