Cubs-Braves: The Start of a Long Road Trip

On the road again, and this time for nine days of winnable games, but mostly likely lots of the opposite. First up is a trip to Atlanta, which actually makes me happy for a few reasons. First I like watching games at Turner Field, I don't really know why, just really like that place even though I've never been. Second Alfonso Soriano tends to have good games/some issues in Turner. Both years on the Cubs Soriano has had big series, and for his career (all of 16 games) he has a 1.191 OPS at turner. Of course he has also gotten thrown at for looking at his homers during this time, once leading to Ted Lilly getting kicked out of a game. Finally, Big Z comes back after a six game vacation for being too much of a bad ass.

Pitching Match-Ups

Randy Wells v. Kenshin Kawakami

Braves fans are wondering who Randy Wells is, and I'm wondering who Kawakami is. Seems like he is about a league average pitcher, so hopefully we can get some runs. Wells has had a 1.80 ERA this season and I really want him to get his first major league win while he is still pitching well. I feel good about this game, mostly due to Soriano's awesomeness at Turner and a resurgent Mike Fontenot going against a righty.

Ted Lilly v. Derek Lowe

The ultimate debate for me. Lowe is the ultimate ground ball pitcher while Ted is the ultimate pitcher. So normally I would sit this game out because we know Lowe is going to toss a 8 IP 1ER 4 H outing. Ted will probably have 7IP 3ER 5H 9K outing, which is fine, but not going to get it done against Lowe. I think I will watch, but I won't like it.

Carlos Zambrano v. Jair Jurrjens

Big Z makes his triumphant return (again) to the rotation after his six game suspension. Jurrjens missed the Cubs last season because he slipped on the dugout steps and couldn't start (really he feared Ted Lilly). Jurrjens is a really good pitcher, but maybe the Cubs will get lucky and score just enough runs to win.

We are looking at losing 2 or 3 here, winning 2 of 3 at best. Even with Ted on the mound the Lowe start is essentially an automatic loss.