SeriesPreview: Cubs @ Pirates April 14-16

After their first homestand of the year, the Cubs are off on a 9 game/10 day roadtrip. This trip will be over 5,000 miles roundtrip. For some reason the schedule makers are sending the Cubs from Chicago to Pittsburgh to LA to St. Louis and back home to Chicago. Have these guys ever looked at a map?

The first stop on this trip will be at beautiful PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA. The Pirates under new skipper Jim Tracy are off to a tough start. They are 3-8 and already find themselves 4 games out in the NL Central standings. The Buccos have added Joe Randa, Sean Casey and our old pal Jeromy Burnitz to their everyday group. The Pirate catcher Ryan Doumit has an absolute cannon for an arm (be careful Mr. Pierre).

The Cubs are gonna send out the big three of Sean Marshall, Jerome Williams and Glendon Rusch. Marshall will make his second major league start Friday night all eyes will be on the young southpaw. Jerome Williams, who lost the fourth spot in the rotation this spring, will make his first start of the season on Saturday against last years phenom Zach Duke. Duke was roughed up in his Monday start against the Dodgers. The lefty gave up 7 earned runs in 5.0 IP. Sunday is a very important start for Glendon Rusch. Another poor starts and the whispers for Angel Guzman and Rich Hill will turn to yells and screams from the wrigleyville faithful.


Pitching Matchups and broadcast info:

Friday 6:05 ct
Sean Marshall(0-0, 8.31) vs. Victor Santos(1-1, 4.66)
TV-CSN-Chicago+
Radio- WGN Radio-720 AM; XM-185

Saturday 6:05 ct
Jerome Williams(0-0, 3.60) vs. Zach Duke(0-1, 6.55)
TV-WGN
Radio- WGN Radio-720 AM; XM-185

Sunday 12:35
Glendon Rusch(0-2, 8.00) vs. Ian Snell(0-0, 9.00)
TV-CSN Chicago
Radio- WGN Radio-720-AM; XM-185



Mandatory Reading: No blog in the CBA has been on top of the upcoming sale of the Cubs the way Chuck at Ivy Chat has. Today, Chuck details how the Trib's Chairman President and CEO Dennis FitzSimons has had to back off his statement about the Cubs not being for sale. Keep up the spin Mr. FitzSimons.