Because teams rarely sweep doubleheaders, you can look at yesterday’s postponement as a possible good thing: now the Cubs have a very good shot of winning this series. On the other hand, given the Cubs are still highly likely to lose the bullpen game today, so it’s as if the Matt Garza game is a weird kind of must-win. Speaking of the two games…
Matt Garza will go in the first game (against Dustin Moseley), which starts at 1:20 CST. Presumably, you’ll see Garza on an extra long leash (something with which he’s become all too familiar this year), as the Cubs will need to save their bullpen for the second game.
James Russell will nominally start the second game (against Aaron Harang), beginning at 6:05 CST. After Russell throws his non-stretched-out 70 pitches or so (if he makes it that far), you can expect that he’ll be followed by Jeff Samardzija and then whoever’s available, and depending on the game situation.
The Padres, unlike the Cubs, have to play again tomorrow, so it’s possible they’re the ones who really got the short end of the stick in today’s doubleheader. Here’s hoping the Cubs can get into the Padres’ bullpen early in the first game.
Carlos Pena is learning that the wind at Wrigley can crush your heart and your would-be homers. Here’s hoping he also learns that, when the wind is blowing out, a guy like him just needs to lift a pop fly.
Oh God. Mike Quade is calling his pitchers his “horses”: ‘‘With our pitching, our three horses — Z [Carlos Zambrano] pitched well [Monday] night, and we need to get the other two guys going — we’re pretty damn formidable on the mound, and our bullpen speaks for itself. That in itself, along with the young kids that are getting better, leads me to believe that we should be able to stay in this thing. Time will tell.’’ Now he just needs to get his horses back, right?