Rockies hope to continue success at AT&T Park this weekend

In past years, a trip to AT&T Park could be written off as a series loss with high confidence, but those days are gone.  Colorado has won 3 of their past 6 series in San Francisco, including sweeps in each of the last two years and series wins in their last two trips to the bay.  The Rockies were 11-7 in games at San Fran the last two years, highlighted by a 6-3 mark in 2008.

The Rockies have won the overall season series against the Giants in each of the last three seasons, going 31-23 in that span.  Colorado has won four straight series against San Francisco. So forget the overall 99-130 record Colorado has posted against the Giants.  Our beloved Rox have fared fared better against Frisco of late.

San Francisco Giants (10-10, W1, 3rd in NL

West) 

Friday-Sunday : 3-game series at San Francisco

Hopefully, you have had your fill of tacos for a while.  The Giants are, as expected, one of the best pitching staffs in the major leagues.  They are ranked 2nd in runs allowed behind the shutout-happy Pirates, 6th in ERA, 7th in strikeouts, and 8th in HR allowed.  So far this year, AT&T Park has been the 8th best pitcher's park in terms of runs to boot.

Naturally, the Giants offense completely negates their pitching staff.  The Giants are dead last in runs scored, 29th in walks earned, 29th in HR, 28th in K%age, 25th in wOBA, and naturally dead last in BB/K.  Even worse, their BABIP is .321, good for the 5th best in MLB, meaning they are overachieving if anything thus far.  Their offense isn't pretty...it's time for the Rockies staff to have a good series.

After going a paltry 2-7 to start the year, the Giants have won 8 of 11 on their way to four consecutive series.  They are 8-3 at home.

Probable Pitchers:

Tonight, 8:15pm MDT

Where's Waldo Ubaldo?  The talented righty's electric stuff has gone MIA in his past three starts, where he was 0-3 with a 12.00 ERA.  If there is any game to get right, it is against the little Giant offense, who Jimenez pitched well against in his career.  Hair-B-There is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA in over 30 IP against San Francisco.

The only Giant regular with a career average of better than .250 against Ubaldo is Aaron Rowand, who is 4-for-13 with a HR.

Randy Johnson is four wins short of 300, a record the Rockies have substantially helped him approach. He is 18-7 with a 2.31 ERA over nearly 200 IP in his career vs Colorado, including going 3-0 with a 2.71 ERA in 2008.

But the 45-year-old Big Unit has struggled in 2009.  Overall, he has allowed 2.37 HR/9 IP.  Throw out his 7-inning home dominance against the K-happy Baby DiamondbacK's, and Johnson is 0-2 with a 9.75 ERA.  In his last start Monday, Johnson walked 7 D'Backs, got only 2 K's and failed to get out of the fourth inning.  Yorvit Torrealba is 6-for-19 off the Big Unit in his career, and Garrett Atkins is 4-for-14 with a HR and 2 BB.

Saturday, May 2, 2:05 MDT

Jason Marquis has been better than the Rockies hoped, going at least 7 and allowed 3 or less runs in 3 of his 4 starts.  Marquis' second best pitching line since 2006 has come against the Giants, at 1-1 with a 2.46 ERA and a ridiculous .157 average against.  His favorite team to face in past years is Los Angeles, whom he shut down Sunday.

Matt Cain has been phenomenal so far - he has gone six innings and allowed no more than two runs in all four starts this season, winning both starts at AT&T Park. His 2.08 ERA ranks 6th in the NL, second in the division behind Dan Haren.  Brian Wilson's first blown save of the season negated Cain's third win last Sunday.

Sunday, May 3, 2:05 MDT

Jason Hammel will attempt to reaffirm his status in the rotation after a shaky start Monday.  In fairness, Hammel gave up four of his five runs in the third inning of his start after Ryan Spilborghs failed to make a catch running in on a line drive.  It was catchable, and Garrett Atkins compounded the inning with a fielding error.  Hammel has shown major league rotation quality "stuff" in his past three appearances.

The Bad Contract doesn't look to be getting better.  Zito has put up quality starts in each of his last two outings, both home stars (coincidence?), but a 5.24 ERA isn't earning the dough.  Zito is 2-2 with a 2.57 ERA in 49 IP dating to 2006 against Colorado.

Pablo Sandoval (10-for-22, 1 HR) and Bengie Molina (9-for-24, 2 HR) have been hot in the previous two series.

Fred Lewis (4-for-22) and Emmanuel Burriss (5-for-23) have struggled over the past seven days.

Randy Winn (knee) and Pablo Sandoval (groin) are listed as questionable, and OF Andres Torres was put on the 15-day DL Tuesday with a hamstring injury.