Twitter @vintalkingiants
The San Francisco Giants salvaged their homestand with a 4-5 record, capping it off with a series victory against the Milwaukee Brewers.
San Francisco's series victory was far from easy. The Giants held a 3-2 lead into the the top of the ninth inning, which was lost after the Brewers scored an unearned run in the inning.
Third baseman Connor Gillespie opened the ninth with an error that allowed Corey Hart to reach first base. Hart later scored on a two-out double by former Giant Travis Ishikawa, tying the game at three.
Unfortunately, Matt Cain was not rewarded for his gem. In seven innings pitched, Cain surrendered two runs on six hits, while striking out 10.Cain received a no-decision after the Brewers tied the game in the ninth.
However, the Giants would go on to win the game on a bases-loaded, walk-off single by Hector Sanchez.
Although the Giants committed yet another error Sunday, left-fielder Melky Cabrera flashed the leather in the top of the 11th inning. With Hart at first base and nobody out, Catcher Jonathan Lucroy lined a laser beam to Cabrera in left field, who made a running, snow-cone catch.
Hart was doubled up on the play, and the Giants retired the next batter Tyler Green on a comebacker to the pitcher.
Giants' center fielder Angel Pagan went 2-for-4 with a double Sunday and extended his hitting streak to 20 games.
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VS
The Giants begin a big series with their rivals the Los Angeles Dodgers. They will look to carry on their good vibes from the Milwaukee series into Chavez Ravine.
The Giants' Barry Zito (1-0, 1.76) will take on the Dodgers' Ted Lilly (3-0, 1.38). Both pitchers have been effective so far in 2012, so this game should figure to be a pitcher's duel.
However, the Giants have roughed up Lilly throughout his career. Lilly has a 5.81 ERA in nine career starts against San Francisco.
The Giants seem to have the momentum going into the series. San Francisco just took two out of three against Milwaukee, while the Dodgers lost two out of three against the struggling Chicago Cubs.
The Dodgers, however, are 18-10 and four games ahead of the Giants in the National League West.
Here are a few players to watch.
From MLB.com:
• Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp is a career .426 (20-for-47) hitter against Zito, while right fielder Andre Ethier is hitting only .161 (5-for-31) against the lefty.
• Juan Uribe, who injured his left wrist sliding into home April 15, will have his wrist examined Monday, Mattingly said. Uribe hasn't started the last five games after reaggravating the injury last week in Denver.
• Buster Posey is 3-for-8 lifetime against Ted Lilly, including a double and two home runs. He has three RBIs against the Dodgers' left hander.
ESPN predicts that the Dodgers are 62 percent favorites for tonight's game. The game will start at 7:10 p.m. and will air on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area.
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***Flash***
According to MLB.com, Giants' reliever Guillermo Mota has been suspended for 100 games after testing positive for clenbuterol, a performance-enhancing substance. This is a violation of Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
The Giants have not yet announced who will replace Mota. The Giants' bullpen has already been in flux with the injuries to closer Brian Wilson and reliever Jeremy Affeldt.
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How do you all think Mota's absence will affect the Giants' bullpen? Do you agree with ESPN's prediction, which only gave the Giants a 38 percent chance of winning tonight's game.
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Information from ESPN.com and MLB.com contributed to this article.
Images from:
By Jeffjeff08 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By Ron Reiring on Flickr (Original version) User UCinternational (Crop) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
By User eürodäna (Original version) User StormXor (Crop) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
I think the Dodgers are going to give the Giants a good series. I would project them taking the series 2-1, but they have the potential to take all three with Lilly, Kershaw and Billingsley taking the mound.
ReplyDeleteLilly hasn't been great against SF in his career, but I think out of the three, Billingsley may blow his game.
Go Dodgers!
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