Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs Preview (7/29-7/31)

From now on, we are previewing the upcoming series with a variety of things. The pitching matchups with the TV times, five things to watch, notable musician from the opposing team's area, Twitter follows from the opposition and a prediction. 

Pitching Matchups and Start Times
Monday:                 Kyle Lohse (7-7 3.37) v. Jeff Samardzija (6-9 3.94) 7:05 pm FSNWI
Tuesday: Game 1 - Yovani Gallardo (8-9 4.88) v. Carlos Villanueva (2-7 4.23) 1:20 pm FSNWI
               Game 2 - TBD                                   v.  Jake Arrieta (0-0 0.00) 7:05 pm FSNWI
Wednesday:            Wily Peralta (7-10 4.57) v. Edwin Jackson (6-11 4.89) 7:05 pm  FSNWI

Five Things To Watch
1.) Will we see some #DugoutHugs? - The Cubs have already traded three players from their team, Scott Feldman, Alfonso Soriano and Matt Garza, can anymore be one the move? There has been some talk about Kevin Gregg, but that's probably the last player to be on the block for Chicago. Milwaukee does not seem like they are moving Lohse and Gallardo, but there is still a chance they could send off Jim Henderson and John Axford. We will be on the lookout for #DugoutHugs in the coming days.

2.) Yovani's bad July continue? - For me, he is the biggest disappointment of this dumpster fire season. Gallardo has been absolutely terrible of late.  He did pitch well against Miami, but that's about it plus I could pitch scoreless against the Marlins for at least three innings. For the month, Yovani's ERA is 7.56 and he has given up 21 runs with 12 walks and only 20 strikeouts. It seems like his confidence is completely shook and hopefully, the Chicago winds are not blowing out Tuesday afternoon.

3.) Guessing the TBD - I will put half of my fake money on Tyler Thornburg. He seems like the logical decision here or Alfredo Figaro. Either one would be great to deliver a spot start. I might be alone here, but I have really enjoyed year two of Thornburg. I think he's pitched really well for the Brewers. Hopefully Thorny gets a chance at starting this week. Figaro would be a fine option. He really has not pitched much since being back on the team last Wednesday, but he did well for his short time as a starter.

4.) Jean Segura's forearm - He did not play on Sunday, and honestly as much as I love watching Mean Jean, there is no need for him to push himself to play. The Brewers are a sparkling 18 games under .500, he can seriously take his time to get back. My assumption would be either he plays today and one game in the doubleheader, or just a single game in the doubleheader. It would be completely illogical for him to play all four games of this series, but then again Ron Roenicke is a robot so who knows.

5.)  Cubs are a little bit hot - They pitched awesome over the weekend in a sweep of San Francisco basically holding the Giants to only a total of three runs and they got no more than five hits in any of the three games. Do you know the Cubs are only seven games under .500?  Do you also know the Cubs have won five of their last seven games?  They are playing good baseball, and I honestly think this team is a year away from actually contending for a playoff spot. Good news for the Brewers!

Music from Chicago


I could really be standard and go with Kanye West, and this one is still pretty basic. Eddie Vedder is the choice. While Pearl Jam started out of Seattle and the Pacific Northwest as most of grunge music did, Vedder is from Evanston, Illinois and he is a massive Chicago sports fan. Pearl Jam recently played a concert at Wrigley.

Cubs' Tweeters  
Justin Jabs and Sean Powell are both great follows if you need Cub news and baseball in general. I am not just saying that because they are Cubs fans whom put up with my Brewer nonsense either.

Prediction
Hoping for a split, but I feel like this is a three out of four for Chicago.

Charlie.