Mets, Giants series has weekend's best pitching
Mets, Giants series has weekend's best pitching
New York and San Francisco got their 4-game set going last night with a 7-4, ninth-inning win for the Mets. Now the two teams begin to send their high-priced arms out to the AT&T mound.
If you're in the mood for some excellent pitching matchups this weekend – And seriously, who isn't? – then AT&T Park in San Francisco is the place to be for the continuation of the Mets, Giants series.
The four-game set between the two NL clubs got underway on Thursday when the pair of 18-15 squads saw John Maine and Jonathan Sanchez take the hill for their respective clubs. Neither starter would figure in the Mets' ultimate 7-4 win. New York scored three in the ninth to break the 4-4 tie and set a franchise record with seven steals in the game, four by David Wright.
Starting Friday, the teams begin to send their big guns to the mound with Saturday's southpaw battle between New York's Johan Santana and San Fran's Randy Johnson. More on that in a minute.
For New York (19-15, -2.05 units), the triumph was their ninth in the last 11 games and left them with a 2-game lead atop the NL East. San Francisco (18-16, +2.70 units) remains second in the NL West, five games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The biggest difference between these clubs statistically is on offense where New York is averaging 5.05 runs per game over 34 contests while San Francisco sits at 4.00 per game. New York's pitching and defense is allowing 4.41 runs per game to the Giants' 4.35.
Game 2 on Friday will feature Livan Hernandez on the mound for New York against San Francisco's young stud Tim Lincecum. Hernandez (4-2, 5.08) has picked up the win in his last two starts, allowing just three earned in 12.1 innings to the Braves and Pirates. He faced the Giants twice in 2008 after going to Colorado for the final two months, with both games here at AT&T. Hernandez won one and lost the other, giving up seven runs in 13.1 innings.
The Giants hitting with the greatest success against him is Bengie Molina who has three career homers in 24 AB against Hernandez. Aaron Rowand has also seen the ball well facing the big Cuban, going 7-for-13 lifetime with a homer, and Edgar Renteria is hitting .361 lifetime (13-for-36).
San Francisco has won each of Lincecum's (5-2, 3.25) last four starts. The righthander has given up just one homer all season, to Chase Headley back on Apr 12 and has 58 K in just over 44 innings of work. He got hit pretty hard by the Mets at Shea in a 7-0 loss in July 2008, and a no-decision in a 5-4, extra inning loss at Shea in 2007. The good news is the New York hitter that has done the most damage against Lincecum, Carlos Delgado (3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 BB), is very doubtful for this series and appears headed to DL with a hip injury. Lincecum opened as the heavy favorite, with -165 to -175 prices on the Giants found at most shops.
The Santana, Johnson matchup on Saturday has a couple of great pitching angles. You almost have to go back to Orel Hershiser's record scoreless inning streak in 1988 to find anyone that pitched better over a string of starts than Santana (4-3, 0.78) has right now. He's allowed just four earned runs in seven starts this season, and the Mets have still managed to lose three of those games.
He made one relief appearance and a start against the Giants when he was with Minnesota, and hurled five shutout innings vs. SF in a start for New York last year that the Mets won 5-0 at Shea. His only appearance in this park was in relief for the Twins.
He has seen many of the hitters available in this lineup, and as luck would have it the San Fran hitter who has had the most success against Santana is once again Bengie Molina (11-for-25, .440, 2 HR).
Johnson (4-3, 5.89) has an ERA over five runs higher than Santana, yet the Giants have managed to win the same amount of games with Big Unit on the mound as New York has won with Johan. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2007 as a member of the Diamondbacks, and over his last five outings against them he is 1-3 (his teams are 2-3) with a 4.11 ERA over 35 innings. Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are 22-for-55 combined (.400) when facing the 6-10 lefty.
Johnson will be shooting for career win No. 299 on Saturday, and if that happens it sets him up to go for 300 about a week from now in Seattle when the Giants take on the Mariners in interleague play. Special thanks to my buddy Vegas Dave for that little tidbit.
Sunday's finale is ESPN's prime time broadcast and finds Mike Pelfrey (5-1, 4.89) on the mound for New York off his best start of the season this past Tuesday in a 4-3 win over the Braves back in New York. That was the second consecutive start the wiry righty has gone seven innings in an outing. He tossed seven, 3-hit shutout innings against the Giants in July 2008 for a win in his only appearance vs. San Francisco to date.
Facing him for the Giants will be Matt Cain (4-3, 3.10), and we might get an idea how this game will go with the very first pitcher-batter confrontation of the evening. Reyes, the Mets shortstop and leadoff hitter, has given Cain fits in the past with eight hits in 14 (.571), five of those eight safeties for extra bases. Wright has also knocked Cain around with seven hits in 15 at bats (.467), including five doubles.
This will be Cain's fifth career start vs. the Mets; he's 2-2 with a 5.25 overall and has dropped his last two starts to New York, one each in 2007 and 2008.
The weather should be A-OK fine this weekend in the Golden Gate City. Friday calls for a 10% chance of rain during the day with low-to-mid 60s at first pitch and West winds 5-10 MPH (out to center). Saturday afternoon's contest should be sunny and in the mid-70s for Saturday afternoon, with the low-70s, upper-60s under clear skies for the start of Sunday night's game.
Plate umpires for the rest of the weekend should go as follows:
New York and San Francisco got their 4-game set going last night with a 7-4, ninth-inning win for the Mets. Now the two teams begin to send their high-priced arms out to the AT&T mound.
