Showing posts with label preview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label preview. Show all posts

Friday, July 30, 2010

Giants/Dodgers Series Preview

BEAT LA Pictures, Images and Photos
Grab your Orange and Black its time to fill AT&T Park with it and drive the Dodger blue out of our beautiful ballpark. The Giants come into this game with a 7-3 record in their last ten games and the Dodgers come in at 5-5 in their last ten. After the Marlins series the Giants saw an offensive explosion except on get away day where they mustered one hit and saw Buster Posey's hit streak come to and end at 21.

Game 1: Carlos Monasterios (3-2)(3.30 ERA)vs Tim Lincecum (10-4)(3.12 ERA)
This game works in the Giants favor, for one its Orange Friday. The G-Men are still undefeated on Orange Fridays. I look for the streak to continue and they seem to come out on all cylinders during the first game of the series. I expect a full house tonight and chants of he's a bum will rain throughout China Basin. Giants take game one behind the Two time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.

Game 2: Chad Billingsley (9-5)(4.00 ERA)vs Barry Zito (8-6)(3.49 ERA)
If the Giants are going to lose a game in this series it will be this one. Billingsley shut the G-Men down in his last start but he will pitch on short rest (big move by Joe Torre either smart or incredibly stupid) The Crazy Crabbers will be at this game so more details on that later. We will hope to get some BEAT LA chants going.

Game 3: Clayton Kershaw (10-5)(2.96 ERA)vs Matt Cain (8-8)(3.14 ERA)
This game will be the biggest game of the Giants season so far. For one it is a get away day, also we will be on Sunday Night Baseball. Its time to show the East Coast why we have the best fans in baseball, we have Cainer on the mound expect a Playoff Atmosphere at this game. Its about time they gave the Giants a shot on National Television so if you are attending this game get some AT&T Park originals going like HE'S A BUM! Chants. I'm expecting a Giants victory here.

Conclusion: I would be very happy with two of three but I am pulling for a sweep. Expect 40,000 plus for each game and an awesome atmosphere.

Keys to the Series:

1: Fans; get loud and stay loud, make every Dodger player and fan know that this your house.

2: Bullpen, the starting pitching will be there its up to you guys to get to Wilson and finish games.

3: Early Offense: Kurkow always says "The money lies in the RBI's" so lets get some early and make the pitching that much better

Do these three things and the Dodgers will never want to come back to the friendly confines of AT&T Park.

If your on Twitter you should definitely follow the The Crazy Crabbers. If you're not you should really consider joining, lots of good stuff going on there.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Giants and Red Sox Series Preview


The Giants return home to face the streaking Red Sox after a disappointing road trip. The Red Sox who started off the season slow have found their stride and have been on a tear for 2 months now. In June they have a record of 15-7.

The Giants who are 12-9 on the month are coming back from Houston and Toronto where they expected to do much better. In Toronto they got good pitching the first 2 games of the series but couldn't capitalize. Then they failed to win the series against the struggling Astros who the team had owned earl in the season.

This series begins a very tough stretch for the Giants where they face the Red Sox and Dodgers at home before going on the road to face the Rockies Brewers and Nationals all without any off days.

Match Ups:

Tim Wakefield, RHP (2-5, 5.33) vs. Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (5-5, 2.90)

Sanchez was not sharp in his last outing in Toronto where he failed to get out of the 3rd inning. He seemed to lose his concentration after a series of pitches and fielding mistakes didn't go his way. This was a classic Sanchez meltdown where he had stuff but just didn't have his mind right to be able to harness it. Hopefully he is able to get things back on track because the Red Sox lineup is not forgiving and is incredibly patient.

From MLB.com:


Red Sox: Wakefield turned in a solid performance in his last start, giving up five hits and three earned runs over 6 1/3 innings against the Dodgers. He left with the lead, but the bullpen couldn't hold it. The Red Sox went on to win the game on a walkoff hit by Dustin Pedroia. Wakefield has made four starts in June, going 1-2 with a 4.67 ERA. Wakefield has made just one career start at AT&T Park and it came in 2004, when he gave up four hits and seven runs (six earned) over four innings. Wakefield took a no-decision in that one. He is 2-3 with a 6.03 ERA lifetime against the Giants.

Giants: Sanchez is coming off his shortest outing of the season, a 2 2/3-inning, three-run effort at Toronto last Sunday. Sanchez walked five in that game, which the Giants still won, 9-6. San Francisco is 8-6 in Sanchez's starts. Though he has thrown only six quality starts, opponents have hit just .205 off him. Sanchez has excelled at AT&T Park, where he's 4-2 with a 2.32 ERA, with an opponents' average of .190.

Clay Buchholz, RHP (10-4, 2.47) vs. Joe Martinez, RHP (0-1, 4.91)
There was some speculation that Martinez may not make this start and that he was just penciled in and that perhaps the Giants would go with Madison Bumgarner. It doesn't seem to be the case and I have not read otherwise at this point but I guess it is not outside of the realm of possibility that it will be a last second move.

In his last start Martinez was effective and was really just had some bad luck with ground balls going for hits. If he can keep the Giants in the game and try to eat some innings it will be a job well done.

From MLB.com:
Red Sox: With his win on Sunday against the Dodgers, Buchholz joined four other pitchers as the only 10-game winners in the Majors this season and continues to make his case for why he should be selected to this year's All-Star Game in Anaheim. While nothing was easy for the righty in the first two innings of Sunday's contest -- the first inning required 30 pitches -- he settled down to pitch 6 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, giving up only three hits and striking out four. He also did not give up a hit from the third through sixth innings. In his past eight starts, Buchholz is 7-1 with a 1.62 ERA. The righty has an overall record of 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA in Interleague Play and has never faced the Giants.

Giants: While working a career-high 6 1/3 innings in his only Giants start this season, against Baltimore on June 15, Martinez allowed four runs and eight hits in a 4-1 loss. The sinkerball specialist had his best pitch working, but several grounders found holes or went for infield singles. Scheduled off-days prompted the Giants to skip Martinez's next turn, but he tuned up for his outing against the Red Sox by throwing a scoreless inning of relief, though he left the bases loaded by allowing two hits and a walk.

Jon Lester, LHP (8-3, 3.03) vs. Tim Lincecum, RHP (8-2, 2.86)
Lincecum was back throwing with confidence and had his best start in over a month. There were good signs with some signs of life back on his fast ball. In the last couple of years Lincecum has been able to turn good mechanics into a string of strong starts, hopefully that is the case here going against a good Red Sox team.

From MLB.com:
Red Sox: The power lefty continues to turn in one solid outing after another. His last start was no different as Lester gave up six hits and one run over six innings against the Rockies. He walked one and struck out six, throwing just 90 pitches. Lester could have gone longer in that start, but manager Terry Francona sent up David Ortiz as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded. Lester has given up two earned runs or fewer in six of his last seven starts. In seven road starts this season, Lester is 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA. This will be his first career start against the Giants. In his four starts in June, Lester is 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA.

Giants: Lincecum has successfully put his May slump behind him by winning his past three starts. He has a 1.64 ERA in that span, a start contrast to the 4.95 ERA he logged in six starts last month. Lincecum, who has never faced the Red Sox, is 5-2 with a 3.13 ERA at AT&T Park. Of his 15 starts this year, 12 have been quality outings. He has recorded 10 strikeouts or more in four outings this year and has pitched 23 such games in his career. Facing tough opponents is nothing new for Lincecum, who has confronted teams with winning records in 10 starts.

Predictions:This will be a tough series and with the bottom of the rotation going it may be a hard one to win even at home. The Red Sox nation will show up in force and will be annoying as usual the tickets to the game will be expensive, these are things that we know for sure.

I have a bad feeling about this series and honestly wouldn't be surprised if the team is swept. However I have a feeling that the team can battle for at least one and should be close enough in the other games to have a shot at a series victory.

That may be vague and covering all of my bases but really I have no confidence in the team doing bad or good. In fact this team is schizophrenic in the way it plays that you never really can tell what you are going to get. But alas that is Giants baseball it is torture and makes you want to drink.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Giants and Astros Series Preview


The Giants got off to a slow start offensively against the Blue Jays, they managed to score 2 runs in the first two games wasting great starts by both Matt Cain and Barry Zito. The team finally managed some runs in the finale where they picked up Jonathan Sanchez who had a rare meltdown start and couldn’t even get out of the third inning. I am not sure what it is but if the offense had shown up earlier this could have been a winning series instead of just salvaging a victory.

