Sandy Gemmiti

Ryan Dempster will be set to do battle tonight against Derek Lowe and the Dodgers tonight at Wrigley Field (6:30 PM  ET).  Plenty of people likely would of though Chicago would send out Zambrano or Harden, heck maybe even Ted Lilly for a game 1 but skip is going with Ryan Dempster and I think it is a fantastic idea.

Dempster has been rock solid at home this season posting a 14-3 record which can’t be ignored.  Also his ERA is 2.86 at home which is slightly better than his 3.13 on the road.  The 14 wins says it all as Dempster will look for his 15th win and biggest of the season tonight at Wrigley.  Dempster is a hard working pitcher who has earned his way and this moment will not be overlooked by him. 

On the other end the Dodgers send out Derek Lowe and for good reason.  Lowe has been on fire as of late and has had a very solid season.  Add to that Lowe has had some good post season success and who else would Joe send out to the mound, especially since he seen that post season stuff while with the Yanks. 

So since it seems like we will have two solid pitchers going out to the mound tonight it looks like the game will be settled with who has a better day at the plate.  This is a huge advatage for the Cubs in this series if you ask me and if the Cubs pitchers can keep Manny out of it I think this will be a very quick series.  However I guess part because I am Cubs fan I have this bad feeling that it is “Manny’s year” and it will end up being a Ramirez vs. Red Sox in the World Series…..let’s hope that doesn’t happen and it is just me reflecting on our bad luck Cubs fans.

I look for the Cubs batter to handle the Dodgers pitcher and for Dempster, Zambrano and Harden to be fantastic in the first three games of this series with it all starting tonight!

Prediction for game 1 is 5-1 Cubs and I am hoping to have an in game blog tonight starting at 6:30 EST.  If you have any questions or comments feel free to drop me an email at sandygemmiti@sportstalkbuzz.com

Sandy Gemmiti

Well Cubs if you are looking for a test here it is.

Alfonso Soriano fractured his hand last night after getting hit by a pitch in the second inning and will now be out for 6 weeks.  Soriano of course is a huge part of this club and had really picked up his play as of late.  Should be interesting to see how they do without him.  I imagine they will be just fine as they still have great bats in Lee and Ramirez and other nice hitters in Fukudome, Soto, Theriot, but this really hurts when the team was going so good.

Ryan Dempster was just wonderful last night in a smoke show over the Braves and Carlos Zambrano will look to polish them off tonight before they head to Toronto to face the Jays.

I will be in Toronto to take in all the action and will provide feedback when I get back from the trip.

Sandy Gemmiti

April was an up and down month for the Chicago Cubs and the one thing that I kept harping on was the play of Alfonso Soriano.  Soriano went down on injury after doing his silly hop while catching a routine fly and hit the ball terribly before and after the injury (at first).   Those were the showers.

Turn the page to May 20th after Alfonso Soriano goes off for a .397 average with eight home runs and 27 RBIs in May.  This is the guy that Cubs fans seen coming to Chicago the day we signed him.  This also is the guy that can make this O tick all the way to the world series.  Lee, Ramirez, Fukudome, Soto, Theriot are all having nice seasons and are very good players but the key to this club winning the world series is Alfonso being Alfonso as well.  His bat can’t be awful as it was to start the season as he is just too valuable on the base pads as well as in the batters box. 

So  as the Cubs sit at 28-17 and 2 games up in the NL Central things only look brighter to this Cubs fan with how Alfonso is swinging his bat again. 

The Cubs started the series off strong against the Astros with a big 7-2 win.  Lets see how Ryan Demspter pitches todays game after being rock solid up to this point in the season.

Cubs Fantasy Players

I would say at this point in the season Soriano, Lee, Ramirez, Soto, and Theriot are all must starts in any leagues.  Fukudome who had a very hot start has simmered down a touch but still is batting over .300 and has a nice amount of runs, rbi, and steals.  However I am keeping Fukudome out of the starting lineup in my fantasy leagues for now.

On the other side of the ball, I consider Zambrano the only very strong play right now as a Cubs starter but Dempster and Lilly are both great 3 or 4 starters on your fantasy teams.   Wood looks to be settling into the closer role nicely and is a great play at RP in every format.  Also keep an eye on what the Cubs do with Rich Hill.  Hill is likely available in your fantasy league and came into the season as a must draft player.  Hill could likely bounce back and finish the season stong and would make a very nice buy low canidate.

I will continue to give a Cubs fantasy update every few weeks for you fantasy players out there.