Reminder: I’ll be in Chicago for tomorrow’s and Wednesday’s games against the Cardinals. Before tomorrow night’s game, I’ll be hanging at The Sports Corner again with John Arguello from Cubs Den. Stop by and grab a beer. I plan to be there a couple hours before game time.
As for tonight’s game, the Cubs see Jaime Garcia for the first time, and they’ve loaded up on the right side of the plate. I like that, though I wish David DeJesus would get the day off, given his pronounced, negative split against lefties. Not really the guy you want getting the most cracks at Garcia.
The Cubs made their expected roster move today, designating Rodrigo Lopez for assignment to make room for newly-acquired reliever Michael Bowden. The Cubs will have 10 days to trade, release, or waive Lopez, who wasn’t particularly successful this year in the Spring or in limited duty in April. I tentatively expect that he’ll be waived, will clear waivers, and then will elect free agency, signing a minor league deal with a team more interested in 36-year-old depth.
Game Info
St. Louis Cardinals (11-5) at Chicago Cubs (4-12), 7:05pm CT on CSN (I’m told, though, that it’s been bumped to CSN+ thanks to the Blackhawks game).
Game Thread and Series Preview
The Game Thread lives here. You should participate in the madness. And, of course, for those who aren’t into message board-style game threads, please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts.
The Series Preview for this series lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Jaime Garcia (2-0, 3.06 ERA, 11.7 H/9)
versus
Matt Garza (1-1, 3.66 ERA, 9.6 K/9)
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup
1. Rafael Furcal, SS
2. Skip Schumaker, CF
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Carlos Beltran, RF
5. David Freese, 3B
6. Yadier Molina, C
7. Matt Carpenter, 1B
8. Nick Greene, 2B
9. Jaime Garcia, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. David DeJesus, RF
2. Darwin Barney, 2B
3. Starlin Castro, SS
4. Alfonso Soriano, LF
5. Jeff Baker, 1B
6. Geovany Soto,C
7. Reed Johnson, CF
8. Joe Mather, 3B
9. Matt Garza, P