Preview for the May 11th Game

Preview for the May 11^th Game

Chicago Cubs (13-22) at Washington Nationals (20-15)

The Chicago Cubs will be looking to even up their series against the Nationals by winning today’s game. The game will be played at Nationals Park and will start at 4:05pm eastern time. The probable starter for the Cubbies will be the former Nats pitcher Edwin Jackson. Jackson is sporting a record of 0-5 with an era of 6.39 and a whip 1.63. Edwin Jackson will be looking to beat his former team in which he pitched solidly for last year by going 10-11 with an era just over four and seventeen quality starts. Jackson is going to need to pitch well in today’s game because he is in jeopardy of losing his spot in the rotation when Matt Garza returns from the DL because Jackson has been the least effective Cubs starter so far this early season. Another reason why Edwin Jackson is going to need to pitch well in this game is that if the Cubs plan on getting a win in today’s game they need Jackson to pitch extremely well so that the Cubs can keep the game close because the Nationals starting pitcher can be dominate at times.

The Nats will be sending their ace Stephen Strasburg to the mound for today’s game. Strasburg is a young hard throwing pitcher who has a record of 1-4 with an era of 3.45 and a whip 1.15. The pitches in Strasburg repertoire are a four seam fastball that sits in the mid-90s, a two seam fastball that also sits in the mid-90s with great movement, a curve ball that has a deadly drop to it and a changeup that batters are struggling mightily against this year.

The Cubs hitters will be facing an extremely tough pitcher and need to bring their A game if they want to have success today. The Cubs will also need to provide good run support for Edwin Jackson because the Nats lineup has been on a tear lately. Starlin Castro suits up well against Strasburg because he is a fastball pitcher and Castro hits fastballs better than breaking ball pitchers, however Castro might need to limit his leg kick when he is batting to keep up with Stephen Strasburg’s fastball.

My prediction for the game is the Cubbies will not be able to prevent the Nationals from winning this game and taking the advantage in this series. The Nats will win with a score of 5 to 1. I just believe that the Cubs won’t be able to score against Strasburg and won't be able to prevent the Nationals from scoring. My predicted player of the game is Stephen Strasburg because I see him going seven scoreless innings against the Cubbies and will have double digit punch outs.

Preview for the May 8th Game

Preview for the May 8^th Game

St. Louis Cardinals (20-12) at Chicago Cubs (13-20)

The Chicago Cubs will be looking to sweep the Cards in their two game series against them. The game is at 2:20pm eastern time at the friendly confines. The probable starting pitcher for the Cubbies will be tough and tricky right-handed pitcher Carlos Villanueva. Villanueva is looking to go 2-2 on this season by getting a win against the Cards and improve on his an era of 2.85 and an amazing whip of just 0.93. If Carlos Villanueva wants to have a successful game against the Cardinals he is going to need to change his pitches types well and change the location of his pitches to keep the Cardinals hitters straight footed.

The probable starter for the Cards is the sinker ball thrower Jake Westbrook. The veteran right-handed pitcher is 2-1 on the year with an excellent era of 1.07 and a terrible whip of 1.40 which is misleading because with that bad of a whip you would expect Westbrook’s era to be higher and suggests that he has been a little lucky so far this season. The pitches that Westbrook relies on are a sinker ball which is his best pitch and most used pitch, a two seam fastball that has solid movement to it, a curve ball that he will use to strike batters out, a changeup that is mostly straight and a cutter that is effective against tough left-handed batters.

The Cubs hitters will be looking to evaluate the ball in the game today because Westbrook is a sinker ball pitcher and wants to the ball to be hit on the ground. If the Cubbies want to pull out the sweep they are going to need to run up Westbrook’s pitch count and get to the Cards bullpen, which has been one of the worst bullpens this year so far. The Cubs batters will be hoping the wind is blowing out today in Wrigley so that they can take advantage Westbrook and his sinker ball.

My prediction for today’s game is that the Cubs lose in a heartbreak with a score of 6 to 3. The Cubs got lucky yesterday because you can’t expect to beat the Cards by only scoring two runs in a game therefore they need to manufacture runs when they get the chances. I just believe the Carlos Villanueva has two consecutive bad starts and is out pitched by Westbrook. My predicted player of the game is Allen Craig, he went yard in last night’s game and I predict that he will hit another homer in this series with the Cubs because Villanueva tends  to give up the long ball too much in games.

