Pirates @ Cubs Game Three Preview

The Cubs’ starting pitchers continue to one-up each other. Carlos Zambrano is next in line for today’s series finale.

Chicago starters have tossed six quality starts in a row, starting with Ted Lilly in the series opener against Milwaukee on Monday. Zambrano, the staff ace, looks to make it a week’s worth of strong outings in today’s finale against Pittsburgh.

Well it’s worth saying the Cubs offense came back to life, not as much as what they are capable of but none the less we will take it after being shutout the first game of the series, one hitter Ive noticed in the Cubs lineup that is not “breaking out”or to put it simple, not hitting, I’m talking about D.Lee. He has just been awful since the All-Star break, according to baseballreference.com D.Lee has had eight hitless games since the break. He is a main guy in this Cub lineup and like Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano, he can carry a team on his shoulders when he gets hot, but D.Lee still takes his walks and brings that gold glove so even though he is not “on fire” at the plate he is still doing a decent job.

Looking ahead to today’s game:

Carlos Zambrano

• #38 RHP
• (12-4) 2.80 ERA 96 SO

Cubs: Zambrano struck out a season-high nine batters in a win over the Brewers in his last start. Big Z threw eight scoreless innings, giving up five hits and two walks. He also hit an RBI single. Zambrano now is batting .349 — and ranks among the NL leaders with a 2.80 ERA. He is 1-0 in two starts against the Pirates this year, facing them in back-to-back starts in late May. He went 4-1 in July, giving up seven runs over 35 1/3 innings.

 

Ian Snell

• #45 RHP
• (4-8) 6.04 ERA 90 SO

Pirates: Snell had arguably his best outing of 2008 against the Rockies at PNC Park his last time out. He struck out eight and walked only one on his way to a quality seven-inning performance. Manager John Russell said he hoped the start is a turning point for Snell. The right-hander hadn’t won a game since June 11. Snell is 1-5 with a 5.26 ERA against the Cubs in his career.

 

Carlos Zambrano vs. Batters, for 2008, Min. 0 PA’s, Sorted by PA DESC, Then by Name, vs. players for PIT

PI Click on the player name for a list of plate appearances between these players.

                    **PA**  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Nate McLouth          6     6   2  0  1  0   3   0   2  .333  .333  .667 1.000   0   0   0   0   0
 Freddy Sanchez        6     6   3  1  0  0   0   0   0  .500  .500  .667 1.167   0   0   0   0   0
 Doug Mientkiewicz     5     3   1  0  0  0   1   2   0  .333  .600  .333  .933   0   0   0   0   0
 Zach Duke             3     2   0  0  0  0   0   1   0  .000  .333  .000  .333   0   0   0   0   0
 Chris Gomez           3     3   1  0  0  0   0   0   1  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0
 Jose Bautista         1     1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0
 Sean Burnett          1     1   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0
 Luis Rivas            1     1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

Has not faced: Raul Chavez, Ryan Doumit, Andy LaRoche, Jason Michaels, Brandon Moss, Steven Pearce, and Jack Wilson & Has not faced pitchers: Denny Bautista, T.J. Beam, Jason Davis, John Grabow, Craig Hansen, Yoslan Herrera, Jeff Karstens, Paul Maholm, Ian Snell, and Tyler Yates

Ian Snell vs. Batters, for 2008, Min. 0 PA’s, Sorted by PA DESC, Then by Name, vs. players for CHC

PI Click on the player name for a list of plate appearances between these players.

                    **PA**  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
 Mark DeRosa           3     3   2  1  0  0   1   0   0  .667  .667 1.000 1.667   0   0   0   0   0
 Kosuke Fukudome       3     3   1  0  1  0   0   0   1  .333  .333 1.000 1.333   0   0   0   0   0
 Reed Johnson          3     3   2  0  0  0   1   0   0  .667  .667  .667 1.334   0   0   0   0   0
 Derrek Lee            3     3   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0
 Aramis Ramirez        3     3   1  0  0  0   0   0   1  .333  .333  .333  .666   0   0   0   0   0
 Geovany Soto          3     2   1  1  0  0   0   1   0  .500  .667 1.000 1.667   0   0   0   0   0
 Ryan Theriot          3     3   2  0  1  0   0   0   0  .667  .667 1.333 2.000   0   0   0   0   0
 Daryle Ward           1     1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000  .000   0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+-------+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+

Has not faced: Henry Blanco, Ronny Cedeno, Jim Edmonds, Mike Fontenot, and Alfonso Soriano & Has not faced pitchers: Neal Cotts, Ryan Dempster, Scott Eyre, Chad Gaudin, Rich Harden, Bobby Howry, Ted Lilly, Carlos Marmol, Jason Marquis, Sean Marshall, Jeff Samardzija, and Carlos Zambrano

Ian snell has not faced the red hot Jim Edmonds this year but in his career against snell he has had 17 at bats against snell,out of his 17 at at bats he only has four hits but two of the four have been homeruns,so he might remain hot and crack a HR against snell today if he is in the lineup,another player who snell has not faced this year is Alfonso Soriano but in Soriano’s career against Snell he has lit him up in limited at bats against him going 6-12 with 3 homeruns and 5 RBI’s so look for him to remain hot and spark the Cubs offense today.

 Another game that on paper with are Ace going would suggest a blowout,but as we saw in game one of this series,its anybody’s game for the taking,Carlos Zambrano will look to improve to 13-4 and continue his Cy Young like year.