Chicago Cubs (5-7) at New York Mets (4-8)
7 :10 PM ET on ESPN
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Starting Pitchers
CHC: R. Wells (1-0, 2.92)
NYM: J. Niese (0-1, 6.55)
After dropping two of a three game series against at St Louis, the New York Mets will return to Flushing Meadow to begin a four game tilt against the visiting Chicago Cubs at Citi Field on Monday night.
After losing game one in St Louis 3-4, it took the Mets 20 innings to down the Cardinals 2-1 in game two, before falling in the finale 3-5 on Sunday. New York starter John Maine managed five sporadic innings before serving up a three-run homer to Colby Rasmus. Reliever Ryota Igarashi then gave up a two-run homer in the eighth that made the difference. Meanwhile, after winning game one by five runs, Chicago dropped the next two in a row of a three-game-series against the Houston Astros by a single run including a 3-2 loss in extra innings on Sunday. The Cubbies blew a 2-0 lead when reliever Carlos Marmol suffered the blown save and lefty Sean Marshall took the loss, giving up a sacrifice fly to Pedro Feliz in the 10th.
Despite having one loss in just a single career start with an ERA of 13.00 against Chicago, the Mets will go with lefty Jonathan Niese in Monday’s opener. The 2005 seventh round pick struggled last time out against the Cubs, surrendering six runs on seven hits, including a home run in just three innings. Niese has struggled to start 2010 opening the season with a 3-1 loss to Florida where he went six innings allowing three run on eight hits. He followed up with a second loss at Colorado, surrendering five runs on nine hits in just five innings. Niese is having trouble finding the strike zone, fanning five batters in 11 IP.
The Cubs will send 6’5’’ righty Randy Wells to the mound. Wells is 1-0 in a single start against the Mets lifetime with a 1.50 ERA. Wells has a pair of wins this season, the first coming in his season debut against the Atlanta Braves that ended in a 2-0 shutout. The 28 year old surrendered just six hits in six solid innings. Wells recorded his second win of 2010 going 6-1/3 innings against the Milwaukee Brewers, striking out seven batters in a 7-6 victory.
Odds makers have the Cubs as –1-½ – favorites with a run total of 8 ½.
The Cubs will need to change the order a bit to counter against the three lefties the Mets will throw at them starting with Niese, then Oliver Perez and Johan Santana. Chicago is struggling and is ranked 21 in the league in hits with a combined .250 AVG against left-handed pitching.
I expect the Cubs to take game one behind Randy Wells while the Mets still struggle to sort out their bullpen issues.
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Chicago Cubs Betting Trends:
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chi Cubs’s last 5 games on the road
- Chi Cubs are 2-5 SU in their last 7 games on the road
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of Chi Cubs’s last 6 games when playing NY Mets
- Chi Cubs are 6-13 SU in their last 19 games when playing on the road against NY Mets
New York Mets Betting Trends:
- NY Mets are 2-6 SU in its last 8 games
- NY Mets are 1-4 SU in its last 5 games at home
- The total has gone UNDER in 4 of NY Mets’s last 6 games when playing Chi Cubs
- The total has gone OVER in 8 of NY Mets’s last 11 games when playing at home against Chi Cubs
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