The Astros are in the middle of a bad slump; they have lost 4 in a row and are 5 and 10 in their last 15 games. So maybe there is still the possibility of having a .500 road trip for the Giants before coming home for a tough stretch with 17 games in 17 days before the All-Star break. The Giants have a difficult home stand with Boston and the Dodgers come to town, before embarking on a grueling 11 game road trip to Colorado, Milwaukee, and Washington.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Giants/Pirates Series Preview

The Giants are very happy May is over, coming into June with a 1-1 record but going away from the friendly confines of AT&T Park. As they roll in to PNC Park there is one major question, what Giants offense will we see, the one that puts up 12 runs or the one where we get 3 hits and make the opposing pitcher a "Cy Young" contender.

Game 1: Jonathan Sanchez (3-4 2.9ERA) vs Zach Duke (3-5 5.09ERA)
The Giants look to start the series with a win and hopefully they do behind Johnathan Sanchez, who is not pitching bad during the early part of the season. Im looking forward to seeing the Giants put up at least a couple runs for him. The big question in this game will be what will Buster Posey do in his first road game on the season.

Game 2: Todd Wellemeyer (3-4 5.03ERA) vs Paul Maholm (3-4 3.9ERA)
Really the only thing in this game is which Wellemeyer do we see? His performance will dictate this game.

Game 3: Tim Lincecum (5-2 3.14ERA) vs Ross Ohlendorf (0-3, 4.26 ERA)
If Lincecum figures it out this game could be magical, im not calling "no hitter" but watch out Pirates.

Keys to the Series:
1. Keep Andrew McCutchen of the base path, he could be what decides the series lets make other Pirates beat us.
2. Patience at the plate, be selective beat the pitcher dont let him beat you.
3. RISP, if we dont do this it could be a sweep.

Predictions:
Giants take 2-3 loose Game 2, Lincecum figures it out and returns to his "freaky" ways.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Giants vs. Diamondbacks Series Preview

The Giants were swept the last time they faced the Diamondbacks but that was in there desert launch pad and only two games. The Giants are looking to continue to right the ship that over the last couple of series has played poorly including a stretch over over 20 innings where the team couldn't get a run across the plate.

Yesterday the Giants did the improbable and had a come from behind victory, which I think helps them quite a bit because things were looking like trouble if they lost the two games where Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito started.

The Diamondbacks are in the middle of their own troubles after being swept against Colorado and have dropped 4 straight. This is a match-up against two teams that have much higher expectations then the results thus far have shown this season.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Giants vs. A's Series Preview Link Edition

I don't have a lot of time today for a regualr series preview so I will out source this to my fellow Giants bloggers.

Michael Urban of CSN Bay Area breaks down the teams by position.  He gies the Giants an edge in most of the positions which I can't argue with. Decent read and worth checking out.

McCovey Chronicles in the usual tounge firmly planted in cheek style breakdown the series. Grant cautions Giants fans to watch out for the A's pitchers and pretty much all pitchers in general as they are the ones that seem to make Giants hitters look poor. Don't miss the back handed diss of the way Giants have gone about developing position players which is the most striking differences between the two teams. He also makes the argument that interleague play is boring and that the rivaly kind of sucks.

Remember 51' has a different take on the rivalry, Kevin says that it is an important part of Northern California baseball and I have to say that I agree with him on this. I don't like interleague play in general but this series is okay with me.

My own two cents... I think that the A's remind me too much of the Giants/Padres type teams and that could lead to some torturous baseball this weekend. Lots of low scoring games and really bad offense from both sides. I hope the Giants win a few because things don't usually tend to go well at the Collesuem and the team isn't playing great ball right now. The crabbers will be at the game tonight so hopefully we bring some good mojo and a Giants Win.

Monday, May 17, 2010

What a Difference a Weekend Makes

On Thursday night of last week I was in the dumps. The Giants had been swept by the first place Padres and look awfull during the whole series with all of the breaks falling the other way.

Almost the exact opposite happened against the Astro's who mustbe glad to not be seeing us again until June. Except for the first game of the series the Giants got just enough to win the games with Brian Wilson closing the door in heart attack fashion.

The Padres after the sweep went on and got swept by the suddenly hot Dodgers which brought the Giants back to within a game and a half of first place.

