The Cubs look to go on a streak. That's been rare recently.
The Cubs have the fewest wins in the major leagues. This, you already know.
They have won more than one game at a time just three times this year -- April 21-22 vs. the Diamondbacks, April 30 and May 2-3 vs. the Reds and Cardinals, and May 17-18 and 20 vs. the Brewers and Yankees. They won more than three straight games just three times all of last year (two four-game streaks and one of five).
You'd think that this homestand would be a time when the Cubs could put together a streak like that. To do so, it has to start with a win tonight.
Edwin Jackson, you know what to do.
Also, you might be interested in this video... not shown on the Cubs broadcast last night, but last night's game was apparently not too interesting to a Wrigley scoreboard operator in the top of the fifth inning, captured on the Mets broadcast:
Cubs lineup:
Bonifacio 2B, Ruggiano CF, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Schierholtz RF, Coghlan LF, Olt 3B, Baker C, Jackson P
I feel compelled to point out that the 6-7-8-9 hitters in tonight's lineup are hitting a combined .152 (37-for-243), though with 10 home runs and 29 RBI.
The last time I mentioned this, a lineup with 6-7-8-9 hitters that bad scored eight runs against the Giants.
Youneverknow.
Mets lineup:
den Dekker CF, Murphy 2B, Wright 3B, Granderson LF, Abreu RF, Duda 1B, Recker C, Tejada SS, Matsuzaka P
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Edwin Jackson pitched decently in his last outing vs. the Giants, striking out nine, but the Cubs got shut out. Current Mets are hitting .217 (25-for-115) against him, but David Wright (6-for-15, one HR) and Curtis Granderson (4-for-13, a double, a triple, a home run) hit him pretty well.
Jackson is an enigma. I've given up predicting what he'll do because there doesn't seem to be any concrete way to know.
Wow, Dice-K. Bet you didn't even know he was still around. He has one career start against the Cubs, June 15, 2012 at Wrigley Field. That's only two years ago, but just three Cubs who appeared in that game -- Darwin Barney, Starlin Castro and James Russell -- are still on the team. Only one current Cub has more than three AB against Dice-K -- Luis Valbuena (3-for-12). Justin Ruggiano is 1-for-3, a home run. Matsuzaka has actually been decent for the Mets this year (2.45 ERA), but he still walks too many guys (20 in 29⅓ innings).
In short, who knows?
Today's game is on WGN.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Mets site Amazin' Avenue.
For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.
You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.