upcoming 4 game series w/ small bears

[12xu]

Should be an interesting series in St. Louis. The cubs have just lost 2 of 3 at home vs Seattle, and they gave up 30 runs in those 3 games. This month, the cubs have only won 2 series, taking 2 of 3 at Washington, and winning 3 of 4 with the Pirates.
All the pitching matchups with the Cardinals are still not announced, but it seems that Ben Brown will oppose Liberatore tomorrow. Jameson Taillon is on schedule to start Tuesday's game, while the Cardinals have not yet announced their starter for that contest, but it will most likely be Fedde.
The cubs are expecting Imanaga to start either Wednesday or Thursday. He has been on the IL since early May. Matthew Boyd will likely start the other one, so the Cards will probably face two lefty starters in a row. Pallante and Gray could be the Cardinal starters for those two games.

[ICCFIM2]

Should be an interesting series in St. Louis. The cubs have just lost 2 of 3 at home vs Seattle, and they gave up 30 runs in those 3 games. This month, the cubs have only won 2 series, taking 2 of 3 at Washington, and winning 3 of 4 with the Pirates.
All the pitching matchups with the Cardinals are still not announced, but it seems that Ben Brown will oppose Liberatore tomorrow. Jameson Taillon is on schedule to start Tuesday's game, while the Cardinals have not yet announced their starter for that contest, but it will most likely be Fedde.
The cubs are expecting Imanaga to start either Wednesday or Thursday. He has been on the IL since early May. Matthew Boyd will likely start the other one, so the Cards will probably face two lefty starters in a row. Pallante and Gray could be the Cardinal starters for those two games.

Winning 3 of 4 would be great, but a split is also OK.

The Cardinals have a fairly easy schedule in July. 3 against Cubs and 4 against the Padres. But also 2 against Pittsburgh 3 if we count June 30, 3 against Nationals 3 against the Marlins and 3 against the Rockies. Also 3 against Atlanta and 3 against AZ. Those 12 games against the bottom feeders are going to really go a long way to determine where the Cards are. If they can take 9 or 10 of 12 and play 500 against the rest and get to 12 or 13 over 500, they are in decent shape.

With as bad as Colorado, Florida, Pittsburgh and Washington are this year, it probably takes 92-93 wins to get a wild card spot this year, which is 22-24 games over 500. Probably need to be at least 12 over at July 31 to not be sellers. We will see. This team is resiliant.

[11WSChamps]

Need at least a split to keep the ball rolling.

Wierd schedule we haven't seen them yet.

[MIDMOBIRDTWO]

Learned over the years to hate the cubs. Sweep please.

[Jatalk]

If I was the overpaid GM of the Cardinals this series would be the deciding factor in how I approached the trade deadline.

Cards win 3 I would have a realistic chance of catching them for division lead. Cubs win 3 or split my hopes for a division win would diminish greatly.

If I could win division I’m more aggressive before the trade deadline. If not (even with wild card possibility) I’m not as aggressive.

[rockondlouie]

Scrubs pitching has been shakey the past week (7.60 team ERA) but their hitters continue to hit the long ball (16 HR's).

Keep them away from the HR's and the Cardinals could feast on that struggling pitching.

Go Birds!

[Futuregm2]

I will be curious to see how the Cubs bullpen does. They’ve been really fortunate to this point, but the Seattle series started to show some cracks in their fortune.

Up until the weekend, their rankings in baseball were:

ERA: 4th
K/9: 30th
LOB%: 8th highest
BABIP: 8th lowest
BB/9: 9th lowest
Swing and miss: 30th
Contact rate: Highest


And their half their bullpen is 36 or older with Drew Pomeranz (36), Caleb Thielbar (38), Ryan Pressly (36), and Ryan Brasier (37). Only Pressly has an ERA above 2.50 of those 4.

[sikeston bulldog2]

More trouble. Cubs have 68 homeruns on the road. 45 at home. They just hit many last home stand.

They will be a handful. The trick will be not giving up homeruns, but limiting the baserunners on the homer.

Cubs have seven players I believe with 10 plus homeruns, two with 20 plus, and neither is named Tucker.

[Absolut]

Crow Armstrong killed us when he sucked. Maybe he suck now that he’s good!

At least Kyle Hendricks is gone.

[Futuregm2]

More trouble. Cubs have 68 homeruns on the road. 45 at home. They just hit many last home stand.

They will be a handful. The trick will be not giving up homeruns, but limiting the baserunners on the homer.

Cubs have seven players I believe with 10 plus homeruns, two with 20 plus, and neither is named Tucker.

Tucker seems to be heating back up. He had 1 HR over 99 PA until he homered in each of the last 2 games of the Mariners series. Hopefully that doesn’t continue for at least 4 games.

[sikeston bulldog2]

Crow Armstrong killed us when he sucked. Maybe he suck now that he’s good!

At least Kyle Hendricks is gone.

Yea that dude has like 21 home runs. He will be an issue. Kelly has 9. Will he get one on STL.

[sikeston bulldog2]

More trouble. Cubs have 68 homeruns on the road. 45 at home. They just hit many last home stand.

They will be a handful. The trick will be not giving up homeruns, but limiting the baserunners on the homer.

Cubs have seven players I believe with 10 plus homeruns, two with 20 plus, and neither is named Tucker.

Tucker seems to be heating back up. He had 1 HR over 99 PA until he homered in each of the last 2 games of the Mariners series. Hopefully that doesn’t continue for at least 4 games.

Their entire lineup has about 10 homers plus. We must limit the walks. Solo homeruns are ok. At this rate with runners on base it could get us behind early and by a lot.

[Futuregm2]

The player I am afraid of is Ian Happ. He always seems to kill us and he’s had a great June so far. He has 8 HR and 17 RBI in 19 games this month.

[sikeston bulldog2]

The player I am afraid of is Ian Happ. He always seems to kill us and he’s had a great June so far. He has 8 HR and 17 RBI in 19 games this month.

That’s a good call. He is hot. They come in loaded.

[Cranny]

Sure wish we still had Dan Kantrovitz.

[PadsFS07]

Should be an interesting series in St. Louis. The cubs have just lost 2 of 3 at home vs Seattle, and they gave up 30 runs in those 3 games. This month, the cubs have only won 2 series, taking 2 of 3 at Washington, and winning 3 of 4 with the Pirates.
All the pitching matchups with the Cardinals are still not announced, but it seems that Ben Brown will oppose Liberatore tomorrow. Jameson Taillon is on schedule to start Tuesday's game, while the Cardinals have not yet announced their starter for that contest, but it will most likely be Fedde.
The cubs are expecting Imanaga to start either Wednesday or Thursday. He has been on the IL since early May. Matthew Boyd will likely start the other one, so the Cards will probably face two lefty starters in a row. Pallante and Gray could be the Cardinal starters for those two games.

Imagine how much better we would be sitting if the front office had prioritized going after Imanaga instead of Lynn/Gibson last year.