NEWSLETTER
A whooping and then an extra-inning, walk-off-hit-by-pitch loss. What do the Cubs do for an encore in this one? Jason Hammel, who cares not for the pitcher W/L stat, goes for the Cubs tonight. Somewhere, Jeff Samardzija is thinking that it’s easy to not care about the “win” when you’ve got a couple of them. I joke, of course, because Samardzija also knows that it’s not a good measure of pitcher performance.
The Cardinals will start Michael Wacha, who’s generally been effective against the Cubs this year, and has generally been awesome otherwise this year. Hammel’s actually got the better ERA on the year, but Wacha sports the better peripherals. (For those into a little side action, might I note that SBR shows Hammel at +165 (Wacha at -190) for the game, which is a pretty pronounced distinction.)
Wacha will face a lineup with a mix of lefties and righties. Yes, Mike Olt is back in the starting lineup, and Junior Lake gets another start, too. John Baker gets the nod behind the plate, as he has for the last several Hammel starts.
There’s a bit of inclement weather projected in the area tonight, so we’ll see if there’s any kind of delay.
UPDATE: Yup, there’s a delay – of about three months. The game has been postponed due to weather, and it looks like it’ll be made up in August. Hammel will start tomorrow instead.
Game Info
Chicago Cubs (13-25) at St. Louis Cardinals (20-20), 7:15 CT on CSN.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Please feel free to use the comments on this post for your in-game commentary/outbursts. In other words, the comments section below is your game thread.
The Series Preview lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Jason Hammel (2.45 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 3.65 xFIP; 3.70 K/BB)
versus
Michael Wacha (2.85 ERA, 2.66 FIP, 2.99 xFIP; 4.07 K/BB)
St. Louis Cardinals Lineup
1. Matt Carpenter, 3B
2. Jhonny Peralta, SS
3. Matt Holliday, LF
4. Matt Adams, 1B
5. Yadier Molina, C
6. Allen Craig, RF
7. Peter Bourjos, CF
8. Mark Ellis, 2B
9. Michael Wacha, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Emilio Bonifacio, CF
2. Ryan Kalish, RF
3. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
4. Starlin Castro, SS
5. Luis Valbuena, 2B
6. Junior Lake, LF
7. Mike Olt, 3B
8. John Baker, C
9. Jason Hammel, P
