The Cubs have the Wild Card lead, and have played very well on this road trip. They finish up with a trip to my home, New York; I'll be attending all three games. On paper, there are fewer teams I'd rather see the Cubs face right now. The Mets have spent the past few weeks being virtually worthless, they have a lame duck manager, about 50 people on the DL (though Reyes and possibly Matsui will be back this weekend), and generally aren't very good. But I'm insane, so expect the passageways of Shea stadium to be filled with the chewed-off remains of my nerve-bitten fingernails come Sunday evening.

Friday
6:10 pm, FSN
Glendon Rusch (vs. Mets) (6-2, 3.69 ERA, 80 K/32 BB/9 HR) vs. Kris Benson (vs. Cubs) (12-12, 4.44, 121/57/14)

Saturday
12:25 pm
Mark Prior (vs. Mets) (6-4, 4.59, 118/45/13) vs. Aaron Heilman (no significant history) (1-2, 4.86, 12/8/2)

Sunday
12:10 pm, WGN
Kerry Wood (vs. Mets) (8-7, 3.56, 134/48/14) vs. Al Leiter (vs. Cubs) (9-8, 3.19, 106/90/14)

Hot'n' Not
The Mets actually have quite a few favorable matchups, with Hidalgo and Piazza killing several Cubs pitchers, and Alou faring poorly against several key Mets. On the plus side, the Cubs have several players who have hit Mets closer Braden Looper fairly well.

hot
Barrett vs. Looper (4/7, 571/625/714)
Grieve vs. Stanton (8/15, 533/650/600)
Grudzielanek vs. Looper (5/8, 625/625/625)
Lee vs. Leiter (14/31, 452/591/871, 3 HR)
Sosa vs. Benson (10/28, 357/455/464)
Sosa vs. Looper (3/12, 250/357/833, 2 HR)
Clement vs. Benson (5/9, 556/636/667, 1.303 OPS!)

not
Alou vs. Benson (5/28, 179/324/250)
Alou vs. Bottalico (1/8, 125/364/250)
Alou vs. Looper (0/8)
Garciaparra vs. Stanton (2/12, 167/167/250)
Grudzielanek vs. Leiter (2/23, 087/222/087)
Grudzielanek vs. Bottalico (1/9, 111/200/111)
Sosa vs. Bottalico (1/9, 111/111/111)

hot
Floyd vs. Rusch (10/24, 417/481/750, 2 HR)
Hidalgo vs. Rusch (5/20, 250/375/650, 2 HR)
Hidalgo vs. Prior (6/17, 353/353/706)
Hidalgo vs. Dempster (10/21, 476/522/1.143, 3 HR)
Piazza vs. Wood (6/23, 261/261/652, 3 HR)
Piazza vs. Dempster (10/31, 323/382/613, 2 HR)
Piazza vs. Mercker (11/24, 458/500/583)
Piazza vs. Remlinger (5/19, 263/364/737
Zeile vs. Mercker (3/14, 214/389/714, 2 HR)

not
Hidalgo vs. Wood (1/15, 067/263/133)
Zeile vs. Prior (1/7, 143/143/143, 4 K)
Zeile vs. Remlinger (2/16, 125/263/188)