Last week the Pirates swept a three game series in Pittsburgh by a combined score of 18-5.
The frustrating part of this was the fact that the Pirates are horrible. In fact, since that three game sweep, the Pirates have won only one game. In fact, they've been outscored 31-10 in those six games.
So this is where it stands right now: The Cubs must take 2 out of 3 against the Pirates this weekend at the very least. The Pirates have barely scored 1/2 the runs that they've given up this year. Based on their RS/RA numbers, they should have a record of 8-26...which would easily be the worst record in baseball.
The Pirates are a bad team. Period. They can't pitch and they can't hit.
So it is time for the Cubs to start putting things together...after this weekend, the schedule starts to get much much harder.
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The matchups:
Today: Gorzelanny will face Brian Burres. Burres beat the Cubs in his last start...the start where Randy Wells forgot that he was the starting pitcher that day. He pitched 7 scoreless innings that game which ultimately led to the Cubs promoting Starlin Castro. Gorzelanny once again pitched well last Saturday...the bullpen didn't that day, and the Cubs bats were asleep again anyway. Sloth has been the pitcher who seems to have received the least run support of anyone on the team.
Tomorrow: Dempster vs. Maholm: Maholm only pitched 3 1/3 innings in his last start against the Cardinals. The probably means he'll pitch a complete game shutout against the Cubs this weekend. Dempster has been steady this year. Lou left him in a little too long on last Sunday and he got the loss in another outing where he pitched 7 or more innings. Dempster has hit that mark (7+ innings) in his last 5 starts.
Sunday: Lillypad vs. Ross Ohlendorf: Ohlendorf has been on the DL for a little while for the Bucs...this will be his second start since. Against the Reds on Monday, he pitched 4 innings giving up only 1 run. Ohlendorf has faced the Cubs once...7 shutout innings last June. Lilly looked much better in his last start as he was much better able to control his pitches. What has become apparent is that the old Ted Lilly that could occasionally reach 92 on his fastball is probably gone. It appears that 87 might be tops for him now. That's ok, though, as his out pitch has always been that curve ball. Lilly was hit pretty hard last week against the Pirates. In his last start, he was victim to the Castro error machine.
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I'll try to get one more post in tonight...but then I'll be gone until Sunday night. I have a huge race on Saturday here in Madison that I'm working, then once that is done, I'll be up in Green Bay for their marathon. Long weekend, but some nice extra bucks in my pocket. :)