May 1st Game’s Results and Analysis

May 1^st Game’s Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 6 – San Diego Padres 2

Winning Pitcher: Feldman (2-3) Losing Pitcher: Cashner (1-2)

Player of the Game: Scott Feldman

April 30th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 30^th Game’s Results and Analysis

San Diego Padres 13 – Chicago Cubs 7

Winning Pitcher: Volquez (2-3) Losing Pitcher: Jackson (0-4)

Player of the Game: Carlos Quentin

April 29th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 29^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 5 – San Diego Padres 3

Winning Pitcher: Bowden (1-1) Losing Pitcher: Richard (0-3)

Save by Gregg (4)

Player of the Game: Cody Ransom

The Chicago Cubs rebounded from their loss to the Marlins by taking their first game against the Padres in their four game series against them. The Chicago Cubs brought their bats to the game and scored enough runs to lead the Cubbies to a 5 to 3 victory over the Padres. The Cubs got great performances from their 7^th and 8^th hitters in the game and solid performances from other hitters in their lineup. Darwin Barney provided the Cubs with not only a great glove in the field, but also provided them with some pop in his bat by going 2 for 3 with a walk, two RBIs and two doubles. However, Barney was outshined by his teammate Cody Ransom who hit back to back homers with Scott Hairston in the second inning and in addition to his homer he went 2 for 4 in the game with two runs scored and had two RBIs which earned him the player of the game.

Impressive: The most impressive thing in today’s game was the Cubs’ bats. The Cubs hitters had five extra base hits in the game and toiled a total of ten hits in the game, seven of which came off the left-handed former Michigan football player, Clayton Richard. The Cubs hitters showed that they can hit off left-handed pitchers in their game and that they can win games for the Cubbies. Another impressive thing about this game was Kevin Gregg, who went 1.1 innings with two strikeouts and allowed no base runners on base. I believe the Cubs have found someone reliable enough to become their closer.

Surprising: The thing that caught my attention was Jeff Samardzija’s performance. Samardzija only went five innings where he threw 101 pitches, basically he was just a little too wild which can account for his four walks in the game. He allowed three earned runs, but those runs could have been avoidable if he just had a little better command on his pitches. Don’t get me wrong I believe that Samardzija is the best pitcher that the Cubs have and has elite stuff, but he needs to find the strike zone more and learn to not overthrow his pitches. I strongly believe Samardzija has enough talent to receive a Cy Young award in his career, but he needs to understand that he doesn’t need to pitch every pitch perfectly, he just needs to limit the walks.

Concerning: What I found concerning in today’s game was how Shawn Camp pitched. Camp only recorded one out, however he gave up two hits and one walk in the seventh inning and has had a difficult time getting outs so far this early season. Shawn Camp has been getting rocked out of the bullpen and needs to find a way to provide the Cubs the outs they need. Another concern of mine, which has been a concern of mine for a long time, is how poorly the Cubs hit when they have runners in scoring position. I know that I am beating this like a dead horse, but the Cubs hitters need to step up when they are given the chances.

April 28th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 28^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Miami Marlins 6 - Chicago Cubs 4

Winning Pitcher: Nolasco (2-2) Losing Pitcher: Villanueva (1-1)

Save by Cishnek (3)

Player of the Game: Giancarlo Stanton

The Chicago Cubs couldn’t pull out the sweep against the Miami Marlins because of their loss on Sunday. The Cubbies couldn’t manufacture enough runs off the Marlins and their ace Ricky Nolasco in order to get the win. Nolasco had a great outing against the Cubs by going seven strong innings, just allowing three earned runs on 4 hits and two walks. Even though Nolasco put together a quality start against the Cubs he isn’t the player of the game because he was outshined by his teammate Giancarlo Stanton. Stanton went 3 for 3 with a walk, 3 runs scored, 4 RBIs and two homeruns in the game, which easily makes him the player of the game.

Impressive: I was impressed by a few hitters for the Cubbies. One of them was Starlin Castro who went 2 for 4 in the game with two RBIs and double, however he did strikeout once in the game. I was also impressed by Anthony Rizzo who went 2 for 3 with a walk, a RBI and a double however he also stuck out once in the game as well. The other Cubs hitter that I was impressed with was Dioner Navarro, who hit a solo shot in the ninth inning off the Marlins closer Steve Cishek. Navarro has been impressive at the plate for the Cubs this year, which is kind of surprising because he isn’t known exactly for his bat. Overall, he was a good addition for the Cubbies this off-season and is an above average backup catcher.

