NEWSLETTER
It’s funny that, because of the surrounding circumstances, last night the Cubs sent a pitcher to the bump, and everyone was perplexed, given his status as a member of the trade block. Tonight, the Cubs do the same thing, but, because of the surrounding circumstances, there isn’t even a question about it.
The pitcher, of course, is Matt Garza, who’ll look to continue his recent stretch of pitching well, and I’m sure there will, once again, be a number of scouts in attendance.
Garza, by the way, hasn’t been as bad this year as you might think. His 3.57 xFIP (which tries to factor out the bad luck associated with his unsustainably high HR/FB percentage, among other things) is 27th in all of baseball.
Someone in the Boston media suggested yesterday that the Red Sox weren’t sure if Garza would be an upgrade over anyone in their current rotation. You know how many Red Sox pitchers are ahead of Garza in xFIP?
Zero.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (38-54) at St. Louis Cardinals (48-45), 6:15pm CT on WGN.
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
Matt Garza (5-7, 4.02 ERA, 3.57 xFIP)
versus
Jake Westbrook (7-8, 3.82 ERA, 3.70 xFIP)
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup
1. Rafael Furcal, SS
2. Skip Schumaker, 2B
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Carlos Beltran, RF
5. Yadier Molina, C
6. Lance Berkman, 1B
7. David Freese, 3B
8. Jon Jay, CF
9. Jake Westbrook, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. David JeJesus, CF
2. Starlin Castro, SS
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Alfonso Soriano, LF
5. Bryan LaHair, RF
6. Geovany Soto, C
7. Darwin Barney, 2B
8. Luis Valbuena, 3B
9. Matt Garza, P