If you're in the mood for some excellent pitching matchups this weekend – And seriously, who isn't? – then AT&T Park in San Francisco is the place to be for the continuation of the Mets, Giants series.
The four-game set between the two NL clubs got underway on Thursday when the pair of 18-15 squads saw John Maine and Jonathan Sanchez take the hill for their respective clubs. Neither starter would figure in the Mets' ultimate 7-4 win. New York scored three in the ninth to break the 4-4 tie and set a franchise record with seven steals in the game, four by David Wright.
Starting Friday, the teams begin to send their big guns to the mound with Saturday's southpaw battle between New York's Johan Santana and San Fran's Randy Johnson. More on that in a minute.
For New York (19-15, -2.05 units), the triumph was their ninth in the last 11 games and left them with a 2-game lead atop the NL East. San Francisco (18-16, +2.70 units) remains second in the NL West, five games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The biggest difference between these clubs statistically is on offense where New York is averaging 5.05 runs per game over 34 contests while San Francisco sits at 4.00 per game. New York's pitching and defense is allowing 4.41 runs per game to the Giants' 4.35.
Game 2 on Friday will feature Livan Hernandez on the mound for New York against San Francisco's young stud Tim Lincecum. Hernandez (4-2, 5.08) has picked up the win in his last two starts, allowing just three earned in 12.1 innings to the Braves and Pirates. He faced the Giants twice in 2008 after going to Colorado for the final two months, with both games here at AT&T. Hernandez won one and lost the other, giving up seven runs in 13.1 innings.
The Giants hitting with the greatest success against him is Bengie Molina who has three career homers in 24 AB against Hernandez. Aaron Rowand has also seen the ball well facing the big Cuban, going 7-for-13 lifetime with a homer, and Edgar Renteria is hitting .361 lifetime (13-for-36).
San Francisco has won each of Lincecum's (5-2, 3.25) last four starts. The righthander has given up just one homer all season, to Chase Headley back on Apr 12 and has 58 K in just over 44 innings of work. He got hit pretty hard by the Mets at Shea in a 7-0 loss in July 2008, and a no-decision in a 5-4, extra inning loss at Shea in 2007. The good news is the New York hitter that has done the most damage against Lincecum, Carlos Delgado (3-for-4, 2 HR, 2 BB), is very doubtful for this series and appears headed to DL with a hip injury. Lincecum opened as the heavy favorite, with -165 to -175 prices on the Giants found at most shops.
The Santana, Johnson matchup on Saturday has a couple of great pitching angles. You almost have to go back to Orel Hershiser's record scoreless inning streak in 1988 to find anyone that pitched better over a string of starts than Santana (4-3, 0.78) has right now. He's allowed just four earned runs in seven starts this season, and the Mets have still managed to lose three of those games.
He made one relief appearance and a start against the Giants when he was with Minnesota, and hurled five shutout innings vs. SF in a start for New York last year that the Mets won 5-0 at Shea. His only appearance in this park was in relief for the Twins.
He has seen many of the hitters available in this lineup, and as luck would have it the San Fran hitter who has had the most success against Santana is once again Bengie Molina (11-for-25, .440, 2 HR).
Johnson (4-3, 5.89) has an ERA over five runs higher than Santana, yet the Giants have managed to win the same amount of games with Big Unit on the mound as New York has won with Johan. The last time he faced the Mets was in 2007 as a member of the Diamondbacks, and over his last five outings against them he is 1-3 (his teams are 2-3) with a 4.11 ERA over 35 innings. Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are 22-for-55 combined (.400) when facing the 6-10 lefty.
Johnson will be shooting for career win No. 299 on Saturday, and if that happens it sets him up to go for 300 about a week from now in Seattle when the Giants take on the Mariners in interleague play. Special thanks to my buddy Vegas Dave for that little tidbit.
Sunday's finale is ESPN's prime time broadcast and finds Mike Pelfrey (5-1, 4.89) on the mound for New York off his best start of the season this past Tuesday in a 4-3 win over the Braves back in New York. That was the second consecutive start the wiry righty has gone seven innings in an outing. He tossed seven, 3-hit shutout innings against the Giants in July 2008 for a win in his only appearance vs. San Francisco to date.
Facing him for the Giants will be Matt Cain (4-3, 3.10), and we might get an idea how this game will go with the very first pitcher-batter confrontation of the evening. Reyes, the Mets shortstop and leadoff hitter, has given Cain fits in the past with eight hits in 14 (.571), five of those eight safeties for extra bases. Wright has also knocked Cain around with seven hits in 15 at bats (.467), including five doubles.
This will be Cain's fifth career start vs. the Mets; he's 2-2 with a 5.25 overall and has dropped his last two starts to New York, one each in 2007 and 2008.
The weather should be A-OK fine this weekend in the Golden Gate City. Friday calls for a 10% chance of rain during the day with low-to-mid 60s at first pitch and West winds 5-10 MPH (out to center). Saturday afternoon's contest should be sunny and in the mid-70s for Saturday afternoon, with the low-70s, upper-60s under clear skies for the start of Sunday night's game.
Plate umpires for the rest of the weekend should go as follows:
- Friday - Doug Eddings (5-2 O/U, 10.4 RPG)
- Saturday - Hunter Wendelstedt (4-3 O/U, 11.4 RPG)
- Sunday - Brian Knight (2-5 O/U, 9.0 RPG, 6-1 in favor of home team)