Friday, April 21, 2006

SeriesPreview: Cubs @ Cardinals April 21-23

Despite the awful news that DLee will be out for 3 months, the Cubs(9-5) are gonna have to play games the next three months. The games will count. The "Lee-less" period begins tonite in St. Louis against Albie Junior and the hated Redbirds(9-6). In case you've missed it, Pujols is on a roll to start the season. The "26 year old" already has 10 homers and 20 knocked in while hitting .354 in the first 15 games. Even more incredible is Albie's eye at the plate. He's taken 17 walks while only striking out 5 times. Pujols has taken a free pass in all but three of the games they've played.

The Cubs couldn't have been happier about the destruction of the now Old Busch Stadium (Busch Stadium II). That place was a house of horrors for the Cubs through the years. The Cubs were 141-190 alltime at that dump (Did the Cubs play good at any of those cookie cutter parks?). The Cubs have had some success in some of the newer parks (see PNC Park). Hopefull the same will hold true along the banks of the mighty river.

Pitching Matchups and broadcast info:

Friday 7:10 ct
Jerome Williams(0-1, 2.45) vs. Mark Mulder(1-0, 4.05)
TV-WGN
Radio- WGN Radio-720 AM; XM-187

Saturday 1:15 ct
Glendon Rusch(1-2, 6.60) vs. Sidney Ponson(1-0, 3.97)
TV-CSN Chicago
Radio- WGN Radio-720 AM; XM-187

Sunday 1:15 ct
Greg Maddux(3-0, 1.33) vs. Jason Marquis(3-0, 2.79)
TV-WGN
Radio- WGN Radio-720-AM; XM-187

Yeah, the pitching matchups look to give the Redbirds the edge. As do the 40,000 self annointed "best fans in baseball" wearing their Sunday best Cardinal t-shirts. Still, you can throw all the records out when these two meet (not really, I just wanted to throw out that cliche). They'll play the games. I hope the Cubs can steal one of the first two and give Maddux a shot at a rubber game on Sunday.

It's early, but here are the NL Central Standings heading into Friday:

Houston 10-5 .667 -
CUBS 9-5 .643 .5
Cincinnati 10-6 .625 .5
St. Louis 9-6 .600 1.0
Milwaukee 8-8 .500 2.5
Pittsburgh 5-12 .294 6.0

No comments: