Talkin’ Cubs Live – Cubs vs. Cardinals – 09/15/07

Game 1 – Makeup from 04/29/07

Ted Lilly (15-7, 3.85/1.15) vs. Braden Looper (12-10, 4.70/1.31)

Somewhere Ernie Banks is smiling…. Let’s Play Two!! The Cubs and Cardinals have a long day of baseball scheduled for today. The first game is the scheduled makeup from the game that was cancelled on Sunday, April 29th due to the death of Josh Hancock. The Cubs won the first two games of that series and were starting to play better ball after a horrible start to the season. That was then and this is now….. Lou Piniella will start Ted Lilly for the second time in a week against the Cardinals. Lilly pitched a very good game against the Cardinals in the makeup at Wrigley last Monday. Lilly gave up 3 runs, all off of home run balls….a solo shot by Jim Edmonds and a 2-run homer by So Taguchi. Lilly has been very solid this year for Lou Piniella but today’s start will be difficult. The Cardinals were able to get a very good look at Lilly and he must make adjustments today in order to be successful. The Cubs offense must continue to score runs and it is always preferred to win the first game of a twinbill, and it all starts with Ted Lilly.

Lilly has been very good in his last 2 starts. He is 2-0 with a 3.29 ERA and has thrown a lot of strikes. Lilly has 10 strikeouts and only 1 walk in his last 13 2/3 innings. Lilly will be making his 5th start of the year against the Cardinals today. He is 2-2 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.

Braden Looper has been a solid addition to the Cardinals rotation but is coming off of one of his worst starts of the year. Looper received a no decision against the Diamondbacks and gave up 7 runs, 6 earned, on 8 hits in 3 1/3 innings.

The Cubs have struggled against Looper all season. Looper will be making his 4th start of the year against the Cubs and in his first 3 starts is 2-1 with a 1.80 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP while holding the Cubs offense to a .194 batting average.

Let’s Talk Cubs Baseball….