When one winning streak ends, another necessarily begins with the next win.
… and some other flowery stuff that would sound more like BS if the Cubs weren’t 25-7.
John Lackey takes the ball for the Cubs in the nightcap of today’s doubleheader against the Padres. Game one didn’t end so smoothly, and hopefully the Cubs will build a lead sufficiently insurmountable in this one that it can’t happen again. Or maybe Lackey can just throw a no-hitter. Or maybe the bullpen can just be good. I’m not picky.
Opposing Lackey is Drew Pomeranz, who has easily been the Padres’ best pitcher this year. He’s striking dudes out at a ridiculous clip, but then again, he’s also walking a lot of guys, giving up a ton of hard contact, and averaging a little over five innings per start. So I guess we’ll see. I figure he’ll probably notch a lot of strikeouts along the way to a seriously-elevated pitch count and an a relatively early exit. We’ll just have to see if the Cubs have scored many runs by that point.[adinserter block=”1″]
A win tonight is a series win for the Cubs. A loss is a series loss (and a doubleheader sweep (to a bad team)). I already regret some things I wrote this morning in the Bullets.
Game Info
San Diego Padres (14-20) at Chicago Cubs (25-7), 7:05 CT on CSN, 670 The Score.
Game Thread and Series Preview
Your game thread is down there in the comments, so have fun. But keep it “safe for work” type fun, all right?
The Series Preview lives here. The Lineup Discussion lives here.
Starting Pitchers
Cubs: John Lackey (R): 4.02 ERA, 3.22 FIP, 3.25 xFIP; 4.00 K/BB
versus
Padres: Drew Pomeranz: (L): 2.12 ERA, 2.86 FIP, 3.70 xFIP; 2.56 K/BB
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San Diego Padres Lineup
1. Jon Jay, CF
2. Wil Myers, 1B
3. Matt Kemp, RF
4. Melvin Upton, Jr., LF
5. Alexei Ramirez, SS
6. Christian Bethancourt, C
7. Jose Pirela, 2B
8. Adam Rosales, 3B
9. Drew Pomeranz, P
Chicago Cubs Lineup
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Jason Heyward, RF
3. Kris Bryant, 3B
4. Anthony Rizzo, 1B
5. Jorge Soler, LF
6. Javier Baez, SS
7. Tommy La Stella, 2B
8. David Ross, C
9. John Lackey, P