The Cubs and White Sox “rivalry” has lost a little luster in recent years, as neither team has been particularly competitive, and the series has been a bit marginalized by changes in interleague play.
But, I’m still a sucker for it. Cardinals and White Sox back-to-back. That’s pretty cool. The Cubs took down the Cardinals, and now it’s on to the White Sox.
Jeff Samardzija starts tonight against lefty Jose Quintana, and the Cubs respond accordingly with a lot of righties in the lineup. Samardzija has yet to make a start that was a real egg, although his last time out against the Reds (5.2 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 4 BB, 4 K) was his worst effort of the year. He’ll get a DH-less White Sox lineup tonight to get back to his dominant ways.
Speaking of that lineup … how do you get Adam Dunn and Jose Abreu in the lineup without a DH? Well, you’ve gotta throw one of them into the outfield. Dunn is the sacrificial lamb tonight, where he’ll battle the idiosyncrasies of Wrigley’s corner outfield in left. His UZR/150 hasn’t been better than -30 in the outfield since 2008 (and it was -28.9 that year). That’s insanely consistently bad, in case you needed context. Hit it to left tonight, boys.
Think Samardzija is going to be jacked up to face Abreu? My money is on Samardzija, by the way.
Game Info
Chicago White Sox (15-17) at Chicago Cubs (11-18), 7:05 CT on CSN, WCIU (Sox).
Game Thread and Series Preview
The Game Thread lives here. 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 lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Jose Quintana (4.00 ERA, 3.55 FIP, 3.33 xFIP; 3.56 K/BB)
versus
Jeff Samardzija (1.98 ERA, 3.28 FIP, 3.72 xFIP; 2.38 K/BB)
Chicago White Sox Lineup
1. Alejandro De Aza, CF
2. Gordon Beckham, 2B
3. Jose Abreu, 1B
4. Adam Dunn, LF
5. Dayan Viciedo, RF
6. Alexei Ramirez, SS
7. Tyler Flowers, C
8. Marcus Semien, 3B
9. Jose Quintana, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Emilio Bonifacio, CF
2. Junior Lake, LF
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Welington Castillo, C
6. Nate Schierholtz, RF
7. Mike Olt, 3B
8. Darwin Barney, 2B
9. Jeff Samardzija, P