Friday, April 15, 2011Posted: 2 PM
Cubs (6-6) at Rockies (10-2)
Series schedule
Friday, 7:40 p.m. on WCIU
Saturday, 7:10 p.m. on WGN
Sunday, 2:10 p.m. on WGN
Starting pitchers
Friday: Matt Garza (0-1, 5.68) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (2-0, 2.77)
Saturday: Casey Coleman (0-0, 7.20) vs. Jason Hammel (1-0, 4.91)
Sunday: Ryan Dempster (1-2, 6.30) vs. TBA
Previous games
The Cubs took two of three against Houston this week, capped by Wednesday's 9-5 victory in which Alfonso Soriano hit a three-run homer and Starlin Castro and Aramis Ramirez finished with three hits apiece.
MLB
The Rockies swept the Mets in a four-game series, including a double-header sweep on Thursday. Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki went 10-for-16 with eight RBIs in the series, homering in each of the four games.
Head-to-head
The Cubs went 2-3 against the Rockies last season, suffering a three-game sweep at Coors Field that included a 17-2 pounding in the series opener.
Who's hot?
Castro went 8-for-15 with four runs scored against the Astros. Darwin Barney has multi-hit efforts in three of his last four games. Lefty reliever Sean Marshall already has five holds on the young season.
Storylines
Can Garza, who has allowed 20 hits in 12 23 innings this season, get his act together? Marlon Byrd is just a .219 career hitter against Colorado, with one home run in 73 career at-bats. On the other hand, Soriano is a career .359 hitter at Coors Field.
Sound off
How concerned are you about the Cubs' starting pitchers, given that their ERA is 5.80 ERA two weeks into the season?