Before the season started; these two teams with the highest payrolls in the NL were pegged as playoff locks on Sports Illustrated. Clearly however, both have failed miserably to live up to the hype. At least the Mets can blame it on a parade of injuries that have left the team totally decimated (yesterday's lineup currently makes a combined $11 million). The Cubs on the other hand have been a colossial bust with a relatively healthy lineup.

This is the first meeting of the season between these two oddly enough and these teams will see each other in six of the Mets' next nine games. Over the past 3 seasons, this has been a relatively even series...with the Mets leading 10-9. Last year, the Cubs took 4 of 6 overall from the Mets including a disappointing 4 game series split in late September when the Cubs were playing for the most part with backups.

Pitching matchup-wise...one would think that the Cubs have the decided edge (and experience-wise they do for sure). However, their suddenly anemic offense (they have only scored ten more runs this season than the Mets have) may come and betray them. Plus, they have a tendency to lose games and series they have no business at all losing. Combine that with the fact they're facing three pitchers this series they have little to no familiarity with and things are more even than it seems.

Friday: Pat Misch (0-1 4.09 ERA) vs. Ted Lilly (9-8 3.40 ERA). Misch is looking for his first career win in 53 appearances (11 starts). For his career versus the Cubs, he sports an 0-1 record with a 7.36 ERA and 1.91 WHIP in three appearances (all in relief). This is Misch's first start since May 31st of last season when he was a member of the San Francisco Giants. Meanwhile, Lilly the lone All-Star representative for the Cubs sports a 2-1 record with a 3.86 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 5 career appearances (4 starts) against the Mets. At home this season, Lilly has been dominant with a 6-1 record and a 1.86 ERA and 0.90 WHIP; yielding a mere 13 earned runs in 9 starts.

Saturday: Bobby Parnell (3-6 5.08 ERA) vs. Ryan Dempster (7-7 4.07 ERA). Parnell is looking to rebound after two consecutive poor starts at home to the Braves and Phillies respectively...allowing 14 ER in 8 IP in his last 2 losses which have seen his ERA jump from 3.50 to its current position. In 2 career relief appearances he is 0-0 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP (three innings). This will be his 2nd career start on the road. Meanwhile, Dempster is looking to build from his strong outing last game at Los Angeles where he pitched 7 strong innings of 3 hit ball; yielding an unearned run in a 3-1 victory. He has seen the Mets 23 times (12 starts) in which although he is 8-4...he sports an ERA of 5.54 and WHIP of 1.83. At home this season Dempster is 4-2 with a 5.01 ERA and 1.31 WHIP in 9 starts.

Sunday: Nelson Figueroa (1-3 5.40 ERA) vs. Carlos Zambrano (7-5 3.80 ERA). Figueroa was the hard luck loser in his last start, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Florida Marlins in which he went 5IP allowing 2 unlucky earned runs (one run scored on a fielder's choice after Castillo momentarily bobbled the ball; which prevented a double play...and another scored off of a ball that bounced off Anderson Hernandez' glove and was just out of reach). Figueroa has had no success against the Cubs in nine career appearances (4 starts) in which he is 0-4 with a 4.40 ERA and 1.60 WHIP. Meanwhile, Zambrano got rocked in his return from the DL allowing 8 ER in 4.1 IP (3 of those runs scored after Aaron Heilman allowed a grand slam to Elijah Dukes) in a 15-6 beatdown at the hands of the Washington Nationals. Zambrano in 8 career games versus the Mets (7 starts) is 4-1 with a 3.67 ERA and 1.32 WHIP. At home this season Zambrano is 2-3 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in ten starts.

So there you have it. Three converted starters versus arguably the Cubs' three top pitchers. Advantage- Cubs. Or so it appears. That's why they play the games on the field. Hopefully the Mets can build off of yesterday's impressive victory and continue to bring misery to the Cubs' season. In the meantime, our tragic number stands at 21.