Cubs Likely to Even Record Against Padres

COMMENTARY | Once again the Chicago Cubs will be looking to even their record when they play the San Diego Padres at Wrigley Field Monday at 7 p.m. Central. The two teams have the same record at 7-8, but the Cubs and Padres have gone about getting their records a little differently.

San Diego hasn't played well at home, losing five of eight games, while they've won four of seven on the road. The Cubs have played .500 baseball at home while dropping five of nine on the road.

Cash Kruth has posted an article at MLB.com titled "Cubs look to get the power going vs. Padres."

The "power" Kruth is referring to is "hitting power." This hitting power is actually made up of two hitters. The Cubs have been enjoying power from Starlin Castro and Alfonso Soriano but haven't seen the home runs expected from Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena, batting fourth and fifth in the order respectively.

Cubs manager Mike Quade has indicated that Ramirez is doing fine, since he is getting hits, and Pena's power will come.

Tonight's game will give Carlos Zambrano (2-0, ERA 6.11) a chance to extend his winning streak to 11 games. In 2010, Zambrano was 2-2 against the Padres with a stingy 0.69 ERA. I can't imagine how he got two losses unless they were "bullpen losses."

Another reason that the Cubs are looking to "power up" against San Diego is that the pitcher they will be facing is Tim Stauffer. Stauffer is 0-1 this year with an ERA of 4.80. Perhaps an even bigger motivator for the Cubbies is that he is 0-2 against them lifetime with an ERA of 3.46.

While it is early in the season, this is an important game for Chicago. The Cubs want to get their record back to .500. Also, with every game they play well, they get closer to getting their two injured starting pitchers back.

Zambrano was critical of his last performance, referring to himself as being "lazy." I remember that the Cubs had gotten an early lead and Zambrano was taken out of the game. However, the bullpen didn't allow another run, and Zambrano got the win. Hopefully he won't be lazy this evening.

Chicago has a good chance of winning.

References:

MLB.com Website, "Standings"

MLB.com Website, Cash Kruth, "Cubs look to get the power going vs. Padres"

Yahoo Sports Website, "Carlos Zambrano Split Statistics"