Sunday Night Baseball: Timmy vs. Teheran as Giants look to win series in Atlanta

After a pretty painful loss in Atlanta yesterday, Tim Lincecum looks to get the Giants back on the winning side of things, giving them both a winning road trip (4-4 as of now), and a winning record in June (6-6 now). A loss would mean both a sub-.500 road trip and a sub-.500 record this month. Since May, Lincecum has had two acceptable starts, and they both lasted seven innings, one recently against the Blue Jays at home, and the other at home against… the Braves. Tonight’s starter, Julio Teheran, was not his sparring mate that day in May at AT&T, however the young gun also had his own seven inning outing in San Francisco, giving up one homer in a 3 ER effort.

Jun 11, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) throws a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

In game previews, I like to use Brooks Baseball information they provide about the different pitcher’s performances for the year. In terms of pitch usage for Lincecum, this is how he’s used his pitches this year:

You can understand why Timmy struggles if that four-seamer isn’t hitting his spots: used 29% of the time to LHH and nearly half the time to RHH, hitters can either spit on the breaking balls, or wait back for them to come into the strike zone. With Lincecum, I hope for the fastball to hit the spots, and if that’s going, it shouldn’t be a bad night for the Giants.

June 5, 2013; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Julio Teheran (49) pitches in the first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

For the right-handed Teheran here’s what we’re looking at:

A three pitch mix to RHH mostly in the fastball, two-seamer, and slider, all quicker pitches. Uses the slider less to LHH, and will throw in the curveball and the changeup more often to those hitters. So many many lefties get to see that expanded arsenal tonight?

Five, as Brandon Crawford moves back into the two spot, and Nick Noonan gets a start, and in his last one he went two-for-five in the Giants’ farewell bashing of the Pirates. The Braves will throw this out there for your Sunday Night viewing pleasure:

Andrelton Simmons still has a .281 on base percentage, has only two stolen bases, and I realize B.J. Upton is struggling, but come on, Fredi Gonzalez.

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Other notes, specifically on Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval, and I’ll let the beat writers take this one:

Really some medically fascinating performance enhancing stuff there (to me) that Pagan gets to have. I just want him to be as close to 100% as possible, and I understand why surgery wouldn’t be an attractive option — 6-8 weeks is not a short time. Good news on the Panda, wouldn’t mind having him back out there.

Game time is 5:05PM PST, and you can find the game on ESPN.