The Chicago Cubs might not catch St. Louis atop the NL Central, but their recent play against the Cardinals has created an air of confidence and pride that's revived this rivalry.
Though the Cubs won't win the season series for a fifth straight year, they can move closer to the division leaders with a fifth consecutive victory Saturday at Wrigley Field.
In good position to claim at least the second-wild card spot, Chicago (86-61) continued its pursuit of St. Louis with an 8-3 victory Friday to open the teams' final series. The Cubs lost eight of the first 10 matchups against the Cardinals (92-55) while averaging 2.6 runs, compared to 6.4 as they've won five of the last seven.
Starlin Castro went deep twice and had six RBI for Chicago, which has hit 73 home runs and averaged 5.3 runs while going an NL-best 34-14 since July 29.
"They seem to be swinging the bat against everybody right now," St. Louis right-hander Lance Lynn said of the Cubs, who are six games back of the Cardinals.
Led by first-year manager Joe Maddon, the Cubs won't be intimidated by their longtime rivals.
Two innings after Dan Haren unintentionally plunked St. Louis pinch-hitter Matt Holliday in the head, Anthony Rizzo was hit for the second time when Matt Belisle threw behind him. Rizzo made a move to the mound but was quickly stopped.
"I'm really disappointed in what the Cardinals did right there," Maddon said. "To become this vigilante group that all of a sudden wants to get their own pound of flesh is absolutely insane, ridiculous and wrong. ... Furthermore, we don't start stuff but we will stop stuff.
"I don't know who put out the hit. I don't know if Tony Soprano was in the dugout. I didn't see him in there. We're not going to put up with that from them or anybody else."
Belisle shed no real light on the issue.
"I had to try to pitch in, so what can you do," he said.
The Series:
St. Louis leads season series 10-7
September 18, 2015-Chicago 8, St.Louis 3
September 19, 2015-STL (Wacha) @ CHC (Wood) -12:05 PM CDT
September 20, 2015-STL (Martínez) @ CHC (Lester) -1:20 PM CDT
spachi wrote:Cubs stacking lineup with righties this time. Looks like Wacha does have a reverse split this year. Is that a new thing for him?
Looks like it's been pretty consistent for him. Not that he's ever been bad against righties, but every year he's had a decent gap where he's stronger against LHP. With his changeup it doesn't surprise me.
If anyone was uncertain if that was the reason, Maddon explicitly mentioned Wacha's reverse split in his presser last night. It's before the beanball talk if you watch the video in the first post of the Maddon thread.
1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B
2. Tommy Pham (R) CF
3. Jason Heyward (L) RF
4. Jhonny Peralta (R) SS
5. Yadier Molina (R) C
6. Stephen Piscotty (R) LF
7. Kolten Wong (L) 2B
8. Mark Reynolds (R) 1B
9. Michael Wacha (R) P
Insecure Bastards
1. Austin Jackson (R) CF
2. Jorge Soler (R) RF
3. Kris Bryant (R) 3B
4. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
5. Starlin Castro (R) 2B
6. Javier Baez (R) SS
7. Chris Denorfia (R) LF
8. David Ross (R) C
9. Travis Wood (R) P
(92-55) at Chicago
(86-61)