Surprising: I was surprised with Carlos Villanueva struggles in this game. I was expecting Villanueva to just cruise by this one because he has pitched amazingly this year and was going up against one of the weakest lineups in the majors. However, Villanueva collected his first lost in the season by going six innings, allowing four earned runs on four hits and three walks. The three walks is what I find most shocking because he has shown great command in his first few starts as a Cub and these walks could have been prevented. Although, Villanueva did strikeout eight Marlins and kept the game in reach for the Cubs.

Concerning: The Cubs just couldn’t score enough runs to pull out a win and that has happened too much in this season so far. The Cubs batters really need to step up when they have runners in scoring position. Even though the Cubbies took their four game series against the Marlins, they could have done better at the plate. The Cubbies are getting great outings from their pitchers and solid performances from the bullpen lately, which means it is time for their hitters to step up and do their part to win games.

April 27th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 27^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 3 – Miami Marlins 2

Winning Pitcher: Wood (2-1) Losing Pitcher: Sanabia (2-3)

Save by Gregg (3)

Player of the Game: Travis Wood

The Chicago Cubs took the series against the Marlins by winning their third straight game against the Fish and will be looking for the sweep in tomorrow’s game. The Cubbies didn’t score a lot of runs, but scored enough for Travis Wood to get his second win on the year. Wood pitched another quality start for the Cubs by going six innings, allowing two earned runs on just three hits and one walk. Travis Wood was the player of the game because he put together another stellar outing on the hill for the Cubs and led them to a solid victory in a low scoring game. The Cubs also got a great performance from centerfielder David DeJesus, who went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a RBI and double.

Impressive: I’m impressed with Travis Wood’s outing in this game and his performances in this early season. Wood looked dominate in the game by just giving up three hits and two of those hits left the yard, which means Wood really only made two mistakes in the game. Travis Wood also had five punch outs in the game, which is his second most in a game so far this year and probably had enough in the tank to pitch one more inning in the game if it hadn’t have been a one run ball game. Wood has been great for the Cubs so far this season, by pitching a quality start every time he goes to the mound and having a low era of 2.25. I believe Wood has shown that he is a reliable starter for the Cubbies and that the Cubs can rely on him in the upcoming years.

Surprising: I’m most surprised with Kevin Gregg and his success in the ninth inning for the Cubs, even though manager Dale Sveum has not yet admitted that Gregg is the closer for the Cubs. Gregg threw a perfect inning in the ninth to collect his third save of the year and got one punch out in the game. I will say I was kind of against the idea of the Cubs adding Kevin Gregg to their bullpen, but so far he has proven me wrong.

Concerning: Once again, there wasn’t a lot that concerned me about the Cubbies except that they didn’t have any timely hits when there were runners in scoring position. The Cubbies went 2 for 8 when they had ducks on the pound and will need to step it up in those scenarios if they want to try to get a .500 record this year.

  

April 26th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 26^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 4 – Miami Marlins 2

Winning Pitcher: Feldman (1-3) Losing Pitcher: LeBlanc (0-4)

Save by Gregg (2)

Player of the Game: Anthony Rizzo

The Chicago Cubs took two games in as many days by defeating the Marlins in a low scoring affair. The Cubbies won this game by getting solid pitching from starter Scott Feldman and by the at-bat of first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Feldman went 6.2 innings, gave up just two earned runs on 7 hits and 2 walks, which gave him his first win as a Cub and his first quality start of the season. Although, Feldman put together his best outing of the year in the game, he was out played by Anthony Rizzo. Rizzo went 3 for 4 with two run homers in the game and was responsible for all the runs the Cubbies scored in the game, therefore he earned player of the game.

Impressive: Anthony Rizzo’s performance was the most impressive thing in the game because he did most of his damage against a left-handed pitcher. Rizzo tends to have a difficult time against lefties, however in this game he hit two monster homers off Wade LeBlanc and showed that he can take both right and left-handed pitchers yard. Not only was Rizzo’s game impressive because of his two homeruns, but he also got another hit in the game and then stole a base. Rizzo has shown early on this season that he can pretty much do it all and is a player that the Cubbies could build around.

Surprising: Scott Feldman’s outing caught me off guard and therefore was the thing that surprised me the most in the game. I knew coming in to the game that this is probably Feldman’s best chance to get a victory because the Marlins don’t have that deep of a lineup, however Feldman pitched better than I thought he would in the game. Feldman only gave up two walks in the game and so far this season that has been his biggest problem on the year, but today it looked like he had better control of his pitches which propelled him to his victory over the Marlins. Feldman did gave up two earned runs, one of the runs coming off a solo homer from Joe Mahoney, but Feldman still pitched an effective game and showed he can be a reliable starter for the Cubbies.

