Game Seventy: Cubs (27-42) vs. Indians (31-38)
Game Time – 6:05pm C.T. WGN TV, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 176
Location – Jacobs Field, Cleveland
Greg Maddux (7-6, 4.82) vs. Cliff Lee (5-5, 5.04)
Can the Cubs win two in a row? Greg Maddux takes the mound tonight in Cleveland against left-hander Cliff Lee. Lee is coming off of a 18-5 season and has won 32 games over the past two seasons. Maddux has been very inconsistent over the last two months as well as a victim of bad defense and extra opportunities. Maddux pitched into the 7th inning his last time out against the Astros; he gave up 5 runs on 11 hits but three of the runs came in the 2nd inning and the Cubs comeback came up just short against Roy Oswalt. Maddux has not had his typical control of late and if he has trouble with location tonight the Indians could put up a lot of runs. The Indians can hit, they just have trouble pitching and getting the opposition out. The Indians offense is ranked 4th in the American League and they are hitting .283/.355/.460 as a team with 88 total home runs. As a pitching staff they are ranked 11th in the American League with a 4.98 ERA with an opponent batting average of .277, they have given up 77 home runs.
Cliff Lee had a horrible May (1-4, 7.79) after a good April (2-1, 2.97) but is 2-0 with a 3.80 ERA in his last 3 starts. Lee throws strikes and will be around the plate and with the way the Cubs have struggled this season against south paws (7-15) it could be a long evening for the offense. Pierre is the key tonight for the Cubs, if he can continue to get on base the Cubs could score just enough to beat a left-hander for just the 8th time this season. They will need another big night from Henry Blanco and Phil Nevin.
Let’s Talk Cubbies Baseball….