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Game 131 Thread / Cubs @ Pirates (1 of 3)
Game Chat | Press Pass | BR Preview
| SP | *Ted Lilly | SP | Jeff Karstens |
| 12-7, 4.25, 148 K, 56 W, 161 IP | 2-2, 2.25, 11 K, 8 W, 28 IP | ||
| LF | Alfonso Soriano | CF | *Nate McLouth |
| SS | Ryan Theriot | 2B | Freddy Sanchez |
| 1B | Derrek Lee | C | #Ryan Doumit |
| 3B | Aramis Ramirez | 1B | *Adam LaRoche |
| CF | *Jim Edmonds | RF | Jason Michaels |
| 2B | Mark DeRosa | LF | *Brandon Moss |
| RF | *Kosuke Fukudome | 3B | Andy LaRoche |
| C | Geovany Soto | SS | Jack Wilson |
| P | *Ted Lilly | P | Jeff Karstens |
The Cubs open a three-game set at PNC Park, concluding their 9-game stretch against the Reds, Nationals, and Pirates before they resume play against Major League opposition. (Yes, I'm tempting fate: Friday's smug game preview was just a preamble to an ugly 13-5 loss to the Nats, but 30 games over .500, I'm feeling smug all over again.)
Coming off a tough luck defeat in which he held the Reds hitless for the first 5 innings and wound up yielding just 2 hits in 7 IP, Lily has reduced his ERA to a season-low 4.25.The lefty has given the Cubs Quality Starts in 8 of his last 10 turns, and that defeat to Cincinnati was his first after five consecutive W's.
This will mark Lilly's fourth start of the year against the Bucs. He's 1-0, 5.63 in the three previous starts, with a butt-ugly 8.38 ERA in his two outings at PNC.
Karstens, who landed in Pittsburgh as part of the deal that sent Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte to the Yanks, makes his fifth start as a Pirate. In his first, back on 8/1, he blanked the Cubs over six innings. His second time out, he was even better, carrying a perfect game into the eighth inning at Arizona, before eventually closing out a 2-0 complete game win. His last two starts have been much more ordinary—16 hits and 7 ER in 13 IP—and more like what you'd expect from a guy who has fanned just 11 men (and walked 8) in 28 innings.
The Cubs have won 11 of the 15 meetings between the two clubs this year, including 4 of the 6 played in Pittsburgh.
Lastly, on Sunday, Mark DeRosa became the first Cub since Fred McGriff (2001) to homer in four consecutive games. If DeRo connects tonight, he'll join Sosa ('98) and Sandberg ('89) as the only Cubs since 1956 to go long in five straight.
| Sandberg (1989) | Sosa (1998) | McGriff (2001) | DeRosa (2008) | |
| Patsy #1 | Andy McGaffigan | Livan Hernandez | Jim Brower | Josh Fogg |
| Patsy #2 | Dennis Martinez | Jim Parque | Wil. Rodriguez | John Lannan |
| Patsy #3 | Bryn Smith | Carlos Castillo | Shane Reynolds | Garrett Mock |
| Patsy #4 | O'Neal/Mulholland* | James Baldwin | Tim Redding | Jay Bergmann |
| Patsy #5 | Larry McWilliams | LaTroy Hawkins | — | ??? |
*Sandberg homered twice against the Phillies on 8/10/89 and eventually wound up with 6 HR in 5 games. What a stud.
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