Preview for the Game on April 16th

Preview for the Game on April 16^th

Texas Rangers (8-5) at Chicago Cubs (4-8)

Tomorrow’s game will be the Chicago Cubs first interleague game of the year. There will not be any DH in tomorrow’s game for the Rangers because they are playing on a National League field. The game is at the Friendly Confines and starts at 8:05pm eastern time. Because today is Jackie Robinson day, all the Cubs and Rangers players will be wearing the number 42 in tomorrow’s game. The Cubs will be sending the reliable LHP Travis Wood to the mound in tomorrow’s game. Wood has a record of (1-0) with an era of 1.46 and has looked great in his first two starts of the year. Travis Wood is going to be facing a tough challenge in tomorrow’s game as he is going up against one of the best lineups in the American League. If Wood can pitch effectively against the Texas Rangers he can pitch against any other team in the majors effectively. Wood will benefit from not having to face a full strength Rangers lineup because the Rangers will be sitting either long-time vet Lance Berkman or smooth swinger Mitch Moreland.

The probable pitcher for the Texas Rangers will be the LHP Derek Holland, who is (0-1) this year with a respectable era of 2.40 in his first two starts of the young season. Holland is a savvy left-handed pitcher who is set for a great matchup against the Cubbies because the Cubs tend to have difficult times manufacturing runs against LHPs. Holland is a sinker ball pitcher which primarily makes him a ground ball pitcher and can be vulnerable if his sinker ball doesn’t get enough sink to it. The pitches that Holland will use against the Cubbies will be his sinker ball which is his best pitch, a crafty cutter, a slider that has a bite to it, a changeup that can fool hitters and a fastball that he rarely uses.

The Cubs batters are going to need to score runs in tomorrow’s game if they want to get a victory for Travis Wood because the Rangers can score a lot of runs. Tomorrow’s game will be the first time this year that Cubs fans will get to see Darwin Barney in a Cubs uniform as he is ready to come off the DL tomorrow and start at second base. Barney’s return gives the Cubs a golden glove winner in the field and a more disciplined batter in the lineup. The Cubbies are going to rely on Barney’s glove because the Cubs have made a lot of fielding miscues in their first 12 games and need his leadership skills in the dugout. David DeJesus and Nate Schierholtz should be getting the day off tomorrow because of the lefty on the mound for the Rangers. Therefore Scott Hairston and Dave Sappelt will be in the lineup tomorrow and will look to get some hits off Derek Holland.

My prediction for tomorrow’s game is that the Chicago Cubs will win against the Rangers with a score of 4 to 1. The Cubs hitters will show that they can have some success against left-handed pitchers and can hit off American League pitching as well as they hit off of National League pitchers. I believe that Alfonso Soriano will have a great game by going 2 for 4 with a homer in tomorrow’s game. My predicted player of the game is Travis Wood because I believe he will go 7 innings with 8 strikeouts and allow only one run in the game. 

April14th Game’s Results and Analysis

April14^th Game’s Results and Analysis

San Francisco Giants 10 - Chicago Cubs 7

Winning Pitcher: Kontos (1-1) Losing Pitcher: Camp (0-1)

Save by Romo (7)

Player of the Game: Hunter Pence

The Chicago Cubs let another game slip away from them. The Cubs almost evened up the series with the San Francisco Giants, but folded at the end of the game. The Cubs took the lead in the first inning from homeruns by Starlin Castro and Nate Schierholtz. Although the Cubbies had the lead for a majority of the game, they lost the lead in the 6^th inning because of pass balls. However, the Cubbies would take the lead back from the Giants in the bottom of the 8^th from a bases loaded walk to Luis Valbuena. The next inning the Cubs would call on Shawn Camp to get the save, but he gave up the tying run to the Giants by giving up a two out homer to Hunter Pence. Therefore Pence was the player of the game because in the top of the tenth inning the Giants scored 3 runs, one off a balk from Camp, which led them to the victory.

Impressive: There were two things that I found impressive in today’s game and they were Starlin Castro and Nate Schierholtz. Castro had an impressive day because he went 3 for 5 with a two run homer in the first inning. Although Castro’s performance in today’s game was great that’s not what impressed me, what impresses about Castro is his power swing. If Castro can keep up with his homerun rate he could hit over 20 homeruns this year, which would be really impressive. Nate Schierholtz also hit a two run homer in the first, but I’m impressed by how well he has started off as a Cub. Schierholtz has shown Cubs fans what they should expect from him, which is a hard working discipline hitter that can field his position well. I can see Schierholtz batting over .280s and have over 20 homers with at least 80 RBIs.

