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The San Francisco Giants used a series victory over the Colorado Rockies last week, as well as two wins over the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend, to increase their lead in the National League West to 7.5 games -- a full two games more than it was a week ago. Things look good for the Giants in terms of being able to build on that this week as well, as they host the last-place Rockies in a four-game set at AT&T Park starting on Monday night.
Perhaps the best thing the Giants have going for them in this series, other than the fact that the Rockies are terrible, is that Ryan Vogelsong will miss it. Over the last couple of trips through the rotation, Vogelsong has clearly been the weak link, posting a 12.34 ERA in three September starts. August wasn't much better, either; despite winning four games, Vogelsong's ERA was 6.32. He has allowed more runs in August and September (35) than he did in the first four months of the season (34). So, obviously there's an issue there.
Luckily for the Giants, they have four other pitchers who are holding down the fort, including Monday's starter, Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner has been hit hard in September as well, but he was terrific in August and at least has been able to back up his last couple of poor outings by swinging the bat well (against Colorado, at least). He's a much likelier candidate to bounce back than Vogelsong, so his struggles shouldn't be as worrisome.
The Giants also have this guy, who is usually a nightmare for opposing hitters:
Matt Cain is nothing if not consistent, as he'll surround a 5 ER stinker with a stretch of starts where he doesn't allow more than two runs. And, it's one thing to allow two runs when you only pitch four innings (which qualifies as a great start in the Rockies' rotation), and it's a completely different thing to constantly do it while going 7-8 innings in every start. Matt Cain is awesome. He's a dick, but he's awesome. Now let's ta ...
Rich Aurilia
#35 / San Francisco Giants
6-1
200
Sep 02, 1971
Record vs. Bryan Kilpatrick on Twitter: 0-1
... Wow. I'm sorry for that interruption.
Where was I? Oh ... now let's talk about Tim Lincecum. Ol' LeRoy has had a strange 2012 campaign to say the least. He basically was a terrible pitcher from April through July in terms of earned runs and all that jazz, but he was still striking a ton of people out. However, in August, he put up a respectable 3.90 ERA (which was about a run and a half lower than his season ERA to that point), but struck out batters at a rate that would easily be a career low. Reading into that small of a sample size too much can be dangerous, but it appears that he resorted to more of a pitch-to-contact approach, and it looks like it may have worked in his favor. We'll have to keep an eye on that as the season winds down (note: his strikeout totals are back up over 10 per nine innings thus far in September).
Barry Zito. Ugh. He'll pitch in this series, and we already know how that is going to turn out. But strangely, he has been keeping a lot of opposing offenses at bay this season, which is something the Giants have to be thrilled about. Zito's walk rate is the lowest it has been since his days in Oakland, which certainly has been a key cog to his success in 2012.
As far as the Giants' offense is concerned, I'm not going to get into that because, let's face it: other than Buster Posey, there's nothing to talk about. And we already profiled him last week. I'm sure Giants fans are actually relieved about these developments.
Probable pitchers and more after the jump.
Game 1 -- Monday, Sept. 17 at 8:15 p.m. MT (ROOT)
Jhoulys Chacin (2-5, 4.86 ERA) vs. Madison Bumgarner (14-10, 3.32 ERA)
Game 2 -- Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 8:15 p.m. MT (ROOT/MLBN)
Jeff Francis (5-5, 5.68) vs. Tim Lincecum (9-14, 5.09)
Game 3 -- Wednesday, Sept. 19 at 8:15 p.m. MT (ROOT)
Tyler Chatwood (4-4, 5.65) vs. Matt Cain (14-5, 2.93)
Game 4 -- Thursday, Sept. 20 at 1:45 p.m. MT (ROOT)
Drew Pomeranz (1-9, 5.06) vs. Barry Zito (12-8, 4.21)