CHICAGO -- The Chicago Cubs have featured one of the best lineups in baseball this season.Lately, however, the Cubs have sputtered at the plate. The team has lost three of its past four games against right-handed starters Zach Davies, Junior Guerra, Miguel Gonzalez and James Shields.Cubs manager Joe Maddon wants to see the slump come to a stop when his players welcome the Chicago White Sox to Wrigley Field on Wednesday night. The Cubs dropped the first two games of the annual crosstown battle Monday and Tuesday on the South Side before the series shifted north.I think theyre taking advantage of our youth, Maddon said of opposing pitchers after Tuesdays 3-0 loss to the White Sox. Primarily, we have to not expand the strike zone. Weve been expanding a little bit against these guys. Weve got to keep them in the zone, and obviously when they make a mistake, its got to be hit hard and kept fair. We have not done that. We fought back a couple games ... but overall, the starting pitching the last four games has forced us out of our game plan.Despite a recent blip, the Cubs (59-40) possess the best record in the National League. A star-studded roster became even deeper this week as the team acquired left-handed closer Aroldis Chapman from the New York Yankees. Chapman joined the Cubs on Tuesday and could make his team debut at Wrigley Field.Meanwhile, the White Sox (50-50) have climbed back to .500 thanks to a four-game winning streak that included three straight walk-off victories against the Detroit Tigers and Cubs. The White Sox won two of three games at Wrigley Field last season and are 27-25 all-time at the Friendly Confines.Cubs right-hander Jason Hammel (9-5, 3.35 ERA) will look to win his third straight outing when he takes the mound against the White Sox. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound hurler is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA in two starts since the All-Star break. He is 4-1 with a 2.70 ERA in eight starts this season at Wrigley Field.Hammel, 33, has not faced the White Sox as a member of the Cubs. He is 1-2 with a 4.01 ERA in nine games (four starts) against the South Siders, whom he last faced in 2013 with the Baltimore Orioles.Right-hander Anthony Ranaudo (1-0, 17.18 ERA) is set to make his team debut with the White Sox. The 26-year-old opened the season with the Texas Rangers before he was traded to Chicago on May 12 for right-handed pitching prospect Matt Ball. The White Sox recalled him from Triple-A Charlotte on Sunday to fill the roster spot created by Chris Sales five-day suspension for destroying team equipment.Although Ranaudo always has tantalized scouts -- then-Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein selected him in the supplemental first round (39th overall) in 2010 -- he has yet to excel in the majors. Ranaudo is 5-4 with a 6.33 ERA in 13 career games (nine starts). In two relief appearances with Texas earlier this season, he allowed seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. He walked eight and struck out two.At the plate, White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu has started to heat up after a slow start to the season. Abreu has reached base in 43 of his past 46 games. He is hitting .276 with 11 home runs and 56 RBI, but he has gone a career-high 26 consecutive games without going deep.Abreu clubbed 36 home runs in 2014 and 30 home runs last season. This season, he is on pace to hit 17.You can see that there is probably some frustration with the homers and the expectations he puts on himself, White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. Right now, I think hes a lot better off at the plate just mechanically, mentally, all that stuff that goes into it. Hes just a better hitter right now. You go through periods where you dont swing it very well, but right now hes in a pretty good spot. Devon Hall Jersey . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. Jevon Carter Jersey .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. http://www.cheapjerseysauthenticnba.us/melvin-frazier-jersey/ . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Josh Okogie Jersey . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Troy Brown Jr. Jersey . It was Kerbers third final of the year after losing to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia in Monterrey in April and to Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in Tokyo two weeks ago. The 10th-ranked German improved her record in finals to 3-5. South Africa have identified the first and last hours as the time when the pink ball is at its most dangerous but have concluded that it is not the hand grenade it was hyped up to be in the lead up to the day-night Test.Kyle Abbott was South Africas most successful bowler, picking up 3 for 38 from 25 overs, but the only wicket to fall between the 23rd and 87th overs was the run-out of Steven Smith, as Australia claimed a potentially handy first-innings lead.We did expect it to do a lot more, Abbott said. Theres periods of the game where it does a bit. If its new, early in the morning it did a bit then it kind of went quiet after tea, [that] seemed like the best time to bat and then when the light dipped [it got harder again]. I dont think it has lived up to its hype and expectation.Abbott explained that Faf du Plessis day one declaration was an attempt to give South Africa two bites at that new ball, in the two periods where we feel the ball will do the most and that was late last night and early this afternoon. Usman Khawaja was the main block on their progress, so far carrying his bat through three-and-a-half sessions, but South Africa hoped to take advantage of aany assistance on the third afternoon to wrap up the innings.dddddddddddd.Tomorrow is going to be key, Abbott said. If we can pick up the four wickets and not have a deficit of anything 100 and above, we would be pretty confident in knocking off and posting a score after that.The first 15 to 20 overs are going to really testing and I think majority of the wickets have fallen in that period. When its our turn to bat again, we are going to identify that. It seems to be getting better but as pitches naturally do, its going to deteriorate.On a personal note, this was the first time Abbott had played two consecutive Tests and hoped this could be the start of a run in the side for him, having replaced the injured Dale Steyn.The key for me this game coming on the back of Hobart was not to go searching. And not think that because I am taking wickets, I need to take another nine. Thats not the case. I dont look too far ahead. Hopefully it could be the start of an extended run. Its not in my hands - actually it is - I can only bowl well I suppose. 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