Chicago Cubs pitcher, Mark Prior (RHP) is scheduled to start Monday’s game for Cubs affiliate Peoria Chiefs (single A), at O’Brien Field in downtown Peoria, IL. He will make at least one rehab start for the minor league ball club. The Chiefs are part of the Midwest League.
Yahoo! Sports is reporting that Prior will start in two outings, but the Chiefs official website has not confirmed a second start [yet].
Mark Prior is a huge name, as far as MLB pitchers go. This will be good for Peoria, in terms of revenue generated due to fan support. Undoubtedly, baseball fans, who aren’t necessarily Cubs fans, will want to see Mark Prior pitch, at least for the opportunity to see an all-star caliber pitcher play. The best part is, that this game will be on a National holiday (Memorial Day), so it will no doubt be sold out. The only drawback is the record high temperatures, in the 90 degree Fahrenheit range.
According to the post on the Chiefs website, “As of 2:00 PM Sunday there are approximately 300 Club Box Seats and 380 Box Seats remaining.“
Earlier this month, Prior’s teammate Kerry Wood, pitched a rehab assignment for Peoria. That outing drew 8,426 baseball fans, from the Central Illinois region. Mark Prior will absolutely draw as many.
Prior has missed the entire season thus far, due to a muscle strain in his right shoulder.
Prior has a career record of 41 wins and 23 losses in 97 starts. He has a career era of 3.24 and has struck-out a total of 719 batters.
Mark Prior is a huge part of the struggling Chicago Cubs starting rotation. Kerry Wood has also been injured, but has recently returned to the roster.
At this point, the Cubs are in big trouble. They have lost six games in a row, and are currently 14 games behind the first place St. Louis Cardinals. Chicago has lost 19 of its 23 last games. They have the fourth worst record in baseball at the end of May, at 18-31. Perhaps Wood’s and Prior’s returns will help the Cubs in the second half of the season. Personally, I doubt it.
Basically, the Cubs suck! As a lifelong die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan, I am utterly delighted!
