The Chicago Cubs (32-48), floundering in the National League Central Division 12 games off the pace of first place Milwaukee, will see if they have what it takes to cool down the red hot San Francisco Giants (46-34), winners of seven straight and coming off a two-game sweep of Chicago on Tuesday, when they play the third of a four game series at Chicago's Wrigley Field today (8:05 pm ET).
The Giants currently have a 2 1/2-game lead over second-place Arizona in the NL West. Chicago will give the ball to veteran right-hander Ryan Dempster to start this game while the Giants look to two-time NL Cy Young Award winer Tim Lincecum.
With Lincecum and Dempster starting, oddsmakers have installed the Giants as -135 MLB Odds moneyline favorites over the Cubs with a combined run betting total of 6 1/2. Cubs backers will be getting +115 odds as moneyline underdogs.
Dempster, who at 5-6 on the season with a 5.31 ERA probably doesn't have what it takes to beat the Giants opposite Lincecum. The last time Chicago experienced the win column with Dempster on the mound was June 8 at Cincinnati. Since that time the Cubs starter has a couple of no-decisions and a home loss to the Yankees. One of those non-decisions came in the Cubs 6-4 win over the Royals on Friday. He went six innings, giving up four runs, two earned.
Lincecum returned to form Thursday, striking out 12 (including nine of his last 12 batters) while allowing three hits and two walks in seven innings. It was Lincecum's fourth game this year, the 30th of his career, with double-digit strikeouts. Lincecum is 3-3 with a 3.50 ERA in seven career starts against the Cubs, while Dempster is 5-8 with a 4.65 ERA in 24 games (14 starts) against San Francisco.
The Giants, who had been in a scoring slump, but winning by good pitching, broke out the bats on Tuesday scoring 19 runs in their double-header sweep of the Cubs. The Giants won the first game 13-7, covering as a -125 favorite and won the night-cap 6-3 as -108 favs. The 20 runs scored in Tuesday's game-1 took the total OVER the posted 8 1/2 but the total pushed against the posted 9-runs with 9-runs to cross the plate.
