(55-59) Washington Nationals at Chicago Cubs (49-66)
8:05 pm EST played at Wrigley Field Chicago

August 8, 2011

For Washington, Chien-Ming Wang, the 6'3" 230 pound righty will start on the mound.  He is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA.  Matt Garza, on the other hand, the starter for the Cubs, has a respectable 3.78 ERA but only a 5-8 win/loss record because of very poor run support.  The Cubs are a very hot baseball team having just lost their first game in seven days.  Washington, however, is 2-3 out of their last five game played.

The Chicago Cubs players have been able to drive men in instead of stranding them on base like they have done most of the season. Young all-star Starling Castro is a hitting machine right now and is in the lead off spot for the team.  The offense is being driven by a mix of "small ball" as well as the occasional home run, lead by MLB veteran Carlos Pena.

How the game will play out: Look for a fairly dominating performance by strikeout pitcher Matt Garza and look for his opponent Ming Wang to get knocked around a bit.  The Cubs offense should shine in several inning and out hit the Washington Nationals line-up.  Home crowd will be a factor as the Cubs routinely sell out 40,000 + Wrigley Field and they really get into it.

The oddsmakers are thinking the same way as I and have the Cubs favored at one of their highest numbers of the year (-185).  Still, the smart bet is the Cubs laying the 185 and we are looking for them to win by a couple runs so the RUN-LINE isn't a bad bet either.


Team records:
Washington: 55-59 SU
Chicago: 49-66 SU

Washington most recently:
When playing on Monday are 4-6
Before playing Chi Cubs are 5-5
After playing Colorado are 3-7
After a win are 3-7

Chicago most recently:
When playing on Monday are 3-7
Before playing Washington are 5-5
After playing Cincinnati are 5-5
After a loss are 4-6

A few trends to consider:
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Washington's last 5 games when playing on the road against Chi Cubs
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Washington's last 7 games when playing Chi Cubs
Washington is 6-3 SU in its last 9 games
Chi Cubs are 7-1 SU in their last 8 games
Chi Cubs are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 8 of Chi Cubs's last 10 games
The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chi Cubs's last 5 games when playing at home against Washington

Next up:
Chi Cubs home to Washington, Tuesday, August 9