Preview for the Game on April 5th

Preview for the Game on April 5^th

Chicago Cubs (2-1) at Atlanta Braves (2-1)

The Chicago Cubs will be heading to Atlanta for a three game series against the Braves at Turner Field. The game will be at 7:30pm eastern time. Tomorrow’s game will be first time that we get to see the right-handed pitcher Scott Feldman as a Cubbie. Feldman face the difficult task of stopping a red hot Braves lineup. The Braves hitters had a total of six homers in their series against the Phillies, despite the great pitching of the Phillies pitching staff. I believe the ex-Texas Ranger will compete against the Braves if he can keep his sinker, his best pitch, down in the strike zone. Feldman also has some solid other pitches to go with his sinker, he has a cutter that he will use against left-handed hitters, a slider that is his best breaking pitch, a curveball that can be effective when he commands it well and a changeup.

The pitcher that will face Scott Feldman is the left-handed pitcher Mike Minor. Minor is coming off a solid year and in which he got better as the season went along. Minor is a fly ball pitcher and mostly uses three pitches, a low to mid 90s fastball, a slider that he throws often and a 12-6 curve that is his strikeout pitch. There are times that he throws a changeup, but he hasn’t mastered that pitch yet.

The Cubs lineup will need to hit tomorrow if they want to come up with a win because the Braves will certainly being hitting tomorrow, especially since they got shut out today by the Phillies. Scott Hairston, Welington Castillo and Alberto Gonzalez should be back in the lineup since there will be a LHP on the mound. The Cubbies should fare well against Mike Minor because he is mostly a fastball pitcher and if the Cubs have patience at the plate and wait for the fastball then they can take advantage of it. The Cubs hitters need to jump on Mike Minor as early as they can because the Atlanta Braves have one of the best bullpens in the league, especially their closer Craig Kimbel, who is arguably the best closer in the majors.

My prediction for the game is that the Cubs coming out with a surprising a victory with a score of 5 to 3. I strongly believe the Cubbies hitters will have a great game against Minor and hit him hard. My predicted player of the game is Starlin Castro. I think Castro can wait on Minor’s pitches and will be able to use that to his benefit. I predict that Soriano will do well in tomorrow’s game because he hasn’t done much of anything yet. I have a feeling he will hit a homer tomorrow because he was robbed from a homer in today’s game because of the dimensions at PNC Park. I have a feeling that Feldman is going to do well enough against the Upton brothers and Jayson Heyward to pull out the win. Also, if the Cubs need a save tomorrow I see them going with Kyuji Fujikawa instead of Carlos Marmol because of Marmol’s struggles and pitch total in the last game.