Giants’ Weekend Plans: Beat L.A.

Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports.

The San Francisco Giants sit atop the NL West, tied with the surprising Colorado Rockies. The Giants just dropped 2 of 3 to a struggling Pirates team to start the week. To finish the week, the Giants travel to Los Angeles to face the hated Dodgers.

While the Giants currently boast a 4-2 record against the Dodgers on the season, they have yet to face the best pitcher in baseball, Clayton Kershaw. They’ll get that pleasure on Sunday in what promises to be a great matchup with Tim Hudson scheduled to pitch for the Giants.

It’s still early May, but this could be a series that is looked back upon either fondly or with remorse. If the Giants sweep the Dodgers, they will put a 6.5 game gap between themselves and Los Angeles. If the Dodgers sweep the series, the Giants deficit will only be 1.5 games, but with a Dodger team that has failed to click quite yet, it’s better to have some cushion before they hit their stride.

A split in the series would leave the standings between these two rivals exactly where they stand now, with the Giants holding a 2.5 game lead, but the Colorado Rockies have been surging as of late, winning 9 of 11, and could take hold of the division.

Yes, it’s early in the season and some may argue that the Rockies aren’t a threat in the divisional race but can we be sure of that? Since 2010, Troy Tulowitzki has played in 122, 143, 47 and 126 games. Carlos Gonzalez, their other touted slugger, has played in 145, 127, 135 and 110 games in that same span. If this is the year that both of these stars stay healthy, the Rockies are definitely a force to be reckoned with within the division.

Back to this weekend. The pitching match-ups may favor the Dodgers statistically, but in a division series, especially between two rivals, anything is possible.

Thursday: Vogelsong (1-1, 4.60) vs. Beckett (0-1, 3.14)

Friday: Bumgarner (3-3, 3.18) vs. Maholm (1-2, 4.70)

Saturday: TBD (Petit?) vs. Greinke (5-1, 2.35)

Sunday: Hudson (4-2, 1.99) vs. Kershaw (2-0, 0.66)

Tonight’s matchup could be ruled a toss-up, as well as Sunday’s if you’re optimistic. Vogelsong may have figured something out in his last start in Atlanta, going 6 IP and allowing just 1 run. The same was also said about Tim Lincecum after his start against the Braves, but he was in trouble in all of his 4 IP, giving up 4 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks against the Pirates yesterday.

Friday night, the pitching advantage belongs to the Giants with their ace on the mound. Saturday afternoon the same can be said for the Dodgers with the red-hot Zack Greinke getting the call. This series should be evenly matched, and is the first time this season the Giants can put their stamp on the division. It’ll take some hits with RISP, or maybe even a HR that isn’t a solo shot, but it can be done.

The Giants have been wildly inconsistent this season. They started off 6-2, then went 5-8 slotting them at 11-10. Since the 5-8 streak, they’ve gone 10-3, with 2 of the 3 losses coming in the last 2 games. Is this the start of another losing streak for the Giants, or were they just saving some energy so they can #SweepLA? Let’s just hope that the series outcome is at the very least tallied by the number of Brandons each team has, Giants 3, Dodgers 1.