{"id":23523,"date":"2012-07-05T10:25:15","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T15:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=23523"},"modified":"2012-07-05T10:25:15","modified_gmt":"2012-07-05T15:25:15","slug":"chicago-cubs-vs-atlanta-braves-national-league-series-comes-to-an-end-at-turner-field-on-thursday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/chicago-cubs-vs-atlanta-braves-national-league-series-comes-to-an-end-at-turner-field-on-thursday-night-23523\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Cubs vs. Atlanta Braves: National League Series Comes to an End at Turner Field on Thursday Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs (31-50) and Atlanta Braves (42-39) will close out a four-game National League series on Thursday night at Turner Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET<\/p>\n

Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Atlanta has gone 4-7 in its last 11 games<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chicago is playings its best baseball of the 2012 campaign, winning seven of its last nine games, including a 5-1 road victory over Atlanta on the Fourth of July.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re obviously playing a lot better baseball than we were the first two months,\u201d commented Cubs pitcher Paul Maholm.\u00a0 Part of that recent success can be attributed to the call up of rookie first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who is batting .323 with three home runs and six RBIs in eight games.\u00a0 Chicago is 6-17 versus left-handed starters, with the \u201cunder\u201d going 11-10 in those contests.<\/p>\n

Cubs starting pitcher Matt Garza (4-6, 4.01 ERA) has alternated wins and losses over his last four outings, coming off a 3-2 home win over the Houston Astros last time out, giving up two runs and nine hits over 5.1 innings of work.\u00a0 The right-hander is 2-5 with a 5.22 ERA in nine road outings, but opposing hitters are batting just .225 against him.\u00a0 In two career games versus the Braves, Garza has registered an 0-1 record and 4.50 ERA, including an 8-3 home loss on Aug. 25 of last year.<\/p>\n

Atlanta has managed just four wins in its last 11 games, falling further behind the Washington Nationals in the NL East standings.\u00a0 \u201cSometimes, man, you meet a team that\u2019s playing good baseball,\u201d commented Braves outfielder Michael Bourn.\u00a0 He will need to play a major part in this contest, hitting .310 with seven home runs and 32 RBIs this season, as he\u2019s a candidate to win the Final Vote to land on the NL All-Star team.\u00a0 Atlanta is 7-4 as a home favorite of -125 to -150, while the \u201cover\u201d has cashed in six of those games.<\/p>\n

Braves starting pitcher Mike Minor (4-6, 6.20 ERA) earned his first victory since June 7 last time out, allowing four runs and five hits over five frames in a 7-5 home win over the Washington Nationals.\u00a0 The left-hander is 2-2 with a 5.55 ERA in six home starts, issuing 15 walks and collecting 25 strikeouts in 35.2 combined innings.\u00a0 In three career starts versus the Braves, Minor has registered a perfect 3-0 record and 4.86 ERA.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Braves due to their 4-1 record in Minor\u2019s last five starts as a favorite of -110 to -150, while the Cubs are 1-6 in Garza\u2019s last seven road efforts.<\/p>\n

Make sure to check out our Major League Baseball picks<\/a> all season long and get the most up-to-date betting odds at Bookmaker<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Cubs (31-50) and Atlanta Braves (42-39) will close out a four-game National League series on Thursday night at Turner Field, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 ET Chicago Cubs at Atlanta Braves\u00a0 Chicago is playings its best baseball of the 2012 campaign, winning seven of its last nine games, including a 5-1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":15577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[243,180,339,6717,1652],"class_list":["post-23523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-matt-garza","tag-mike-minor","tag-turner-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23523"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23524,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23523\/revisions\/23524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}