Series Preview – San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies: Giants looking to continue their excellent form

The San Francisco Giants arrive in Denver for what will be a three game series, plus a game which was suspended earlier in the season. All in all the teams will play four times in the next three days. The game which was suspended in May will be resumed exactly as it was left, in the bottom of the sixth with a runner on first for the Rockies.

The Rockies started the season off incredibly. After the first month or so of the baseball season, they were among the contenders in the National League West. However, after a plethora of injuries to key players like Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez they faded away. Hence, they now essentially have nothing to play for — except the top draft pick.

San Francisco on the other hand have a lot to play for. Currently leading the way in the wild card chase, and heavily pursuing the Los Angeles Dodgers in the West the Giants need to win. The last time the two teams met, the Giants stumbled in game one. San Francisco Giants then pitched their way to an overall series win. The offense which erupted against Milwaukee was silenced by Colorado.

It is unclear who will pitch the remainder of game one, but here is how it will look for the rest of the series:

Pitching Matchups

Tim Hudson (9-9, 2.90 ERA) against Franklin Morales (5-7, 5.14 ERA.) The matchup certainly favours the Giants, however, the lacklustre Colorado rotation silenced the Giants in the last series.

Yusmeiro Petit (4-3, 3.44 ERA) against Jordan Lyles (6-2, 4.08 ERA.) Petit will look to continue his excellent form, after breaking the MLB record for batters retired in his last start.

Ryan Vogelsong (8-9, 3.73 ERA) against Christian Bergman (1-2, 5.74 ERA.) The Giants veteran will square off against the Rockies’ rookie. Do note: Bergman has a tidy 3.18 ERA on the road.

Lineups

San Francisco Giants

Angel Pagan CF

Joe Panik 2B

Buster Posey C

Pablo Sandoval 3B

Hunter Pence RF

Michael Morse 1B

Gregor Blanco LF

Brandon Crawford SS

Colorado Rockies

Charlie Blackmon CF

DJ LeMahieu 2B

Justin Morneau 1B

Nolan Arenado 3B

Corey Dickerson LF

Drew Stubbs RF

Michael McKenry C

Josh Rutledge SS

Notes

With the start of September also comes the roster expansion period. All teams can now expand to a 40-man-roster. The Giants made their first move yesterday, calling up Juan Perez, Guillermo Quiroz, Mike Kickham, Hunter Strickland and Chris Dominguez. To make room for Dominguez and Quiroz, Ehire Adrianza and Hector Sanchez were both placed on the 60-day-DL ending both their seasons.

Strickland and Dominguez are very exciting, indeed. Strickland is a hard throwing right hander who could come in handy out of the bullpen. Dominguez strikes out an unbelieveable amount, however — he has a lot pop. He can run. He can drive in runs. This season in Triple-A-Fresno, he reached the 20-20 club and drove in over 80 runs. Exciting.

Tim Lincecum made his first appearance out of the bullpen last night and it was poor. He struggled to command his pitches, surrendered three runs – two earned – and eventually stumbled through two innings. Crawford was good at the plate again last night. The Giants’ offense which exploded in the last series will look to exploit the awful Colorado rotation.