Rivalry Series: Giants To Duke It Out With Dodgers

The bottom dwelling Miami Marlins embarrassed the injury ridden Giants this weekend in San Francisco, winning the series with a record of 3 games to 1.

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The Giants will hop on I-5 south for a trek down to Los Angeles, looking to erase the Marlins series from their heads, which should be no problem, as they take on their heated rival Dodgers for three games. The Dodgers sit in last place of the National League West, but if the last series proved anything, the Giants should not take the Dodgers lightly.

They’ll go from facing one young budding star in Giancarlo Stanton, to L.A. rookie sensation, Yasiel Puig.

Puig provides HUGE power to the top of the Dodgers lineup, so the Giants will get to meet him for the first time early in game one, where he’s batting in the two hole. Puig has 6 homeruns in the month of June thus far.

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Pitching to him and the rest of the Dodgers in game one is Madison Bumgarner. He pitched very solidly his last outing, in a win against the Padres, logging 8 strikeouts in 7 innings pitched, holding San Diego to 2 runs. The Giants won the game 4-2.

Last time the Dodgers faced Bumgarner was the second game of the season, where he locked the Dodgers down in 8 shutout innings for the win.

He’ll matchup against fellow lefty, Hyun-Jin Ryu. The Giants have been a menace to Ryu, rocking him and handing him two losses in his starts against them this year.

They bat a team average of. 356 against him, with Hunter Pence notably smacking him around, going 4-6 in his at bats collectively against Ryu. The Giants will look to continue the trend.

Per a Tweet from Andrew Baggarly of Comcast Sportsnet:

"@CSNBaggs:  Mike Kickham has joined the Giants in LA. No move yet but he’s expected to pitch in Gaudin’s spot tomorrow."

Presumably, the rookie Kickham will throw opposite Dodgers’ right hander Stephen Fife.

Fife has an unimpressive 1-4 record but had a quality last start where he pitched 6 innings, striking out 6 Padres, only walking 1 batter in a no decision for him, and a loss for the Dodgers.

Kickham is making only his second major league start, the first since the game in Oakland against the A’s. Since then, he’s been in Triple A Fresno.  He showed some flashes of promise in his very short major league debut, with 3 strikeouts in 2.1 innings pitched.

The third and last game of this rivalry series will feature Tim Lincecum versus Clayton Kershaw.

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This matchup used to be one of the premier pitching duels in the major leagues, but with Lincecum’s struggles this year, the matchup looks to be a bit lopsided with Kershaw having a dominant 2.06 ERA despite a .500 record with 5-5.

Lincecum has a 4-7 record and 4.52 ERA but did have a very solid, quality start last outing against Miami. He struck out 8 Fish and only walked 1 in his 7 innings and even hit a triple, but got a no decision in the Giants 6-3 eventual loss.  He’ll look to keep that form against former ace counterpart Kershaw.

The Giants swept the Dodgers in their last series in May. They’ll play hard to earn the same result.

Notes:

Giants: Angel Pagan will undergo surgery.

Pablo Sandoval returns to the lineup.

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Jean Machi optioned to Fresno; George Kontos recalled.