Surprising: The most surprising thing about today’s game was Edwin Jackson and his struggles in the 6^th inning. Jackson was pitching so well in today’s game, although he did give up an unearned run in the first, but he struggled with his control in the 6^th which costed him his victory as a Cubbie. Jackson ended the day by going 5.1 innings allowing 5 runs, 4 unearned, on 5 hits and 4 walks. Jackson did strikeout nine in the game, but his pass balls/wild pitches in the 6^th will be what is remembered about his start.

Concerning: The most concerning thing about today’s game was Dioner Navarro’s defensive skills behind the plate. Navarro had a difficult time blocking pitches because he just tried to block pass balls with his glove. If Navarro would have used his body to block some of the wild pitches then the Cubs might have prevented enough runs to win the game today. I know that Navarro deserved to be in lineup after his two pinch hit homers, but he still needs to be reliable behind the plate if he wants to play every day. Another concern of mine is who is going to close games and save them for the Cubbies. After another blown save, the Cubs just look lost in the ninth and have no answers to prevent games getting away from them.

Preview for the Game on April 14th

Preview for the Game on April 14^th

San Francisco Giants (8-4) at Chicago Cubs (4-7)

The Chicago Cubs will try to even up the series with the San Francisco Giants in tomorrow’s game at 2:20pm eastern time. The Cubbies have made every game in the series an eventful one and have had a chance to pull out a win in every game. The Cubbies will look to win in tomorrow’s game and give Edwin Jackson his first win as a Cub. Edwin Jackson is coming off some poor outings, but in both outings he has shown signs that he can be a great pitcher for the Cubs. If Jackson can command his pitches to his best ability then the Cubbies have a great chance to win in their game tomorrow. Jackson will need to rely on his secondary pitches if he wants to have success against the former World Series winners.

The opposing pitcher in tomorrow’s game will be the two time winner of the Cy Young award, RHP Tim Lincecum However, Lincecum isn’t pitching as well as he did when he won his Cy Young awards. Lincecum is 1-0 this year and has an era of 4.91. The reason Lincecum has been having difficulties lately is because his velocity on his on his fastball is down, which makes it more hittable. The pitches that Lincecum pitches are a four seam fastball low-90s, a two seam fastball that has some sink to it, a cutter that he uses to attack batters, a slider that can be unhittable if he is on his A game and a changeup that is his out pitch.

The Chicago hitters need to take advantage if Lincecum is wild and draw crucial walks in the game when they can so that they can get plenty of base runners on to score some runs. The Cubs batters need to make up for their last game where they went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position. If the Cubbies can find a win to get the timely hits there isn’t any reason to believe that they can’t win tomorrow. Dioner Navarro should be in lineup tomorrow because of his two pinch hit homers in the last two games.

My prediction for the game is that the Cubs even the series with the Giants by winning with a score of 5 to 2. Edwin Jackson will get his first win of the year and will pitch into the 6^th inning, showing Cub fans that they can believe in him. My predicted player of the game is Nate Schierholtz; I predict that he will go 3 for 5 with a homer off his old team and teammate, Tim Lincecum. I also predict that James Russell will get the save in tomorrow’s game and will show that he can be a solid closer with his only flaw being that he is a left-handed pitcher.

April13th Game’s Results and Analysis

April13^th Game’s Results and Analysis

San Francisco Giants 3- Chicago Cubs 2

Winning Pitcher: Bumgarner (3-0) Losing Pitcher: Samardzija (1-2)

Save by Casilla (1)

Player of the Game: Madison Bumgarner

The Chicago Cubs lost a close one today and even though they had plenty of chances to win the game they didn’t come through when they needed to. Jeff Samardzija pitched a solid game and got a quality start by going 6 innings allowing two earned runs on 7 hits and one walk. Samardzija didn’t strikeout as many batters as he did in his past games with 5strikeouts from the San Francisco Giants batters. Although Samardzija had a good outing, he had to settle with the lost because he got out pitched by the Giants starting pitcher, Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner was the player of the game in today’s game because he went 6.2 innings, only allowing two earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks.

Impressive: The most impressive part of today’s game was Dioner Navarro. Navarro hit his second pinch hit homer in as many days. Dioner Navarro hit a two run homerun against Madison Bumgarner in the bottom of the 7^th to give the Cubbies the only runs that they scored in the game. Navarro’s homer yesterday tied the game in the ninth and today’s homer gave the Cubs a chance to tie or win the game. The Cubs might need to find a spot in the lineup for Navarro because his bat is too hot to be coming off the bench as a pinch hitter. Another impressive thing in today’s game for the Cubs was that the pitching staff held Buster Posey to no hits again. However, Posey did get on base a couple of times today with a walk and he go hit with a pitch. I would be shocked if Posey doesn’t get a hit in the series final game tomorrow.