Things looked bad and I was in the dumps and even with things going the teams way I can't help but feel irrational pessimism. Petco is still a park where the Giants lose when they throw one hitters, it is still a place where David Eckstein is as scary of a hitter as Barry Bonds in his prime and the Padres pitching staff is full of Cy Young canidates. There is nothing to like, I want to say that the sweep is a mirage, that Houston sucks and we would suck if we didn't sweep them but gosh darn it I keep wanting to believe.

However I will not be sucked in again. This is a team that will do somethings to build your confidence in them and then blow it all up over the next couple fo days. It is enticing to think that maybe the Padres confidence is shaken but that wasn't the case for the Giants and Astros, so I see no reason to think that the same can't and won't happen for San Deigo. I am not even going to turn on the games (I say this but I am always sucked in to atleast listening) becuase it takes years off of my life. The games will be close and the Giants will lose and if I don't prepare myself the irrational pessimism will only grow.

Matchups:

We have a replay of two of the 3 matchups Matt Cain against Clayton Richard and Jonathan Sanchez against almost perfect Mat Latos. The only way we win these games is if we get two perfect games in a row anything short and the baseball god will smite the team and grant the bums of San Deigo some victories.

Predictions:

I will be annoyed by every single batter in the Padres lineup. The Giants will get lots of opportunities to score runs but fail to get a hit/walk/balk/error or anything that can bring people in. The Padres pitchers will look super human against the Giants lineup as they slice the team up like a Friday night pizza.

The Padres will do just enough and have things break in their favor to win both games 2 to 1 tonight and 0 to -1 on Tuesday.

Prepare for torture.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Giants and Astros Series Preview:

I am not going to lie to you guys the Padres series was no fun. There was no magic inside, there was no offense, no defense and no wins.

The wheels fell off on the Giants on this one. I felt pretty optimistic coming into the series but now I think that the Padres are just the Kryptonite to this team. Every single player on the team is annoying and bugs me; they have no redeeming qualities and play in a brand new empty stadium with fair weather fans.

Let’s move on and just cover our eyes the next time we face these guys which is again next week. Poor Jonathan Sanchez is matched up against them again, maybe he will have some crazy reverse luck and give up 6 runs in 5 innings and the Giants will score 10 runs and steal him a win. Maybe with lowered expectations losses won’t feel as bad. Maybe they won’t sell enough tickets and just fold up their tents and forfeit the games.

Any way there are some more games this weekend. People will play, the Giants will give some nice stuff away for going to the games and the Padres will continue to haunt my dreams.

Friday, May 14: Todd Wellemeyer, RHP (1-3, 5.97) vs. Felipe Paulino, RHP (0-5, 4.67)

Hopefully the Astros guy is worse then Wellemeyer and the offense plays like they have something to prove. That is the best case scenario the more likely scenario the Giants start pressing on offense and Paulino cruises through 7 innings while only throwing 35 pitches, Wellemeyer blows up and the Giants are blown out but at least it is quick and painless. We can all turn off the TV after the third inning when it is 20-0 and the Giants are swinging at pickoff throws to first base.

Saturday, May 15: Tim Lincecum, RHP (4-0, 1.86) vs. Roy Oswalt, RHP (2-4, 2.63)

Lincecum pitches well and the bullpen blows the game for him. That is too easy and too down in the dumps, how about this Lincecum pitches a great game and the Giants win. I like that better I think that the other could happen but I just wont think about it.

Sunday, May 16: Barry Zito, LHP (5-1, 1.90) vs. Brett Myers, RHP (2-2, 3.52)

Barry Zito had a crappy outing but some how held it together from getting crazy out of control. I am going to say that he is back to good Zito but I can’t guarantee it. I am surprised that my pessimism allows me to write that at all.

I wouldn’t be surprised if things go completely off the tracks and we lose this one. I will just cross my fingers and take my happy pills

Predictions:

The Giants lose 2 out of 3 and make every pitcher look like a Cy Young candidate. The wheels fall off and Bruce Bochy overreacts by mixing up the lineup and putting Bengie Molina in the lead off spot because he has Veteran Savy and the hot hand and Eli Whiteside batting cleanup because he saved us from a perfect game being thrown.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Giants/Padres Series Preview

Hello Giants fans,

I would say this is the biggest series of the year so far.

