The Cubs and Padres have split six games this year. The winner of tonight's game takes the season series, for whatever that's worth.
The Cubs have a decent, though still losing, record at home: 21-23.
Despite that, they have not won a home series in more than a month. The last home series won was the three-game set against the Marlins, June 6-7-8. Since then they have lost four straight home sets and including the June 8 loss to Miami that prevented the Cubs from sweeping that series, the Cubs are 6-10 in the so-called "Friendly Confines," which clearly have not been friendly for Cubs victories of late.
Of the five season series which the Cubs have completed to date (Braves, Marlins, Phillies, Nationals, Diamondbacks), the Cubs have won just one of those: 4-2 over the Marlins. They can win the season series against the Padres with a win tonight.
That'd be nice. It's supposed to be cool again this evening, but less windy, so it might feel a bit more like July than April, as last night felt like.
Tonight's particulars:
Cubs lineup:
Bonifacio CF, Alcantara 2B, Rizzo 1B, Castro SS, Coghlan LF, Valbuena 3B, Sweeney RF, Baker C, Jackson P
Probably showcasing Emilio Bonifacio in center field for scouts, I'd think.
For the third straight day, the Padres lineup was not available at the time I wrote this post. Please check the BCB Twitter feed for the Padres lineup.
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I refuse to write any more preview info about Edwin Jackson until he has a good outing.
Tyson Ross' only career appearance against the Cubs was two innings in relief when he was with the Athletics, June 16, 2010. I pass that link along for amusement value (have a look at who the A's starting CF was that day, for example). Ross is having a very good year in his first full season as a rotation starter and has a 0.93 ERA in four July starts with four walks and 30 strikeouts in 29 innings this month. Clearly, we are doomed.
Today's game is on WGN.
Here is the complete MLB.com Mediacenter for today.
Baseball-reference.com game preview
Please visit our SB Nation Padres site Gaslamp Ball. Be careful over there, though.
For 2014, we are going to have the same game-thread routine as 2013. Here's how it works.
You'll find the game preview -- like this one -- posting as the first link in the StoryStream™, which will then contain all the overflow threads and the recap. The recap will also be on the front page as a separate post; once I post a game recap, the stream for each game will be retitled "Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of Week) Game Threads" so you can go back and find every thread related to that particular game.
In general, game previews will post two hours before game time. Exception: for day games after night games, that will usually be 90 minutes.
You will also be able to find the First Pitch Thread and all the overflow threads in the box marked "Chicago Cubs Game Threads" at the bottom of the front page (you can also find them in this section link). They will also appear in this StoryStream™. As I've done for each regular-season game for several years now, we'll have the First Pitch thread at five minutes before game time (moved up from actual game time per your requests), then an overflow one hour, two hours and 2:45 after game time.
Discuss amongst yourselves.