Concerning: There isn’t a lot to be concerned about for the Cubs after this game, but if I had to be a stickler about something, I would be concerned about how poorly they hit with runners in scoring position. The Cubbies went 1 for 7 when they had base runners in scoring positions and that hit was one of Rizzo’s homeruns in the game.

April 25th Game’s Results and Analysis

April 25^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 4 – Miami Marlins 3

Winning Pitcher: Camp (1-1) Losing Pitcher: Cishek (1-2)

Save by Marmol (4)

Player of the Game: Luis Valbuena

The Chicago Cubs took the first game of their four game series against the Miami Marlins. The Cubbies got a quality start from Edwin Jackson, who went six innings allowing 3 earned runs on five hits and 4 walks. Nate Schierholtz put together another solid performance for the Cubbies by going 2 for 4 with a double and a solo homerun in the sixth inning off of Kevin Slowey. Schierholtz’s performance was good enough to be player of the game, but Luis Valbuena earned the player of the game because of his solo shot in the ninth off of Steve Cishek, which was the game winner for the Cubs.

Impressive: What impressed me in this game was how well that Nate Schierholtz performed in the game. Schierholtz had two extra base hits in the game, which helped the Cubbies come out with a victory over the Marlins. Schierholtz has performed well for the Cubs this year so far and I believe he has shown the Cubs organization that he should get every day at bats.

Surprising: I was extremely surprised with Anthony Rizzo’s performance in the game. Rizzo went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts. Initially I thought that Rizzo would suit up well against Slowey and at least get a hit off him, instead Rizzo struck out three times in the game. I was also surprised that the Cubs brought Hector Rondon into the game in the 7^th inning because the game was tied and I thought the Cubbies would only use Rondon when games are out of reach. However, Rondon pitched a perfect inning in the seventh and showed that he can be a reliable pitcher out of the bullpen for the Cubs.

Concerning: What concerns me about the Cubs is that they strikeout too much and tend not draw enough walks to drive up their opposing pitchers pitch counts. The Cubs struck out a total of 9 times in the game and didn’t draw any walks in the game. If the Cubs want to be a successful team this year or in upcoming seasons their hitters are going to need to learn to be more patient at the plate, which would lead to more free passes on the base paths.

Preview for the May 7th Game

Preview for the May 7^th Game

St. Louis Cardinals at Chicago Cubs

The Chicago Cubs will face their familiar division rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, for the first time this season. The game will begin at 8:05pm eastern time and will be played at Wrigley Field. The Cubbies will look to feed on their lopsided win over the Texas Rangers from last night. The Cubs will be sending the reliable left-handed starting pitcher Travis Wood to the mound. Wood has pitched a quality start in every start of his this season which is shown by his low era of just 2.50 and an excellent whip that is below 1.00 and is at 0.91. Travis Wood is coming off a tough lost against the Padres which gave him a record of 2-2, where Wood went 7.2 innings in that game and allowed 3 earned runs on 4 hits and a walk. Travis Wood has been pitching extremely well this year for the Cubbies and will look to build on his performance in this season by pitching lights out against the tough and hard hitting Cardinals.

The probable pitcher for the Cardinals will be the undefeated right handed pitcher Lance Lynn. Lynn is 5-0 on the season and is the first St. Louis Cardinal to ever start off a year 5-0 and has 39 strikeouts with an era of 2.75. Lynn is coming off an impressive win over the Cincinnati Red, where he went 7 innings allowing one earned run on five hits and 2 walks. Lynn is hard throwing pitcher that throws a four seam fastball in the mid-90s, a two seam fastball that has some sink to it, a curveball that can deadly at times, a slider that has some tricky movement to it and a changeup that he rarely pitches.

If the Cubs hitters want to have success off of Lance Lynn then they need to be patient at the plate, work deep counts and draw some walks because the most hits that Lynn has given up this year is just seven. The Cubs will need to rely on shortstop Starlin Castro’s and outfielder Alfonso Soriano’s bats because both hitters have a batting clip over .300 against Lance Lynn. The Cubs batters match up well against Lynn because he is a fastball pitcher and tends to use his fastball to strikeout batters.

My prediction for the game is that the Cubbies will pull out a tough and low scoring game against the Cardinals and will hand Lynn his first loss of season with a score of 3 to 2. I just believe the Cubs suit up well for Lynn and the Cards hitters struggle against Wood in this game. My predicted player of the game is Starlin Castro because I think Castro will just sit on Lynn’s fastball and will take one yard off Lynn. 

