San Francisco Giants Head to the Mile High City to face Rockies

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DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 7: A general view of Coors Field during the Colorado Rockies v the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on September 7, 2016 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Bart Young/Getty Images) /

The San Francisco Giants will head to the Mile High City to take on the NL West leading Colorado Rockies. But, with a sweep, the Giants could end up in first by Wednesday night.

The San Francisco Giants had a 3-0 lead in the rubber match of a road series with the Cubs. This team is a much better team than the end result of that game, and series showed. The Giants will now go from Chicago to the lovely Mile High city.

I spent a fair amount of time in Colorado. If you happen to be out there for this series, I don’t have many food recommendations for you. Sadly. Colorado doesn’t have the signature foods that Chicago does, but I would highly encourage you to spend the morning portions of your days up in the mountains.

Get out and go take a look at the Air-Force Academy, and Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, 2 hours south of Denver on I-25. You can also head up north into the Rocky Mountains and check out Rocky Mountain National Park, just an hour and a half drive. Whatever you do, just don’t get on a dirt-bike.

Ok. Onto this series! The Giants are 3-7 in their last 10, and the Rockies are 5-5. The Giants have a three game deficit. If they can take advantage of the thin air, they could be looking at a chance to go first in the NL West, as long as the Diamondbacks lose a couple.

We’ll take a look at the pitching matchups, and what players to look at throughout this pivotal series. The Giants can’t afford to lose more ground, and getting swept here could be detrimental to their playoff hopes. I know it’s early, but this is easily the biggest series of the year for the Giants.

HOUSTON, TX – MAY 22: Andrew Suarez #59 of the San Francisco Giants pitches in the first inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on May 22, 2018 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) /

Game 1: Andrew Suarez vs. Chad Bettis

One thing that’s always really interesting to look at with Rockies pitchers is their Home/Road Splits. Bettis has been a major victim of the altitude, as his ERA is almost five points higher at home than on the road. For Suarez, a pitcher that gets rocked on the long ball when he’s off, it’ll be difficult as well.

While those in AAA get to make occasional trips to Colorado Springs (Brewers’ AAA), that ballpark plays nowhere near to the offense that you experience at Coors. We’ll see what happens, but the bullpen better be ready.

Bettis has Brandon Crawford‘s number, as he’s hitting .100 in 20 AB’s, but Belt has Bettis’ number on the flip side, hitting .438. Other than that, the Giants’ success against him in the past has been pretty neutral.

Game 2: Jeff Samardzija vs. Kyle Freeland

This one could be concerning for Giants fans. Last year, Samardzija’s two starts at Coors Field knocked his ERA up to 4.42. If you eliminate those starts, his ERA was 3.98. That’s telling. With his struggles so far this year, that can’t inspire much confidence going into this game.

An intriguing part about Freeland’s game is that his home ERA is actually the better of his splits, and it’s not particularly close. However, he has faced close to double the hitters on the road than at home. So that might mean he’s about somewhere in the middle.

Para and Arenado are the two guys with the ownage on Samardzija for the Rockies, while the Giants have some ownage on Freeland from A-Jax, Blanco, and Hundley. Interesting. So we’ll see what happens.

Game 3: Derek Holland vs. Jon Gray

One of Derek Holland’s best outings of the season came against the Rockies in San Francisco. He has an ERA under four in his last three starts, while boasting the only pitcher to average more than six innings over the last three starts. Weirdly enough, he’s been the Giants’ most reliable pitcher of late, in one of the many turns that we’ve experienced in 2018.

Jon Gray on the other hand has had a rough year. He obviously has an ERA better on the road than home, but it’s not that great either. Righties hitting against him at home have a .325 average, and lefties are still sitting pretty at .270. The Rockies have been bad at home 9-12 compared to 19-13 on the road.

Gray doesn’t have a whole lot of appearances against Giants hitters, and neither does Holland against Rockies hitters. It will be an interesting rubber match if it splits the first two games.

CHICAGO, IL – MAY 26: Brandon Crawford #35 of the San Francisco Giants is greeted by Mac Williamson #51after hitting a two-run homer against the Chicago Cubs during the fourth inning on May 26, 2018 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images) /

Three Things to Watch:

The first of three things to watch is the potential debut of Dereck Rodriguez. The former outfielder, converted to pitcher, and son of hall of fame catcher, Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, has been called up to the big leagues according to his instagram account. With Suarez starting today, they could be using him on the Taxi Squad today, optioning Suarez back somewhere, and inserting Rodriguez into the team as a potential long man until MadBum comes back.

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Rodriguez has made nine starts in Sacramento and posted a 3.40 ERA, while striking out 53 in 51 innings, and only walking 11. That K/BB ratio combined with his WHIP should bode well for the guy whose been a pitcher for four years now.

The next big thing to watch is Mac Williamson’s new swing at Coors Field. We all know it’s a hitters’ paradise. But Mac’s swing plays with mega power at AT&T, meaning he could probably look at a baseball and put it ten rows deep in the left field bleachers. Kidding. But I’d like to see if he could get close to the “RockPile” seats in center field. He’s had a couple of hits since coming back from the concussion, and his RBI numbers look nice. A few games at Coors Field seems like just what the confidence doctor ordered for Mac.

The last thing to watch for on the Giants’ end is how the pitching holds up. As I mentioned before, the Giants don’t have starters going six outside of Derek Holland. That doesn’t bode well. Especially going into Coors, which is always a taxing series for the bullpen. The Giants need to be smart with how they utilize their pen, and the bats are going to have to help the staff out as well.

The Rockies, at home, are hitting better than they are on the road. That would be obvious. But the Giants really have to keep them in check, and get to the Rockies starters as early as possible.

Next: Should MadBum come back early?

Predictions

I think the Giants are going to come out on top in this series. It took the Rockies a twelve inning game to not lose 3/4 in the last series against them, and in the final two days, the Giants had their way with the Rockies pitching. Dare I say they sweep them in Colorado? I don’t think that could happen. However, I could definitely see them taking 2/3. So my prediction is the Giants gain a game in this series, keep themselves two out, and win this series 2-1.

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