It has been proven in past years that there's nothing that can take away the Colorado Rockies' momentum quite like a trip to the Bay Area. Or any series against the San Francisco Giants, really.
The Giants have dominated the Rockies over the past two seasons, regardless of where the games were played. Colorado is just 9-27 against San Francisco in that span; 4-14 at AT&T Park and 5-13 at Coors Field. And, it's not like the Giants won all of those games with their signature ninth-inning walk, error, sac-bunt and walk-off bloop single combination, as we'll get to in a minute. San Francisco outscored Colorado by 50 -- FIFTY -- runs a year ago, and 29 the year before. Ouch.
For more on the Giants, we brought in a guy who knows his stuff (mostly because I only make jokes about the Giants rather than give real information, as you'll see below). He needs no introduction, but I'll give him one anyway because I like him. He's Grant Brisbee, from McCovey Chronicles and Baseball Nation.
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Bryan Kilpatrick: The Giants have won the World Series two out of the past three years, and as much as I'd like to chalk it up to pure luck (such as winning every game in the bottom of the ninth inning on a walk, a bunt, an error and a bloop single), that's obviously not the case. So, what is?
Grant Brisbee: I've been a really good person. Respectful, polite ... the works. And when you're a really good person, your sports teams do well. There's an obvious, verifiable correlation.
If you're reading this, you are probably a bad person. That's the problem.
BK: Hunter Pence looks as if he's made out of spare parts from baseball players of the past. Can you confirm or deny?
Grant: Yeah, there was probably a Serpentor-like project to make Mike Trout, and Pence was the beta. They made all sorts of ballplayer pieces, but none of them really matched, so they dumped them all. But they started crawling toward each other and joining up in the dumpster, and now we have Hunter Pence. Oh, what science hath wrought.
BK: Are we counting down the days until Tim Lincecum gets moved to the bullpen, or do you think he'll be able to get back to form -- or at least, back to where he's helping the club as a starter and not hurting them?
Grant: Part of me wants to freak out at the people freaking out -- do you think David Price is going to get bounced from the rotation after two bad starts? Grow up. It was the first start of the year.
Another, larger, part of me wants to hire someone to read how Lincecum's start is going to me off a ticker tape while I huddle in a corner and suck my thumb.
I think it would have to be another implosion like last year for the Giants to make a bullpen switch, but I also think that won't happen. For as awful as he was last year, he was a little unlucky. That's probably not going to happen again. I think. Please.
BK: Brandon Belt often shows flashes of being the guy that just about everyone thought he'd be. Is this the year he puts it all together?
Grant: I'm guardedly optimistic. He's hitting, like, .001 this season, but he's been driving the ball well (as long as it's not Clayton Kershaw or Adam Wainwright pitching). This is the first season where he hasn't had someone breathing down his neck after quasi-winning the starting job, so that has to help.
BK: We have our own nice young catcher (Wilin Rosario), but are also insanely jealous of you for having Buster Posey. What are your overall thoughts on his contract extension?
Grant: One of the best things that Buster Posey does is that he uses this leather accessory -- a padded, form-fitting "glove" -- to receive the baseballs thrown by the pitchers before they touch the ground. Check him out this series -- you'll be impressed.
(Sorry about that, baseball gods. Please don't unleash the wrath of Wilin. I like him, too!)
The contract extension is probably going to be a good thing, even if you assume that years eight and nine are going to be a sunk cost. My only concern is that it was probably a year too early -- I don't see what the urgency for the Giants was to lock him up after an MVP season. That was probably going to be the best season of Buster Posey's career. That's not cynical, just rational. It was one of the greatest seasons by a catcher ever, and if you pay expecting that, you're going to be disappointed.
Then again, I don't see how much cheaper he was going to get, so I'll let that point go. He's Buster Posey, and the other teams can't get their grubby paws on him. Lookin' at you, L.A.
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Probable pitchers
Game 1: Monday, April 8 at 8:15 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Jorge De La Rosa (0-0, 8.31 ERA) vs. Madison Bumgarner (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Game 2: Tuesday, April 9 at 8:15 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Juan Nicasio (1-0, 3.00) vs. Tim Lincecum (1-0, 0.00)
Game 3: Wednesday, April 10 at 1:45 p.m. MT (ROOT Sports)
Jeff Francis (1-0, 1.50) vs. Barry Zito (1-0, 0.00)
Summary: APPARENTLY NOBODY ON THE GIANTS ALLOWS ANY RUNS EVER.
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