Know Your Foe #34: Annoying Cubs, fans head to Coors Field looking to take season series over Rockies

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Jul 30, 2010 12:50 PM MDT in Know Your Foe

CHICAGO CUBS (46-56, 4th in NL Central)

Last Series vs. Rockies: May 17-18, 2010 @ Wrigley Field (W 2-0)

The Cubs' pitching kept the Rockies' bats quiet on their way to sweeping the short series during what was previously Colorado's worst road trip of the season (before the post-ASG one, of course). Randy Wells, who won't see action in the upcoming series, allowed just one run in 6.2 innings in the first game of the series. Aaron Cook did his best to counter and kept the Rockies in the game, but the Cubs eventually won thanks to a walkoff two-run homer by Aramis Ramirez. Carlos Silva took the mound in the second game and picked up the victory despite nearly squandering a three-run lead, as he allowed a two-run homer to Todd Helton that got Colorado back to within a run. However, the Cubs picked up three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure the sweep. Tyler Colvin paced the Chicago offense with three hits in that ballgame.

Recent Series Results: won 2-1 vs. St. Louis, lost 1-2 at Houston

The Cubs have recently won series over the likes of the Cardinals and Phillies, but have lost two series to the Astros in that same time frame. First baseman Derrek Lee has pulled himself off of the trade market by exercising his full no-trade clause. Interest was building quickly for the veteran after he hit .341/.370/.477 over his last ten games before having the Cubs' last game off. Aramis Ramirez has enjoyed a superb July, posting a 1.062 OPS with nine home runs. Conversely, Carlos Silva has cooled in July after having a nice first half. He's 2-2 with a 6.86 ERA and a .936 OPS-against this month. Catcher Geovany Soto (.286/.403/.523) has been enjoying a nice bounce-back season, but has been sidelined for the past couple of games with a foot injury. Finally, SP/RP Carlos Zambrano is set to rejoin the team, although his potential role in the upcoming series has yet to be defined.

Friday-Sunday: 3-game series @ Coors Field

Expected Pitching Matchups

Friday, 30 July 2010 @ 7:10pm MT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Ryan Dempster	8-7	22	21	1	0	0	0	140.2	126	65	58	19	54	134	3.71	1.28

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Jeff Francis	3-3	13	13	0	0	0	0	75.0	82	40	38	4	18	44	4.56	1.33

Saturday, 31 July 2010 @ 6:10pm MT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Tom Gorzelanny	6-5	20	14	0	0	1	0	86.2	80	39	31	4	44	84	3.22	1.43

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Jason Hammel	7-6	18	18	0	0	0	0	110.0	118	55	53	10	31	95	4.34	1.35

Sunday, 1 August 2010 @ 1:10pm MT

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Carlos Silva	10-4	19	19	0	0	0	0	107.2	109	47	45	10	22	76	3.76	1.22

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Jorge De La Rosa	3-3	8	8	0	0	0	0	43.2	39	30	25	6	24	48	5.15	1.44

More after the jump...

Expected Lineup

Player	Pos	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wOBA
Tyler Colvin	RF	0.267	0.325	0.547	0.873	0.280	0.309	0.372
Starlin Castro	SS	0.311	0.360	0.446	0.806	0.135	0.350	0.345
Derrek Lee	1B	0.248	0.333	0.387	0.720	0.139	0.297	0.319
Aramis Ramirez	3B	0.224	0.279	0.428	0.707	0.203	0.228	0.303
Marlon Byrd	CF	0.313	0.376	0.469	0.845	0.156	0.341	0.374
Alfonso Soriano	LF	0.268	0.334	0.530	0.865	0.262	0.306	0.374
Geovany Soto	C	0.286	0.403	0.523	0.926	0.237	0.322	0.401
Ryan Theriot	2B	0.285	0.321	0.329	0.650	0.044	0.320	0.292

Bench

Player	Pos	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wOBA
Koyie Hill	C	0.198	0.234	0.257	0.491	0.059	0.286	0.211
Jeff Baker	Util	0.238	0.286	0.385	0.670	0.146	0.308	0.296
Mike Fontenot	IF	0.283	0.329	0.396	0.726	0.113	0.321	0.316
Kosuke Fukudome	OF	0.250	0.356	0.405	0.762	0.155	0.275	0.337
Xavier Nady	OF	0.223	0.289	0.338	0.627	0.115	0.271	0.282

Closer

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2010 - Carlos Marmol	2-2	48	0	0	0	19	4	48.1	25	14	14	1	34	91	2.61	1.22

Injuries

Chicago Cubs Injuries

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Geovany Soto	foot	07/30/2010

15-Day

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
John Grabow	knee	06/29/2010
Esmailin Caridad	elbow	05/19/2010

60 Day DL / Out for the season

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Angel Guzman	shoulder	03/26/2010

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Comments

That's funny...

Were not all annoying for the record! Been looking forward to this series all year. Should be fun. I just want to see some entertaining baseball.

You will never move forward by looking back....

by By Santo's Grace on Jul 30, 2010 1:30 PM MDT reply actions

Consider it friendly banter.

It’s just tradition for me to bash the Cubs every time we play them :)

Here’s to a great series.

Just an average guy with exceptional hair. Nothing more, nothing less.
Bear Naked - My thoughts on sports, music, and life.

by Bryan Kilpatrick on Jul 30, 2010 5:32 PM MDT up reply actions

The good thing about the cubbies coming in (besides we have a chance to win a series) is they'll fill the joint up

and provide some more revenue for the team.

Baseball statistics are like a girl in a bikini. They show a lot, but not everything. ~Toby Harrah, 1983

by pedalpusher on Jul 30, 2010 1:43 PM MDT reply actions

Well, this one looks to me about like the Pirates series.

We should be able to take one. Looking at their staff and lineup, the Cubs would be good if DLee and Ramirez weren’t having horrible seasons.

by RoxnSox09 on Jul 30, 2010 2:59 PM MDT reply actions

I'm hoping that, after the recent skid...

…they figure we’re closer to being the Astros than the Cardinals and play appropriately.

A guy can dream, right?

Paleface Destro, RISPy assassin: Resident Smartass of the Ubaldo Lovers Club
The San Francisco Giants: Weapons-grade stupid since 1883.
Recovering Mets fan since 2007

by Paleface Destro on Jul 30, 2010 5:32 PM MDT up reply actions