Are the Padres for real? This question will begin to be answered this week. The Giants are 6-3 in May and are coming off a strong 4-2 road trip on the east coast where they swept a good marlins team and lost 2 of 3 from the Mets who seem to be the luckiest team in baseball. The Giants showed a lot of heart in the series fighting and clawing to tie games only to have the games slip through their grasp.

The Padres come into this game 4-4 in the month of May having taken 2 of 3 from the Astros in Houston. The currently sit at 19 and 12 which puts them one win head and a half game up on the Giants.

Game 1: Barry Zito (5-0 1.49 ERA) vs Wade LeBlance (2-0 1.16 ERA)
Barry seems to have found a good rhythm but Giants fans are waiting for the bad Barry to show up, I do not see this on this game, if the giants score early game 1 goes to the G-men.

Game 2: Matt Cain (2-1 2.79 ERA) vs Clayton Richard (1-2 3.34 ERA)

Matt Cain has been lights out his last two starts being able to locate anything he wants to throw anywhere he wants to throw it. If Cain has the ability to put away batters after two strikes and can keep hitters from fowling off so many pitches he should excel. The Giants need to score and score early, no reason why the Giants should not take game two.

Game 3: Jonathan Sanchez (2-2 3.00 ERA) vs Mat Latos (2-3 4.19 ERA)

Not to sound like a homer but if Sanchez does not kill himself with the walk and the hit batsmen Giants should take game three, and the sweep. If I am not mistaken didn't Sanchez the last time he faced them at home did he not no-hit them? And in his last outing against them on;y give up one hit? I think that he has the Padres number.

Keys to the series:

1. When facing Adrian Gonzalez the bases need to be clear. The Giants must make someone else beat them with the bat not him.


2. Score early and often.


3. The bullpen needs to be lights out and not kill loses for the starters like what happened on the road trip, just for the record The Freak should be 6-0 but that will be another post for another time.


I cant see anything less than 2 out of 3 and sweep would be clutch and hopwfully put the Giants in first place for good.


Let the Battle for West Coast Supremecy Begin

Monday, May 3, 2010

Giants and Marlins Series Preview:

The Giants head east for a six game road trip, the first stop is Miami and the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are 13-12 tied for third in the National League East. They boast a solid pitching stuff and a young lineup that has some pop through out the order. The team is lead by there solid 3-5 hitters of Hanley Ramirez, Jorge Cantu, and Dan Uggla. Keeping these bats quite and having patience against the Marlins pitching will be the key to winning this series.

The Giants are coming off an impressive home stand where they won all three series against 3 of the top teams in the National League and had a chance to sweep all three. The wins against solid opponents look nice on the resume and hopefully give the team some confidence heading into this road trip.

The Giants are skipping Wellemeyer’s turn in the rotation which will give them the top three guys going in this series. Hopefully that leads to a fourth consecutive series win.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Phillies Coming to Town, Hide the Woman and Children this is Going to be Trouble

The Phillies are coming to town and I feel like it could very well be trouble for the offensively challenged Giants. The Giants won the series against the Cardinals while scoring only 6 runs. The teams run per game has crashed back down to earth after the fast start and unless some guys start to get hot it is not likely to return to that level.

Another big change from early in the season is that the offense has struggled to put together strings of hits. This team isn’t going to win a lot games with the long ball and will rely on stringing together 3-4 hits to score some runs. As we saw in the Cardinals game on Sunday the team had 9 hits and 3 extra base hits but failed to put them together to score any runs.

They did not follow through on their winning formula (good pitching and timely hitting) at all and it showed with them getting blanked. This will not cut it as the Phillies lineup will be a hard one to keep from scoring runs even with the Giants pitching staff and if they want to have a chance we will need to get those hits together and not spread out.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Giants/Cardinals Series Preview

Okay, so with that awful Padres series over there is not much to look forward to but at least the G-Men are coming home to the friendly confines of AT&T Park on Friday night to open up a big weekend series with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Cards are coming in with a record of (10-5) having won six of there last 10 games. They sport a potent lineup with the demi-god Albert Pujols and a good supporting cast of Colby Rasmus, Ryan Ludwick and Matt Holliday. All of which would arguably be the best or second best bat in the Giant's lineup.

