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Could the Giants get hot during the end of interleague?
By Morris Phillips June 21, 2010 |
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On Tuesday, Tim Lincecum gets the start for the Giants in Houston to begin a three-game set against the Astros. Roy Oswalt, the Astros’ ace, will oppose Lincecum. Sound familiar? Sure, that’s how the 2010 season started, with Lincecum handcuffing the Astros in a 5-2 win on opening day. Since then, the two teams have traveled in opposite directions as the Giants have been one of the better National League teams thus far, currently with the fourth best record (38-30) in the circuit. Meanwhile, the Astros floundered from the start, winning just one of their first ten games, and currently just a ½ game ahead of the Pirates in the realm of the league’s worst teams. While Lincecum continues to make headlines by not being the same pitcher he was in back-to-back Cy Young seasons, he’s sporting a 7-2 record with a 3.11 ERA and 106 strikeouts. Also, Lincecum has pitched better of late and, although the signs are admittedly contradictory, could be working out his problems with his mechanics. Meanwhile, Oswalt, with an ERA similar to Lincecum’s at 3.12, has lost eight ballgames while growing frustrated with the Astros’ performance and subsequently requesting a trade. The hard-throwing Oswalt is due to make $16 million in 2011 and that along with his desire to be moved could be enough to bring the end to his near 10-year career in Houston in the coming weeks. Uncertainty colors the Giants’ opponents to some level over the next nine games, while the Giants hope to take advantage by pitching each of their top four pitchers twice during the stretch. Besides Oswalt, the Giants will see quality starters from the Red Sox in Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, but in those matchups as in the other seven coming up, the Giants would appear to have the edge, at least in the comparison of starting pitchers. Could this be the start of a hot stretch for the Giants? If so, it could show up in the NL West standings. While the Giants see Boston and the Dodgers, along with Houston, the Padres and LA have tougher stretches. The Dodgers finish a road swing in Anaheim against the Angels, who swept Los Angeles in the Freeway Series a week ago. Then the Dodgers return home for the Yankees over the weekend before coming to Pac Bell Park on Monday without a day off anywhere. The Dodgers nine games in nine days is significant because they will be forced to pitch a spot starter, either Charlie Haeger (0-4 before being demoted to Albuquerque) or Claudio Vargas (a 7.32 ERA in Milwaukee before the Brewers released him earlier this month) twice during the stretch, including a start against the Giants. The Dodgers starting rotation has been thinned by injuries and this could be the stretch that the injuries come back to bit them. Meanwhile, the Padres spend this week in hot Florida, with three games against the Devil Rays, and three with the Marlins. San Diego then returns home to face Colorado on the following Monday, also a stretch of nine games in nine days with games on both coasts. The inequities in scheduling and travel clearly favor the Giants during this stretch. San Diego not only gets Tampa Bay, the team with the best record in baseball, but they make a second trip to NL East opponent Florida, following a trip to Miami in April. The Dodgers get the Yankees, with the second best record in baseball, along with red hot Anaheim. Meanwhile, the Giants get the Red Sox and Dodgers at home and they will see struggling starters Wandy Rodriguez of Houston, Tim Wakefield of Boston and John Ely of the Dodgers during this stretch. Ely, another fill-in for the Dodger’s injury-plagued rotation, has allowed 15 runs in his last 14 2/3 innings and the Dodgers have no other realistic option other than to hope he pitches better Wednesday against the Angels before facing the Giants next Monday. |
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