Surprising: I was surprised when I found out that the Chicago Cubs placed Kyuji Fujikawa on the 15 day DL. Therefore, the Cubbies will have to go with a closer committee which will be based on matchups. The news that Fujikawa was hurt was surprising because I didn’t notice he was hurt in yesterday’s game, but that can explain why his velocity was down yesterday. I’m also shocked because the Cubs said there is no timeline for Fujikawa’s return and that means he will probably be out more for than the 15 days. I was also surprised that Cubs are going to a closer committee that doesn’t involve Carlos Marmol, which is alarming, but it is the right thing to do.

Concerning: I’m very concerned about how poorly the Cubs hit when they had runners in scoring position today. The Chicago Cubs went 0 for 6 when they had runners in scoring position, which is disappointing. If the Cubs could have just gotten one hit when they had base runners on, they would have probably won today’s game. Sometimes the Chicago Cubs hitters didn’t need to even get a hit, they just needed to hit a sac fly in order to score some runs. There really isn’t a player to blame for this because it’s just a team problem and it needs to be addressed if the Cubbies want to compete and try to get to .500 this year.

Preview for the Game on April 13th

Preview for the Game on April 13^th

San Francisco Giants (7-4) at Chicago Cubs (4-6)

The Chicago Cubs will get their third chance against the San Francisco Giants, the game will be at the great ballpark of Wrigley Field and starts at 1:05pm eastern time. The Cubs are looking to take the edge in the series before the series finale on Sunday, April 14^th. The Cubbies will be sending their ace to the mound for tomorrow’s game, Jeff Samardzija. Samardzija is coming off an impressive start against the Braves where he struck out 13 batters in less than 6 innings of work. Jeff Samardzija is leading the majors in strikeouts so far this season and has an era of 2.63 with a record of (1-1). I just hope Samardzija just doesn’t try over pitch in tomorrow’s game to make up for his lost against the Braves in his last outing. Samardzija is going to need be on his A game tomorrow because he is going up against the young talented LHP Madison Bumgarner and the Giants will be looking for revenge for letting one slip away from themlast game.

Madison Bumgarner will be the probable starting pitcher for the Giants in tomorrow’s game. Bumgarner is (2-0) in this early season and has era of 1.32 and if he is on his game then he is unhittable. The pitches that Bumgarner has are a four seam fastball that has some movement to it, a nasty slider that could be the best in majors, a cutter that is effective against right-handed batters, a two seam fastball that has some sink to it and a changeup that is a project pitch. Madison Bumgarner is an extremely effective pitcher because of his height and the slot where he throws his pitches from. He can be a deadly matchup for the Cubbies because he is a left-handed pitcher and the Cubs hitters have the hardiest time hitting against LHPs.

Madison Bumgarner is a big time pitcher and has pitched in some big games in his early career therefore the Cubs batters need to come prepared against Bumgarner and his pitches. The Cubs hitters need to be disciplined at the plate because when Bumgarner is off he can be a little wild and walk too many batters. I hope that Nate Schierholtz and David DeJesus will both be in the lineup tomorrow because they both are the most disciplined hitters on the roster, but both are left-handed batters so that they might not be in a lineup because Bumgarner is a LHP.

My prediction for the game tomorrow is that it will be a low scoring affair that the Giants will win with a score of 2-1. I predict that Samardzija will put together a strong performance against the Giants and will go 7 innings allowing just one run, but it is outshined by Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner is my predicted player of the game and I boldly predict that he pitches a complete game allowing just one run and with 11 strikeouts in the game. I’m also expecting that Buster Posey will get his first hit of the series because there is no possible way that the Cubs will limit him to no hits in a four game series.     

April12th Game’s Results and Analysis

April12^th Game’s Results and Analysis

Chicago Cubs 4 – San Francisco Giants 3

Winning Pitcher: Fujikawa (1-0) Losing Pitcher: Romo (0-1)

Player of the Game: Starlin Castro

The Chicago Cubs almost let another game slip away again, but they had some clutch hits in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. The Cubs evened up their series with the Giants by having a walk-off hit. The Cubbies grabbed the lead off two solo homers by David DeJesus and Starlin Castro, both homeruns were off Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain and both were the first homers of the year for DeJesus and Castro. The Cubs had the lead the whole game until the bottom of the ninth. Closer Kyuji Fujikawa had a hard time preventing the Giants from scoring and the Giants took the lead away from the Cubs. Fujikawa give up 3 earned runs on 3 hits and hit a batter with a pitch in one inning of work. The Cubs hitters come to the rescue for Fujikawa, first pinch hitter Dioner Navarro hit a solo homer against the Giants closer Segiro Romo. After the homerun by Navarro, Luis Valbuena and Brent Lillibridge both struck out. Then David DeJesus hit a single into center field and Starlin Castro hit a walk-off double that scored DeJesus to win the game with a score of 4 to 3. Therefore, Starlin Castro is the player of the game because of his homerun and his game winning RBI double in the ninth. Castro made up for his crucial error in yesterday’s game by having a strong performance in today’s game.