Preview for the May 2nd Game

Preview for the May 2^nd Game

San Diego Padres (10-17) at Chicago Cubs (11-16)

The Chicago Cubs will be looking to win their four game series against the San Diego Padres in tomorrow’s game. The game starts at 2:20pm eastern time at the Friendly Confines. If the Cubs can win tomorrow’s game they will win two consecutive four game series and creep closer to a .500 record. The Cubbies will be sending the reliable and crafty left-handed pitcher Travis Wood to the mound in their afternoon game against the Padres. Travis Wood has been arguably the best and most consistent pitcher the Cubbies have this season because he has pitched a quality start, which is when a starting pitcher goes at least six innings and doesn’t allow more than 3 earned runs in the game, in each and every start of his this season. Wood sports a record of 2-1 with an era of 2.25 and an excellent whip of 0.97. Travis Wood is going to need his cutter to be extremely effective in his start tomorrow because the Padres have hard hitting right-handed batters like Chase Headley and Carlos Quentin.

The opposing probable starting pitcher will be the left-handed Eric Stults, who has a 2-2 record with an era of 5.67. So far this season Stults has had some difficulties on the mound because in his last two starts he has gave up 5 earned runs in both outings. Stults has a typical pitching repertoire that consists of a fastball that sits in the high-80s, a changeup that is arguably his best pitch, a slider that can be nasty if he pitches it effectively, a curve ball that has some bite to it and a two seam fastball that he rarely throws.

The Cubbies will be facing another left-handed pitcher in their series with the Padres, let’s hope they can hit off this lefty as well as they did Clayton Richard. I normally say that the Cubs will struggle against a starting LHP, but not this time because I believe the Cubs hitters will have the advantage in this game because Stults tends to give up too many hits to be effective and has some bad track records against certain Cubs hitters. One of those hitters would be the former Giant Nate Schierholtz, who has a homered off Stults and is batting over .500 in nine career at-bats against him. Another Cubbie that has taken Stults out of the park is Alfonso Soriano.

My prediction of the game is that the Cubs will win their series against the Padres and therefore win in tomorrow’s game with a score of 5 to 2. I know that my predictions in the last couple of games have been off, but I couldn’t go against Travis Wood in this game. I predict that Wood will go 6.2 innings with six strikeouts and will allow 2 earned runs, but is not the player of the game. My predict player of the game is Alfonso Soriano because I believe he will not only hit one homer off Eric Stults, but will hit two homeruns off him.

Preview for the May 1st Game

Preview for the May 1^st Game

San Diego Padres (10-16) at Chicago Cubs (10-16)

The Chicago Cubs will be looking to start the month of May the same way that they started the month of April, with a victory. The Cubbies will be looking to make up for their blowout loss to the Padres in yesterday’s game. The Cubs will be sending the sinking ball right-handed pitcher Scott Feldman to the mound in their game today. Feldman is coming off his first win as a Cub and his best outing of the year so far by going 6.2 innings where he allowed just 2 earned runs against the Marlins. Although Feldman pitched well in his last start, he does have a poor record of 1-3 with an era of 3.92 and a whip 1.65. If Feldman wants to have success against the Padres he must limit the amount of free bases, especially to the Padres leadoff man Everth Cabrera because he is too 

dangerous on the base paths.

The probable pitcher for the Padres is the hard throwing ex-Cubbie Andrew Cashner, who was the center piece in the trade for first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Cashner is 1-1 and has an era of 3.26. Cashner begun the year out the pen, but is now in the rotation for the Padres and is coming off an excellent start where he got a win by going six innings and allowed just one earned run against the Giants. Andrew Cashner is a young talented pitcher, but really only has three pitches that he uses, which are a fastball in hight-90s, a slider that has great movement to it and a changeup that has been unhittable early this season.

The Cubs hitters will be facing a tough task in tonight’s game because not only are they going up against a young talented pitcher, but that young pitcher has something to prove against the Cubs. Not many Cubs batters have faced Cashner before in there career, therefore many Cubbies will get their first crack at their former teammate. The only Cub hitter that has actually gotten a hit against Cashner is Starlin Castro who is 1 for 1 against him with a RBI.

My prediction for the game is that Cubs will lose their second game in as many days with a score of 6 to 2. I believe that Scott Feldman will struggle against the Padres, whereas Andrew Casher will pitch extremely well against his former team. My predicted player of the game is Andrew Cashner because I predict he will go six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts against the Cubbies.