The Week Ahead: Week Four
No recap on last night's game; instead let's take a moment to remind ourselves how lucky we are to be seeing Greg Maddux's late-career resurgence. An ERA of 0.99 is just silly, and wonderful.
Coming up this week, the Cubs start an 8-game homestand with the Marlins and the Brewers. Most of last week's irrational exuberance left when Derrek Lee did, but those who believe in team character should expect the next few weeks to show us What This Team Is Made Of.
Florida Marlins
Know Your Enemy: Fishstripes, Maverickball (minors)
Monday: Jason Vargas vs. Carlos Zambrano
Tuesday: Dontrelle Willis vs. Sean Marshall
Wednesday: Scott Olsen vs. Undecided
I've seen Undecided pitch some pretty good games, and some pretty bad ones. Right now the candidates for Wednesday seem to be Angel Guzman and Rich Hill, and I'm in the Guzman camp mostly because I already know what Rich Hill can do and it isn't that impressive. Guzman might be more of the same, or he might not be, but we don't know and that's more interesting.
The Cubs will face three lefties in this series, which is both unusual and potentially troubling. Dusty had Todd Walker in the lineup against Mark Mulder, but I have to assume we'll see the debut of the Mike Restovich experience at some point in this series. If it has to happen, let's hope it happens when Marshall, who is more of a flyball pitcher, is on the mound.
Milwaukee Brewers
Know Your Enemy: Al's Ramblings, Brewers Bar
Friday: Dave Bush vs. Glendon Rusch
Saturday: Doug Davis vs. Greg Maddux
Sunday: Chris Capuano vs. Carlos Zambrano
Looks like the Cubs will miss Ben Sheets this go-around, which is good. The Brewers are an exciting young team, which means they're likely to have more weekends like this last one, where they beat the Reds 11-0 on Saturday and then lost by the same score on Sunday. At least it's always interesting.
With Kerry Wood's setback last week (he cut a simulated game short of Thursday due to "pain under his right arm"), I'm resigning myself to Rusch staying in the rotation a bit longer. Wade Miller was transferred to the 60-day DL, which means he can't come back until June 1st -- I do wonder why the Cubs chose to push him to the 60 instead of Mark Prior, who is theoretically after Miller on the comeback trail?
Comments