Atlanta Braves vs. Chicago Cubs

Kerry Wood’s comeback to the starting lineup of the Cubs wasn’t as good as he would’ve expected. Although in the first inning he looked like the star he once was the rest of the game wasn’t good for him.

Wood gave up five hits, four runs with no walks and six strikeouts during a 71-pitch outing against the Nationals; who’d been shut out in the first two games of the series. But in game three another was the story. The Cubs couldn’t contend a very good offense from the Nationals that outscored them 5-3 on a chilly afternoon in Chicago.

“I made a couple of bad pitches and a stupid pitch and it cost me four runs,” Wood said.
“I expect every time to go out and not give up any runs. But I can’t sit here and say I pitched badly. It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to.”

Now the Cubs are preparing to receive the Braves at home. It should be a good series as both teams are starting to play better with every passing game.

Lineup
1. Juan Pierre, CF. 2.Matt Murton, LF. 3. Todd Walker, 2nd B. 4. Michael Barrett, C. 5.Jacque Jones, RF. 6.Neifi Perez, 3rd B. 7. John Mabry, 1st B. 8. Ronny Cedeno, SS. 9.Kerry Wood, P

Less than two weeks ago the Atlanta Braves were on the verge of falling 10 games behind in the NL East. Well, look who’s back in the thick of things, the Braves are starting to look like the teams that has won 14 straight division titles in the past few years.

Last week Jeff Francoeur hit two more homers, Jorge Sosa picked up his first win and Atlanta finally had an easy one against the Florida Marlins winning 9-1 Thursday to complete a four-game sweep.

With their ninth victory in 11 games the Braves (21-20) moved above .500 for the first time since April 7 and closed within 3½ games of the first-place New York Mets in NL East.

“From what I hear, we’ve always been a slow-starting team,” Francoeur said after extending his career-best hitting streak to 16 games. “I’ve never been through it myself, but hopefully we’re coming together now.”

This series between the Braves and the Cubs should be very interesting to watch due to the rising quality of play these teams are showing. If you like sports betting don’t miss the opportunity to bet on this game and put some extra emotion to it.

Lineup
1. Marcus Giles, 2nd B. 2. Edgar Renteria, SS. 3.Chipper Jones, 3rd B. 4. Andruw Jones, CF. 5.Jeff Francoeur, RF. 6.Matt Diaz, LF. 7. Brian Jordan, 1st B. 8. Brian McCann, C. 9.Jorge Sosa, P.