The Braves and newly acquired Derrek Lee will play three games against the Cubs at Wrigley Field this weekend. All three games are day games and the Braves have Jair Jurrjens, Tommy Hanson, and Mike Minor on the mound. This young trio will be in the Atlanta rotation for a number of years and the Braves are looking for them to perform well down the stretch run.
Cub's lineup:
The Cubs have some solid hitters as they have a mix of veterans and youngsters. Alfonso Soriano is a noted Braves killer -- his OPS of 1.083 against the Braves is his highest against any opponent. Rookies Starlin Castro and Tyler Colvin have impressed this season with Castro having an average over .300 and Colvin providing the power with a .260 ISO.
Cub's bullpen:
Carlos Marmol has been impressive yet again, striking out 16.17 batters per nine innings. Other than Marmol, the bullpen is shaky at best. Most of the relievers have FIPs substantially higher than 4.00 and getting to their bullpen should be a goal in this series. If the Braves are able to work the count as they so often do, they should see some poor middle relief arms to score on.
This small preview was taken from Talking Chop and was written by me. I'll be covering all three games over on the Braves SBNation blog, so be sure to check out the open threads before and during the games, as well as the recaps after each contest.