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San Francisco Giants Get First Look At Rebuilt Padres

By Sean Bialaszek

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The first series of the season is over, and for the San Francisco Giants, it couldn’t come soon enough. Despite taking two out three against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were the worst team in baseball last year, the losses piled up for San Francisco.

Matt Cain found himself on the disabled list before throwing a regular season pitch, and Jake Peavy dealt with a back problem. Brandon Belt strained his groin in the second game of the series, and missed the finale.

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Now, the Giants head to PETCO Park, where they will face the new-look San Diego Padres for the first time this year. The Friars had a busy offseason, adding huge pieces like Derek Norris, Justin Upton, Wil Myers and Matt Kemp. The lineup will be completely different from last season, when the Padres were among the worst offensive teams in baseball.

Here’s the pitching matchups for the four-game set in San Diego.

Game 1: Tim Hudson vs. Ian Kennedy

Game one has a quick turnaround for the Giants, as the series finale against Arizona ended around 10pm, and the season opener in PETCO is scheduled to start at 3:40.

Hudson will make his regular season debut, and after a fairly solid Spring Training, he will look to match his early season success from 2014. In April and May last year, Hudson posted a 19.2 ERA. Following offseason ankle surgery, a promising Spring was good, but Hudson will need to stabilize a rotation that is far from stable.

Kennedy is coming off a solid season in 2014, when he went 13-13 with a 3.63 ERA and 1.289 WHIP for San Diego. The former 21-game winner is now the fourth starter in San Diego, but he is one of the better fourth pitchers is the game.

In his career, Kennedy has started 20 times against the Giants, and owns a 9-4 record and 2.52 ERA.

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Game 2: Tim Lincecum vs. Brandon Morrow

Lincecum is making his 2015 debut against the perfect team, as he has owned the Padres his entire career. Besides the no-hitters in each of the last two seasons, Lincecum is 18-6 with a 2.27 ERA in his career when facing San Diego.

After an offseason spent rebuilding himself as a pitcher, Lincecum looks to improve upon his last three season (32-38, 4.76 ERA) and become an anchor in the Giants’ rotation again.

The injury-prone Morrow has averaged just under 15 appearances over the last three years, and has a 3-6 record with a 5.65 ERA over the past two. He’s been marred by arm injuries over that span, with torn tendons in his hand and an entrapped radial nerve in his forearm, plus an oblique injury. Much like Lincecum, Morrow is looking to get back on track, but for different reasons.

Morrow has pitched once against San Francisco, a start in 2010 with the Toronto Blue Jays, and earned a no-decision with six innings of two run ball.

Game 3: Madison Bumgarner vs. James Shields

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    • We have our first World Series rematch of 2015, as Bumgarner beat Shields in games one and five of the Fall Classic, leading the Giants to the commissioner’s trophy.

    Bumgarner pitched well in the season opener, despite not having his best stuff on that night. He went seven innings, giving up six hits and just one run while relying mainly on his fastball. In his career against San Diego, Bumgarner is 6-4 with a 3.48 ERA.

    Shields pitched well against the Los Angeles Dodgers to open the season, and was in line for the victory over Clayton Kershaw before his bullpen gave it away. In six innings, Shields allowed two runs and struck out eight.

    Shields has just one regular season start against the Giants, a complete game shutout in 2014, but in the two World Series starts, Shields is 0-2, giving up seven runs in nine innings.

    Game 4: Jake Peavy vs. Tyson Ross

    Despite the back problems, Peavy is penciled in to start the series finale against his former team. Trainers were able to pop his SI joint back in to place, and he was able to throw a lengthy bullpen session on Wednesday. He said he had a “pep in his step“.

    Peavy will be opposed by Ross, who is coming off a breakout season in 2014. Despite a 13-14 record, Ross posted a 2.81 ERA, and earned an All-Star nod. Ross had a solid outing in game two against the Dodgers, allowing two runs in six innings, but earning a no decision.

    In seven appearances and five starts against San Francisco, Ross is 2-2 with a 3.78 ERA and 1.350 WHIP.

    The lineup will have to shift around, as Belt is likely to miss at least the first couple games of the series. Buster Posey is also likely to sit altogether, rather than playing first base, at some point against San Diego to keep his legs fresh through this stretch of 14 straight games without a day off to open the season.

    One lineup change that’s been discussed is moving Brandon Crawford up to fifth in the lineup. Amy Gutierrez from CSN Bay Area reported that manager Bruce Bochy is very impressed with Crawford’s start to the season, as he went 5-13 with three RBI, and a big opposite field home run against Arizona.

    The lineup as a whole is off to an impressive start, as the team is hitting .330, best in the National League, and has racked up 37 hits.

    The top of the order in particular has been stellar. The first three hitters (Nori Aoki, Joe Panik/Matt Duffy, and Angel Pagan) combined to go 16-36 (.444) with five RBI and seven runs scored in Arizona.

    The Giants and the Padres meet the first four times this year, and the Giants need to show to these new-look Padres that they are still the reigning World Champions, and that this is still their territory.

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