Sunday’s #BeatLA Lineups and Pre-Gamer: Giants go for series win versus All Star Kershaw

The last time the Giants won a series was the June 17-19th set at home against the San Diego Padres. Since then, they’ve been unable to capitalize against the Marlins, Dodgers, Rockies, and Reds, and now have a chance to set themselves up for a winning homestand if they can pull off a victory against the Dodgers. As with every series, it would not be Giants and Dodgers without Clayton Kershaw throwing for the SoCal squad, and we know he can present plenty of problems for San Francisco. Today’s Dodger lineup, with Matt Kemp still sitting out:

Jul 2, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (22) during the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Dodgers won 8-0. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

That is Adrian Gonzalez in the third slot if you don’t know what the “Titan” name is all about. The only guy that was able to drive in runs yesterday for the Dodgers in Tim Federowicz is not in the lineup so that means the Dodgers should get shutout today, right? It’s fun to dream, but moving on, we’ll get a glimpse of whether the Giants have figured something out with Yasiel Puig after his 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in Saturday’s game. Here’s what Bruce Bochy has written down, and yes, we know, hopefully everybody is on the same page with who’s batting where:

A couple of switch hitters and the rest right handed hitters as Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, and Gregor Blanco all get a day on the bench. Kershaw is .124/.184/.156 with a .161 wOBA and 0 HRA against LHH while .203/.258/.304 with a .248 wOBA and 7 HRA against RHH in 2013, so you can’t blame Bruce Bochy for sitting the lefties. Taking a loot at some of the outcomes for Kershaw’s pitches, we see plenty of ground balls, and a lot of swings that do not produce a batted ball:

While you may wonder what that all means, compare that against the Giants starter for today, Chad Gaudin, who hasn’t started a game since June 20th when he left the game against the Miami Marlins with an elbow contusion, has these numbers:

So the slider was working pretty well for Gaudin, he’ll get the groundballs with his sinker and changeup, and the foul ball rates aren’t as high as Kershaw’s. This is not to rag on the Chadmiral as it is showing you the talent that is there in Kershaw. CK has not had an outing shorter than five innings, and he had a complete game shutout with 8 K’s against the Rockies in Colorado his last start while limiting the damage a two-run shot to Buster Posey in his start before that in Los Angeles over eight innings.

Other news and notes:

In case you missed it, Mike Kickham was the one optioned to make room for Gaudin.

The word on Matt Kemp, who left Friday’s game with shoulder discomfort:

Santiago Casilla will begin his back-to-back days rehab today with one of the San Francisco Giants Minor League affiliates that are in California. It’s speculated that he will be activated during the Mets series if all goes well in his rehab.

Yesterday’s events at SFO are altering the plans for some in the baseball business:

Our condolences to the families and friends to those that lost their lives, and we wish for a speedy recovery for all that were affected by yesterday’s happenings.

The rubber match of this three-game series between the Dodgers and Giants will begin at 1:05PM PST.