The San Diego Padres (10-17) will face the Chicago Cubs (11-16) this afternoon at Wrigley Field, looking for a split in their four-game set after dropping last night's contest 6-2.
The Padres have been tortured throughout the first three games of the series by Cubs shortstop Starlin Castro, who has shaken off a slow start to 2013 by pulverizing San Diego night after night. Castro is 5-for-13 in the series, with one home run and three RBI.
In general, Castro has been raking within the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. He is hitting .367 with all three of his home runs and eight of his RBI coming at home. On the road, his batting average is an ugly .224, with no home runs and five RBI. In Chicago, Castro's power has been striking. In addition to his three dingers, Castro has also socked a triple and four doubles at home, pushing his on base plus slugging percentage to 1.066 when he wears his home whites. On the road, he has just one extra-base hit and 12 strikeouts.
The Padres have not been great at home or on the road; they are 5-10 away from Petco Park and 5-7 in their own building. They rank next to last in home runs with 20; that mark ties them with the disappointing and injury-riddled Dodgers, and leaves them eight in front of the cellar-dwelling Miami Marlins.
One player who might help San Diego achieve their desired split is rookie third baseman Jedd Gyorko, who swatted his first career home run last night. He is batting .324 over his last nine games, according to ESPN.com, and was relieved to finally notch a homer. "I was glad to get it over with," Gyorko said. "Hopefully it doesn't take another 100 at-bats to get my next one."
The Padres will be sending Eric Stults (2-2, 5.67 ERA) to the mound against Travis Wood (2-1, 2.25 ERA). The game can be live streamed for free here or for a fee here with better quality video. Padres fans can listen to the action on XPRS 1090 or XEMO 860, while Cubs fans should put their radios on WGN 720.
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