Game One Hundred Forty-Nine: Cubs (59-89) vs. Reds (71-75)
Game Time – 3:05pm C.T. Comcast Sports Net, WGN Radio, XM Radio Channel 188
Location – Wrigley Field, Chicago
Rich Hill (5-6, 4.60) vs. Chris Michalak (1-2, 5.09)
The Quest for 100 continues today. Rich Hill is searching for his 3rd consecutive victory…. if he does he will bring his season record to an even .500 and a very impressive 6-2 since his last call-up. Hill has been a huge bright spot on a team seemingly destined to reach the century mark in losses for the first time since 1966. The Reds are fighting for the post season and after Friday’s win find themselves just 3 1/2 back of Wild Card leading San Diego, who was beat on Friday in L.A. by a dominating performance by Greg Maddux. With Carlos Zambrano sidelined (several reports Saturday morning out of Chicago have indicated Zambrano might take the hill on Sunday), Rich Hill has been the best pitcher on the Cubs’ staff….not surprising….he has been the leader in the Minors of this bunch for the past 2 seasons. Hill is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his last 3 starts and has given up more than 2 runs only once in his last 6. Most importantly Hill is throwing strikes and showing a tremendous amount of confidence on the mound. His strikeout to walk ratio is beyond impressive in his last 3 starts….nearly 5 to 1 (23 k’s, 5 walks). Hill needs to finish the year strong, build his confidence and put himself in a position to compete for a spot in the Cubs starting rotation next season.
Chris Michalak will make his 4th start of the season and his numbers are as bad as they look (26 hits, 23 innings, 13 runs, 4 home runs, 10 walks and 6 strikeouts) but he is a lefty, he has never faced the Cubs and those two stats have equaled out to a dominating performance against this team all season. The Cubs were shutout for the 15th time on Friday, number 16 would give them 90 losses with 12 left to play….something no one wants to see them reach.
Let’s Talk Cubbies Baseball and Go Irish!!!