The Giants on the other hand are floating just above the .500 mark at (8-7) having lost some tough games on there So-Cal road trip which couldn't end fast enough. Hopefully being back at home and having an off day will do the trick, other wise Bochey needs to consult with someone to fix the mojo of this team.

In this series there are three very good pitching matchups and the wild card will be if the Giants can get back to their timely hitting ways that they had earlier in the season.

Game 1: Jaime Garcia (0-1) 0.69 ERA vs Tim Lincecum (3-0) 0.90 ERA

Anytime Timmy is on the mound the Giants have a chance to win, so it is my opinion that the Giants take game one. Tim has been as good as the last two season if not better. I don't think that there is anyone who would want a different guy on the mound to try to stop this 4 game skid, it will even be nice to have his bat in the lineup. To top it off it is snuggie night, hopefully the baseball god smile upon this.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Gaint's lose in Extra Innings, Looking ahead, Bumgarner Update

Matt Cain was Matt Cained last night and the Petco Park continued to be a place where the Giants struggle. The Giants had chances and only had one side of the quality pitching and timely hitting winning formula for the game. They were in it for most of the night which makes it all the more painfull.


Cain pitched fairly well going 6 innings while allowing 8 base runners and striking out 4. He gave up 2 runs and really deserved better than a no decision but I have to say that if this was 2 years ago it would have been an loss for him. On a side note is anyone else getting concerned about the falling strike out rate, I guess it isn’t that bad seeing that the walks have come down at the same time and he sports a 4-1 strike out to walk ratio. I think that if the walks start creeping up it will be time to worry.

The offense last night continued to be punchless minus Juan Uribe who had his second homer in as many games. The offense this team showed in the begging of the year is beginning to regress to what I would have more expected it to be.
I am skirting around the issue because I have really tried to forget it but David Eckstein hit a walk off home run. This is the same David Eckstein that has only 35 home runs in 5260 career at bats, not exactly the type of guy you expect the walk off from but I guess that things are evening out for us because how many times are you going to expect Edgar “I am as old as a dinosaur not to mention I look like one” Renteria to hit a 3 run bomb off of Billy Wagner.
So this loss hurts, and the Giants fall to 1-3 in one run games which I imagine there will be a lot of this season.

Looking Ahead:

Tonight’s game matches up two strong arms. Jonathan Sanchez is coming off a strong start where he went 8 dominating innings but consistency has always plagued Sanchez. Hopefully he continues to pitch well and this is the team that he had his near perfect game against last year. The Padres trot out Mat Latos who had a bit of a rough outing against the Braves but is a promising young arm with a lot of talent. This usually doesn’t bode well for the Giants offense but hopefully they can be patient and force Latos to come into the zone and get some good stuff to hit.

Wednesday’s game is a chance at redemption for Todd Wellemeyer who was abused by the Dodgers in his last outing. He faces Jon Garland who has been fairly solid this season. Hopefully the Giants are not depending on this game to escape a sweep because I would not have high hopes.

Bumgarner Watch:

Mad Bum threw 6 innings in Fresno allowing 4 base runners while striking out 3 and walking 1. He gave up only 1 earned run and was around the strike zone all night with 51 of 74 pitches for strikes.

Also encouraging is that it was reported that he was sitting at the low 90’s and topped out around 93 for the game after spending time with Giants pitching guru Dick Tidrow working on mechanics. This is some well needed good news and pushes me away from the panic button. Hopefully this trend continues.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Giants vs. Dodgers Series Preview:

It is rivalry time again! For the first time of the 2010 season the Giants head down south to play the bums of LA. The Giants are off to a hot start and the Dodgers have sort of stumbled out of the gate. This will be the first big test for the Giants playing a good team away from the friendly confines of AT&T Park. A series win would do a lot to boost the confidence of this team, a loss would definitely throw some cold water on the hot start. All I can say hopefully it is better than the first trip down last year where they got swept.


The 2010 vintage Giants offense has shown signs of being much better than any other post Bonds team sitting 5th with over 5.5 runs per game. This may be unsustainable as most projections show that this offense should be much closer to 4.5 but why not enjoy the timely hitting that this team has shown. The Dodgers have one of the better lineups in the National league and should have little trouble scoring runs this season. The question and formula for winning for this team will always starts with the pitching so let’s check out the match ups.