The Phillies bring baseball's best record and one of the game best pitchers into Wrigley Field to face the Cubs, owners of the second worst record in the National League. The Cubs are 20 games under .500 at 38-58, which bests only the Houston Astros at 31-64. Roy Halladay, who hasn't lost since mid May, looks to become the NL's second 12 game winner tonight against Rodrigo Lopez.
Lopez, a former Phillie, last faced the club back in early June when he was still in the Cubs bullpen. He gave up no runs and two hits in three innings in a series in which the Phillies took three of four. In six career starts against Philly, Lopez is 1-1 with a 6.46 ERA.
In his last outing against Chicago, Halladay threw seven scoreless innings and struck out nine for the win. Prior to that start, he had been 0-3 against Chicago. It's fitting that Halladay will be pitching at Wrigley in his first post-All Star game start. He did the same last year and gave up six runs over seven innings. It's actually the third time in four starts directly after the break that Halladay has served up at least five runs.
With nine days rest, he will look to break that trend tonight.
One guy who has always dominated the Cubs is Ryan Howard, who owns an 18 game hitting streak at Wrigley Field. He is hitting .417 with 6 HRs and 15 RBI in his last nine games at the legendary park. He's also owned Rodrigo Lopez in his career going 6 for 11 with a HR.