I might be a bit late to the start of this game because I'll be at Great American Ballpark rooting for the Reds to help us against the Dodgers, but the time difference between starts should allow me to be in the thread for most of the game. If any other Mods are around and want to stick a lineup widget in, go ahead.
The Giants are once again just three games behind the Rockies in the Wild Card chase, and with a three game series at AT&T have a chance to cut into or completely eliminate the Rockies lead over them. That said, their road through September remains a lot more tricky to navigate than ours does. After the Rockies, San Francisco has to go on a six game road trip to Philadelphia, who's fighting for home field advantage and to secure the NL East, and Milwaukee, who have been relegated to also-ran status this season but are still a relatively dangerous team.
Following which, the Giants get a nine game homestand, but unlike the Rockies coming homestand against only last and second to last place teams, San Fran has to play both the Dodgers and the Rockies again in addition to the Padres. One more road swing down through LA and to Chase Field followed by a four game home series against the Cubs (who should only be playing for pride at that point, but like Milwaukee, they aren't going to roll over) and a three game set against Arizona. The Giants wrap up in October with three games at PETCO, where they've gone winless in six attempts thus far.
I look at the Rockies September schedule, and I see 16 wins as a pretty conservative goal (7-3 on the opening homestand, 4-5 on the road trip in the middle, 5-3 in the last eight at home), 19 or even 20 seems possible with just a little luck . With the Giants, I think getting 14 would be difficult. Let me just make this clear, I would think getting 14 wins out of that schedule would be difficult for the Rockies and could easily see a sub .500 record as a possibility. It's actually a pretty similar slate to what the Rockies had in April when the team went 8-12. A schedule which we were all saying beforehand that we'd be satisfied with .500. What I think this means is that San Francisco is under pressure to sweep at least one of the two remaining series with Colorado if they want to have a solid shot at the Wild Card as that would make a 17 win scenario for September a necessary minimum rather than just a slightly optimistic goal. If they sweep both, they could be in the driver's seat, but with the rest of our schedule even that's not certain.
Two wins by the Rockies in this series puts the Giants in a hole that I don't think they'll be able to get out of. Let's get one of those two tonight.
GO ROCKIES!