Sweep! The Cubs can get the two-game sweep today behind The Stache, who hasn’t quite been as Stachey as you’d like to see from The Stache the last couple times out.
On the other bump is Jake Westbrook, the 35-year-old best pitcher in the National League right now (by ERA). Because, you know, voodoo magic.
Alfonso Soriano gets the day off, which means we’ll see the starting debut of Ryan Sweeney, and we’ll also see Luis Valbuena batting third. If I’d told you in February that there would come a day that Luis Valbuena would be batting third and Kevin Gregg would be closing and that you wouldn’t hate it, I would have lost 85% of my readership.
Valbuena is playing second base today, as Darwin Barney also gets a much-needed day off.
Game Info
St. Louis Cardinals (20-12) at Chicago Cubs (13-20), 1:20 CT on CSN.
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. (It’s a bit small, though … )
Starting Pitchers
Jake Westbrook (2-1, 1.07 ERA, 1.396 WHIP)
versus
Carlos Villanueva (1-2, 2.85 ERA, 0.927 WHIP)
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup
1. Matt Carpenter, 2B
2. Carlos Beltran, RF
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Allen Craig, 1B
5. Yadier Molina, C
6. Jon Jay, CF
7. David Freese, 3B
8. Pete Kozma, SS
9. Jake Westbrook, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. David DeJesus, CF
2. Starlin Castro, SS
3. Luis Valbuena, 2B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Nate Schierholtz, RF
6. Ryan Sweeney, LF
7. Dioner Navarro, C
8. Cody Ransom, 3B
9. Carlos Villanueva, P