Mets-Cubs Preview

Buoyed by two of baseball's biggest payrolls, the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets entered this season with lofty goals.

Injuries and poor performances have caused both teams to fall well short of expectations.

In their first meeting this season Friday at Wrigley Field, the Cubs and Mets will each attempt to launch a late run toward respectability.

Chicago won 97 games last season en route to its second straight NL Central but endured another playoff sweep, this time to the Los Angeles Dodgers. In response, the Cubs signed Milton Bradley, Kevin Gregg and Aaron Miles to boost their payroll to $135.1 million -- third highest in the majors behind the New York Yankees' $201.5 million and the Mets' $135.8 million.

The investment seemed to be paying off when they went 14-5 coming out of the All-Star break and moved percentage points ahead of St. Louis in the division. Since then, Chicago has dropped 14 of 20 to fall nine games behind the Cardinals and eight back of Colorado in the wild-card race.

The slump has seen Gregg lose the closer's job, and Miles' average dip to .177 during an 0-for-17 slump. The mercurial Bradley, who's batting .259 with 11 homers and 35 RBIs in the first season of a three-year, $30 million contract, stirred things up Thursday by complaining of hatred from Chicago's fans.

Those fans booed Bradley again Thursday after he failed to drive in the tying run from second and grounded out to end a 5-4 loss to visiting Washington.

"We've had enough problems here with injuries and so forth that we don't really need any more controversy of any sorts," manager Lou Piniella said.

While the Cubs (63-62) dropped two of three to the majors' worst team, the Mets (58-70) snapped a five-game skid Thursday with a season high-tying 17 hits in a 10-3 victory in Florida. Every starter had at least two hits, and Daniel Murphy drove in three runs.

Injuries have derailed New York's hopes of erasing the sting of late collapses in its previous two seasons. All-Stars Carlos Beltran, David Wright and Carlos Delgado are among 13 Mets currently on the disabled list.

The Mets, fourth in the NL East, also lost pitchers Johan Santana, J.J. Putz and Oliver Perez for the season in a three-day span this week.

"This is the year for this to happen," manager Jerry Manuel said. "Hopefully, we'll have some healthier days coming."

In Perez's place, left-hander Pat Misch (0-1, 4.09 ERA) will make his first start of the season Friday. The suburban Chicago native is 0-8 in 53 career appearances, and 0-5 with a 6.95 ERA in 11 starts.

Misch has a 7.36 ERA in three career relief appearances against Chicago.

The Cubs will counter with All-Star left-hander Ted Lilly (9-8, 3.40), who has received no run support since returning from left shoulder inflammation on Aug. 17, wasting his 1.50 ERA over two outings.

Lilly got charged with a 2-0 loss in Los Angeles last Saturday, when he limited the Dodgers to two runs and three hits over six innings.

Lilly has beaten the Mets once in each of the previous two seasons -- both times at Wrigley -- and posted a 1.98 ERA in those games.

The Cubs won four of six meetings against New York last season, including both games in Chicago. These teams meet for three more games in New York over Labor Day weekend.