Cubs Preview

Because of the Male Bag that I posted earlier today, I am going to try to keep this preview relatively short. The Cubs really aren't that good, so I shouldn't have too much to say about them/this series anyway.

We took 3 out of 4 from them in our first series against them, with our lone loss coming in an extra-inning, rain-delay game in which Kyle Kendrick had pitched 3 shutout innings before having to come out because of the hour and 17 minute break. Our starters absolutely dominated in that series, pitching 25 innings and giving up just 4 earned runs (1.44 ERA). The Cubs, on the other hand, had their starters last just 19.2 innings and compile a 5.95 ERA. This hopefully means that we can jump out to early leads in each of these 3 games and let our pitchers do what they do best.

Game 1: Roy Halladay (11-3, 2.45 ERA) vs. Rodrigo Lopez (1-2, 4.02 ERA)
You all know what's coming with this prediction, so I'm not even going to talk about the Halladay aspect of this game. Lopez has struggled against this Phillies lineup through his career. As a team, we have a .353 batting average against him, including .333 for Suckhole, .364 for Baseball, .545 for the Big Man, and .600 for Chooch. We haven't hit for a whole lot of power against him, mostly singles really. That tells me that we shouldn't be shocked if we don't exactly light him up tonight, but at the same time I think we got this. This should not be a fun night for the Cubs fans at Wrigley (if they have any)
Prediction: Phillies 7 Cubs 0
Keep an eye out for: Roy Halladay throwing his first complete game shutout of the season

Game 2: Cliff Lee (9-6, 2.82 ERA) vs. Matt Garza (4-7, 3.97 ERA)
This is the same matchup as our first series against the Cubs, and we won the game 7-1. Lee pitched 8 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 run, and striking out 7. Garza, although he got the loss, only gave up 1 earned run (and 1 unearned) in 6 innings. His bullpen, however, gave up the other 5 runs in just 2 innings of work. Garza is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA against the Phillies, and Lee is 4-0 with a 1.59 ERA against the Cubs. This should be a pitchers' duel. The only person that really should be successful in this game, according to the numbers, is Raul Ibanez. He's on an 8-game hit streak right now, batting .326 in July, a .333 hitter against Garza with 2 home runs, and a .375 average against the Cubs this season. None of that means anything, though, because it's Raul Ibanez, and he's garbage.
Prediction: Phillies 3 Cubs 2
Keep an eye out for: Ibanez going 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts. Take that, statistics!

Game 3: Vance Worley (5-1, 2.15 ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (7-6, 4.68 ERA)
Dempster may have a tough time getting through Utley and Howard, who are hitting .636 and .333 against him, respectively. Howard has 2 home runs and 6 RBI in just 12 at bats. His ERA is a bit deceiving because he had a 9.58 ERA through his first 6 starts of the year. Since April ended, though, he is 6-3 with a 2.95 ERA. With Utley and Howard's success against him and Worley's recent hot streak (3-0, 0.89 ERA last 5 starts), I think the Phils can take this game and sweep the series against an inferior Cubs team.
Prediction: Phillies 7 Cubs 4
Keep an eye out for: lots of runs off of bullpens. Worley may exit early because of his struggles keeping his pitch count down, and our bullpen has been suspect against the Cubs (5.54 ERA)