San Diego @ Chicago preview
Wrigley Field
Last Meeting ( Aug 17, 2010 ) San Diego 1, Chi. Cubs 0
The San Diego Padres look to extend their lead in the National League West by beating up on the Chicago Cubs. San Diego sends Clayton Richard to the mound against Casey Coleman, who’s making his first big league start on Wednesday.
The tough thing about the San Diego Padres’ starting rotation is that it just doesn’t let up. They have four starters who have 10 wins under their belt already, Wednesday’s starter Clayton Richard (10-5, 3.80 ERA) included.
Richard is a 26-year-old left-hander with a lot of upside. He has good control and hasn’t walked more than three batters in any of his last seven starts. Richard can also put hitters away when he gets ahead in the count, with 116 strikeouts in 147 innings of work.
Casey Coleman’s family has a long history in major league baseball as one of only four families to have three generations suit up in the bigs. His grandfather was a pitcher who broke into the show in the 1940s and his father was also a pitcher who, coincidently, had a cup of coffee with the Cubs back in 1976.
Coleman throws strikes but isn’t overpowering. He needs to have his sinker working and can’t let the ball stay up in the strike zone to be successful. The 23-year-old made his major league debut earlier this month out of the pen, allowing six earned runs in 2 2/3 innings against Milwaukee, but didn’t allow another run in two relief appearances since.
It looks as though the rookie will have his hands full with San Diego’s lineup now that Miguel Tejada is heating up after coming over in a deal with Baltimore on July 28. The veteran shortstop/third baseman hit just .189 over his first eight games with the Padres, but has turned it around since then.
Tejada is batting .588 (10-for-17) with three doubles and four RBIs in his last four games for San Diego (71-47), which leads San Francisco by five games in the NL West.
Jon Garland threw seven scoreless innings on Tuesday to pace the Padres to a 1-0 win. He outdueled Chicago’s Randy Wells, who allowed an earned run on a groundout in the first inning, which stood up to be all that San Diego needed.
Chicago’s offense will likely be without Derrek Lee again, who’s suffering from a bulging disk in his lower back. He’s officially questionable, though the Cubs (60-70) are being cautious with the injury.