Cardinals Invade Chicago for showdown with Cubbies

Despite the amount of “hate”..or I should say “dislike”, for the Chicago Cubs—and the fact that most of the games at home on the friendly confines of Wrigley Field are day games (which for some odd reason just annoys me)—as a die-hard Saint Louis Cardinals fan, I will say that there isn’t anything much more exciting than the anticipation of playing our division-rival Cubs—no matter what the standings say at any point of the season—or how good either of the teams are at that point and time.

I’ve been a baseball fan pretty much my entire life, and one statement that I have got to say considering I am apart of this long-living rivalry, -- “Screw the Yankees-Red Sox”. Don’t get me wrong, I highly respect the two teams and organizations—including the rivalry as well, but in my opinion, especially when it comes to Major League Baseball, no rivalry matches the intensity and excitingness of the Saint Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs—no matter what history tells me—or tells yourself.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the three game weekend series, here is a quick glimpse at the games that will be going down this weekend in Chicago:

• Friday (Game 1) Cardinals at Cubs (1:20 pm Central Time) Lance Lynn vs. Travis Wood
• Saturday (Game 2) Cardinals at Cubs (12:05 pm Central Time) Joe Kelly vs. Jeff Samardija
• Sunday (Game 3) Cardinals at Cubs (1:20 pm Central Time) Adam Wainwright vs. Paul Maholm

The Cardinals (53-46) enter the weekend series in third-place in the Central division (5.5 games behind the Reds), who obviously still have an opportunity to contend for the division crown; while the Cubs (40-57) enter in fourth-place and are 17.5 games behind Cincinnati, seemingly all but done once again for yet another year of no World Series title.

Matheny, the Cardinals first-year manager, enter with three straight wins and a 7-3 mark in there previous ten; while Chicago enters with an even 5-5 in there previous ten ball games. The Cardinals have one of the largest runs scored/runs allowed differentials in the entire league with being at +94.

Head-to-head during this 2012 season, the Cardinals currently lead the series seven-games to four-games, following a three game sweep in Busch Stadium in Saint Louis just one week ago.  The defending champions swept the Cubs at home as they outscored them 23-to-1, including a twelve-run inning in the second game last Saturday in which the final scored ended in a 12-to-0 routing.

This weekend’s series could determine to be big in confidence for the Cardinals as they are still in both the division title race—as well as the National League Wild Card race. Today’s series opener will deliver the first pitch at 1:20 pm Central Time and will be televised on FOX Sports Midwest. All hail to baseball, it’s the Cardinals against the Cubs..Let’s Go Cardinals!!!!