Florida Marlins out to solve Lincecum, Giants (-135)
Florida Marlins out to solve Lincecum, Giants (-135)
It's an interesting pitching matchup, with the line favoring Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants over the Florida Marlins and Ricky Nolasco. For Lincecum this is his first career appearance against the Fish, and he comes in with the Giants having dropped three of his last four starts. Nolasco is making his first start after a short minor league stint to get his act together.
If I was to pick the 'best' starting pitching battle today in terms of stats this year, it would probably be Joe Saunders and the Angels in Detroit against Rick Porcello and the Tigers. From a name standpoint, perhaps Vicente Padilla going to the mound for the Rangers at Fenway against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox.
But the game that intrigues me the most is Tim Lincecum (6-5, 3.01 ERA) and the Giants in Florida to face Rocky Nolasco (4-5, 9.07) and the Marlins.
The series opened on Friday with Barry Zito and Chris Volstad locking horns in a pitchers duel that ended with a 2-1 San Francisco win as Pablo Sandoval's 2-run blast off Volstad in the fourth was all Zito and the Giants needed. With a drizzle falling much of the game Saturday, Andrew Miller and the Marlins held on for a 5-4 win to even the series.
The two teams will get right back at it in a dinnertime start on Sunday with San Francisco (28-26, +3.10 units) in second out in the NL West and chasing the Dodgers while Florida (27-30, -5.65) sits fourth in the NL East, 6½ behind the front-running Phillies.
For Lincecum, this will be his first appearance against the Marlins. He has seen a few of their hitters before on other clubs with Emilio Bonafacio, Wes Helms, Ross Gload a combined 5-for-9 against him, but that's it. The two stats on his season ledger that jump right out at you are the 91 Ks in 71.2 innings, and just two home runs surrendered in his 11 starts.
An interesting career stat is there are four teams over the course of Lincecum's short tenure in the majors that have only seen him one time, and all four have hit him well in their first and only time to see the young hurler. Those four are Detroit, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Toronto, and in 21.2 IP against the four, Lincecum has a given up 22 earned runs. Not surprising, the Giants are 1-3 in those four games.
Nolasco has made just one start vs. the Giants in his career and it was a good one in San Francisco last Aug 19 when he tossed a complete game, 2-hit shutout in which he struck out 11. Giants hitters are a combined 2-for-35 against Nolasco over his career, most of that in the shutout obviously. Edgar Renteria is 0-10 vs. Nolasco.
Brian O'Nora works the plate in this one, and there's not much of an angle on him. He's 6-6 Home-Away for a -1.14 units loss on the home teams. Home underdogs are 1-3 for him, if that means much, and the 5-7 O/U record also has very little meaning. With the total set at 8½, this will be the 13th time this season he's had a line under 10 for his games.
Both of the first two games of the series suffered through rain delays before getting underway. Friday's start was 69 minutes later than scheduled, and Saturday's was slow to the first pitch with a light rain falling most of the contest.
Sunday calls for chances of the same with 60% chance of rain during the day and then tapering to 30% in the evening. Winds are forecast to be light from the SE at 5-10 MPH (across from right-center to the 3B-LF corner).
The four-game series concludes on Monday night before the Giants head to Arizona before hosting three consecutive interleague series against the A's, Angels and Rangers. Florida hosts the Cardinals to open the week before hitting the interleague road with stops at Toronto and Boston.
Show off your parlay prowess in SBR's Parlay-A-Day contest.
It's an interesting pitching matchup, with the line favoring Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants over the Florida Marlins and Ricky Nolasco. For Lincecum this is his first career appearance against the Fish, and he comes in with the Giants having dropped three of his last four starts. Nolasco is making his first start after a short minor league stint to get his act together.
If I was to pick the 'best' starting pitching battle today in terms of stats this year, it would probably be Joe Saunders and the Angels in Detroit against Rick Porcello and the Tigers. From a name standpoint, perhaps Vicente Padilla going to the mound for the Rangers at Fenway against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Red Sox.
But the game that intrigues me the most is Tim Lincecum (6-5, 3.01 ERA) and the Giants in Florida to face Rocky Nolasco (4-5, 9.07) and the Marlins.
The series opened on Friday with Barry Zito and Chris Volstad locking horns in a pitchers duel that ended with a 2-1 San Francisco win as Pablo Sandoval's 2-run blast off Volstad in the fourth was all Zito and the Giants needed. With a drizzle falling much of the game Saturday, Andrew Miller and the Marlins held on for a 5-4 win to even the series.
The two teams will get right back at it in a dinnertime start on Sunday with San Francisco (28-26, +3.10 units) in second out in the NL West and chasing the Dodgers while Florida (27-30, -5.65) sits fourth in the NL East, 6½ behind the front-running Phillies.
For Lincecum, this will be his first appearance against the Marlins. He has seen a few of their hitters before on other clubs with Emilio Bonafacio, Wes Helms, Ross Gload a combined 5-for-9 against him, but that's it. The two stats on his season ledger that jump right out at you are the 91 Ks in 71.2 innings, and just two home runs surrendered in his 11 starts.
An interesting career stat is there are four teams over the course of Lincecum's short tenure in the majors that have only seen him one time, and all four have hit him well in their first and only time to see the young hurler. Those four are Detroit, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Toronto, and in 21.2 IP against the four, Lincecum has a given up 22 earned runs. Not surprising, the Giants are 1-3 in those four games.
Nolasco has made just one start vs. the Giants in his career and it was a good one in San Francisco last Aug 19 when he tossed a complete game, 2-hit shutout in which he struck out 11. Giants hitters are a combined 2-for-35 against Nolasco over his career, most of that in the shutout obviously. Edgar Renteria is 0-10 vs. Nolasco.
Brian O'Nora works the plate in this one, and there's not much of an angle on him. He's 6-6 Home-Away for a -1.14 units loss on the home teams. Home underdogs are 1-3 for him, if that means much, and the 5-7 O/U record also has very little meaning. With the total set at 8½, this will be the 13th time this season he's had a line under 10 for his games.
Both of the first two games of the series suffered through rain delays before getting underway. Friday's start was 69 minutes later than scheduled, and Saturday's was slow to the first pitch with a light rain falling most of the contest.
Sunday calls for chances of the same with 60% chance of rain during the day and then tapering to 30% in the evening. Winds are forecast to be light from the SE at 5-10 MPH (across from right-center to the 3B-LF corner).
The four-game series concludes on Monday night before the Giants head to Arizona before hosting three consecutive interleague series against the A's, Angels and Rangers. Florida hosts the Cardinals to open the week before hitting the interleague road with stops at Toronto and Boston.
Show off your parlay prowess in SBR's Parlay-A-Day contest.