Impressive: What was most impressive about today’s game was starting pitcher Carlos Villanueva’s performance on the mound. Villanueva went 7.1 scoreless innings in the game with 3 K’s and gave up three hits and one walk. Although Villanueva pitched brilliantly, he got a no decision in the game and this is the second time this year that Villanueva should have gotten a win in the game, instead of having to settle with a no decision. If you would have told me that Carlos Villanueva would pitch as well he did in his first two starts I would have said no way, but Villanueva is pitching the best for the Cubbies thus far and if he can keep it up the Cubs can have a solid year once Scott Baker and Matt Garza comeback from injuries.

Surprising: What has surprised me so far in this series against the former World Series Champs is how successful the Cubs pitchers have been against Buster Posey. The way to beat the Giants is by limiting the damage that the former National League MVP does and so far in this series the Cubbies have do that. Posey still hasn’t recorded a hit in this series and has only walked once and he has gotten on base by getting hit with a pitch. If the Cubs can handle Buster Posey like they have been lately, then the Chicago Cubs could win this series against the San Francisco Giants.

Concerning: The thing that I most concerned about with the Cubbies is closing games and winning them. The Cubs almost let another game get away from them because of struggles in the ninth inning. Fujikawa almost got the lost in today’s game instead of the win because of his poor outing. Today’s game was also Fujikawa’s first blown save and might have shown that he can be vulnerable at times and the team might have lost confidence in his ability to finish games. I believe Fujikawa will overcome this outing, but if he can’t the Cubs could struggle because they don’t have a reliable closer.

Preview for the Game on April 12th

Preview for the Game on April 12^th

San Francisco Giants (7-3) at Chicago Cubs (3-6)

The Chicago Cubs will get their second crack at the former World Series winners, the San Francisco Giants. The Cubs let one go away from them last game and will look to tie the series up. The game will start at 2:20pm eastern time at Wrigley Field. The probable pitcher for the Chicago Cubs will be the right-hander Carlos Villanueva. Villanueva is coming off a great performance against one of the best lineups in the majors, the Atlanta Braves, but Villanueva got a no decision because of Marmol’s blown save. Carlos Villanueva will most likely be effective with his changeup in tomorrow’s game like he did in his first start and in order to do this he needs to command his fastball as well. If Villanueva continues with how he pitched against the Braves he should have a chance for a win tomorrow and should put in solid innings for the Cubbies this year.

Villanueva’s opposing pitcher is the right-handed pitcher Matt Cain. Cain is arguably one of the best starting pitchers in the National League and threw a perfect game last year. Therefore, the Cubs hitters should be worried about him and how good he is as an opposing pitcher. Although Cain is a very successful and great pitcher, Cain did had a difficult time against the St. Louis Cardinals where he gave up 9 runs in the 4^th inning. The pitches in Cain’s pitching repertoire are a four seam fastball that averages in the low-90s but could reach the mid-90s when he needs to, a two seam fastball that has some sink to it, a cutter that he uses against left-handed batters, a slider that is one of the best sliders in the majors and a changeup that can be very effective. I believe Cain will suit up extremely well against the Cubs because of the pitches he has, especially his changeup.

The Chicago Cubs hitters did well in today’s game, but they will definitely have to hit well tomorrow if they want to beat the Giants. I figure because Cain is a tough right-handed pitcher I think the Cubs will sit Welington Castillo and start Dionor Navarro behind the plate. The hitters will have a hefty challenge tomorrow and need to come prepared if they want to pull out a victory against the Giants.

My prediction of the game is that the Chicago Cubs will lose a nail bitter in tomorrow’s game with a score of 3 to 1. The Cubs just don’t have enough pop in their lineup to score enough runs to beat an ace like Matt Cain. My predicted player of the game is Matt Cain by going 8 amazing innings and tallying up 10 strikeouts in the game. If the Cubs are going to win tomorrow they’re going to need some hitters to step up tomorrow and for Villanueva to pitch several scoreless innings and hope the bullpen can limit the damage from the Giants hitters.