Saturday, May 11, 2013

Preview for the May 11th Game


Preview for the May 11th 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.

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