Pre-Gamin’: Phillies at Cubs (1:20 CT) – Lineup, Broadcast Info, Game Thread

Okay, rain … please hold off long enough to squeeze in a quick nine innings today. The Cubs didn’t play yesterday and we’ve had far too many rainouts already this year.

Also, just like with Jake Arrieta on Wednesday, you’d hate to see a Jon Lester start get burned by a rain delay in the middle of the game.

Speaking of Lester, he’s looking to bounce back from a short 2.2 inning start in San Francisco last week and continue his otherwise nice start to the season. He’ll be pitching to David Ross (still looking for home run #100) today, who bats eighth in a lineup that looks quite a bit different than the one we’ve grown accustom to.

As noted in today’s lineup piece, both Jason Heyward and Anthony Rizzo are getting a day off against the lefty Adam Morgan, who has a pretty significant lefty/righty split in his career. Also, Rizzo hasn’t gotten a scheduled day off all season long, so this was a perfect day to take one.

Taking Rizzo’s spot in the lineup is Jorge Soler. Soler has been on a nice little hot streak lately, with seven hits (including two doubles, two homers and four walks) in his last 27 plate appearances. Javy Baez and Matt Szczur also grab starts in this one, and Szczur is batting all the way up in the fifth spot. Hopefully that early season power is still alive in his bat.

The Cubs have won two in a row, so a win today constitutes a winning streak. Remember what those are like?

Game Info

Chicago Cubs (31-14) at Philadelphia Phillies (26-21), 1:20 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: Jon Lester (L): 2.60 ERA, 3.48 FIP, 3.50 xFIP; 3.47 K/BB

versus

Phillies: Adam Morgan (L): 5.61 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 5.17 xFIP; 1.67 K/BB

Philadelphia Phillies

1. Odubel Herrera, CF

2. Freddy Galvis, SS

3. Maikel Franco, 3B

4. Tommy Joseph, 1B

5. Carlos Ruiz, C

6. Cesar Hernandez, 2B

7. Tyler Goeddel, LF

8. Adam Morgan, P

9. Peter Bourjos, RF

Chicago Cubs Lineup

1. Dexter Fowler, CF

2. Ben Zobrist, 2B

3. Kris Bryant, 1B

4. Jorge Soler, LF

5. Matt Szczur, RF

6. Addison Russell, SS

7. Javy Baez, 3B

8. David Ross, C

9. Jon Lester, P