The Chicago Cubs (31-51) take on the second-place New York Mets (45-38) on Friday afternoon, kicking off their final series before the 2012 All-Star Break. And just 24 hours after saying 1B/OF Bryan LaHair would play against both righties and lefties, Cubs manger Dale Sveum has elected to put LaHair on the bench against elite left-handed SP Johan Santana.
Here is a look at the full lineups, courtesy of Baseball Press:
| Cubs Lineup | Mets Lineup |
|---|---|
| 1. Reed Johnson (R) RF | 1. Ruben Tejada (R) SS |
| 2. Darwin Barney (R) SS | 2. Ronny Cedeno (R) 2B |
| 3. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B | 3. David Wright (R) 3B |
| 4. Alfonso Soriano (R) LF | 4. Scott Hairston (R) LF |
| 5. Jeff Baker (R) 2B | 5. Lucas Duda (L) RF |
| 6. Geovany Soto (R) C | 6. Justin Turner (R) 1B |
| 7. Joe Mather (R) CF | 7. Mike Nickeas (R) C |
| 8. Luis Valbuena (L) 3B | 8. Kirk Nieuwenhuis (L) CF |
| 9. Travis Wood (R) P | 9. Johan Santana (L) P |
The Cubs enter the series against the Mets as one of the hotter teams in baseball. They have won 7 of their last 10 games and the slugging duo of LaHair and Anthony Rizzo have led the way, hitting 3 home runs combined with OPS's over 1.000 each.
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