San Francisco Giants Series Preview: Rivalry Renewed with Dodgers
After a long, tedious, and less-than-stellar start to the season, the San Francisco Giants took their first day off after 14 straight games to begin the season. The team’s first series after the mini-break will be against the Los Angeles Dodgers, their biggest rivals.
The Giants will enter this series with a dismal 4-10 record, having lost eight out of nine before the day off. The offense has been anemic for the most part, as Angel Pagan and Nori Aoki seem to be the only ones hitting consistently. Aoki and Pagan are batting a combined .330 (37-112), while the rest of the lineup owns a dismal .204 (76-372) average.
Joe Panik has heated up, as he has raised his average up to .283 with a four-game hit streak, after it fell as low as .176. During the hot streak, Panik has nine hits and two RBI.
Los Angeles comes into San Francisco riding a seven-game winning streak, and sits atop the National League West with a 9-3 record. They pulled a clean sweep of the Colorado Rockies over the weekend, knocking the 7-2 team out of first in the division.
More from Golden Gate Sports
- Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
- 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
- Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
- 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
- 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve
This series could turn out to be make or break for the Giants as they try to battle out of this early hole. Their rivals are entering the series hot, and will look to keep the Giants down.
Here are the pitching matchups for the three-game swing:
Game 1: Tim Lincecum vs. Brett Anderson
Lincecum (0-1, 2.25 ERA) has pitched well in his first pair of starts. He shut out the San Diego Padres over seven innings in his first outing, and pitched well against Colorado, but was bitten by one big mistake. Nolan Arenado hit a three-run home run in the first inning, on a curveball that stayed a little too high. It wasn’t a terrible pitch, and Arenado put a great swing on it, but in an 0-2 count, the curveball should have been in the dirt.
In his career against the Dodgers (26 games, 24 starts), Lincecum is 9-7 with a 3.38 ERA. Yasiel Puig has had Linceucm’s number, going 8-14 with a pair of doubles and a pair of triples. Andre Ethier might find his way into the lineup as well, as he is 14-51 with three doubles, two home runs, and seven RBI against Linecum.
Anderson has gotten off to a solid start for LA, as he is 1-0 with a 3.27 ERA and two quality starts in two outings. He’s faced the Giants three times in his career, going 0-2 with a 5.25 ERA. However, no Giants’ batter has a real extensive history with Anderson. Justin Maxwell is 2-3, and Buster Posey has an RBI double in four chances.
Game 2: Madison Bumgarner vs. Clayton Kershaw
This is the pitching matchup that everyone wants to see. Two of the best lefties in the business will square off: the reigning NL Cy Young and MVP winner Kershaw, versus the NLCS and World Series MVP Bumgarner.
Bumgarner is still looking to find his stride, as he has scuffled through three starts. He is 1-1 with a 5.29 ERA, but his last start in Arizona was encouraging. He found a breaking ball for the first time, but still gave up a pair of home runs and four runs total.
Against the Dodgers, Bumgarner is 11-5 in his career with a 2.54 ERA. He has had particular success against Adrian Gonzalez, who is off to a roaring start, holding him to just four hits (two doubles) in 35 at-bats. Puig is 6-22 against Bumgarner, with a pair of homers.
Kershaw hasn’t been particularly great either, with a 1-1 record and 4.42 ERA. He gave up three runs (just one earned) in six innings, with 12 strikeouts, against the Rockies in his last outing to earn his first win.
Posey is 11-60 with a home run and five RBI when facing the all-world lefty. Andrew Susac could find himself starting, as he is 3-7 with a double in his young career against Kershaw. He would likely catch, moving Posey to first, and giving Brandon Belt (3-27, 13 K’s vs. Kershaw) a chance to sit.
Bumgarner and Kershaw have squared off three times in the past, with Bumgarner winning two of those duals. Despite that, Kershaw owns a better ERA (1.66 to 3.32) and WHIP (1.015 to 1.211) and more strikeouts (23 to 19) in more innings (21.2 to 19)
Game 3: Zack Greinke vs. TBD
More from San Francisco Giants
- Thank you SF Giants for a fun, wild, surprising 2020 season
- SF Giants lose in heartbreaking fashion and miss 2020 MLB playoffs
- SF Giants: Mike Yastrzemski named 2020 Willie Mac Award recipient
- SF Giants: Chadwick Tromp placed on IL with shoulder strain
- SF Giants: Tuesday’s game against the Seattle Mariners postponed
Greinke, an ace in his own right, has pitched like it so far this year. He is 2-0 with a 1.83 ERA and .712 WHIP in his three starts. He’s never lost against San Francisco while with the Dodgers, as he is 5-0 with a 1.58 ERA.
Posey is the only Giant who’s had success against Greinke, going 6-18 with a pair of RBI in his career. Belt, Panik, Gregor Blanco, and Brandon Crawford are a combined 7-46 (.152) facing Greinke.
This would be Jake Peavy‘s normal rotation spot, but with him on the disabled list with a bad back, manager Bruce Bochy will have to use one of his long relievers in his place. That would mean either Ryan Vogelsong or Yusmeiro Petit will start.
Vogelsong has struggled mightily in his first season as a reliever, with a 10.45 ERA in 10.1 innings. Petit hasn’t been his normal shutdown self as the long man, with a 4.91 ERA in 7.1 innings, but he’s had good outings sandwiched between bad ones.
Susac will likely get a lot of at-bats in this series, with the two lefties starting in the first two games. He’s slated to be the starting catcher for the first game, and his past success, albeit limited, will likely push him in again when Kershaw takes the mound.
The Giants will need to find a way to score some runs, and some of their big bats will have to get it going. Posey is hitting just .229, Crawford is hitting an even .200, despite leading the team in home runs (three) and RBI (seven), and Casey McGehee is off to a slow start with his new team (.194) and has been dealing with a balky knee. Hopefully the day off allowed some of these guys to clear their head, and rest their bodies for this series.
It’s no secret that the fans are frustrated, but the players are not happy either. If there was ever a team to right the ship against, facing your rivals, who are sitting in first place, would be a great place to start.
#BeatLA