Phillies Series Preview: at San Francisco Giants
By Matt Veasey
The Philadelphia Phillies travel out west to San Francisco for a three game weekend series at AT&T Park with the host Giants.
For Phils fans who want to watch their favorite ball club play over the next two nights, it will be a pair of late nights. The first two games of the series with the host San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park are not scheduled to begin until 10:15pm EDT.
Entering the series, these two teams are at opposite ends of the competitiveness spectrum. The Giants are 20 games over the .500 mark at 47-27, in first place in the NL West. They hold a six game lead over their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants also come in red-hot, having won three straight, and 11 of their last 12 games. They are 22-13 at home, and are 30-17 against right-handed starting pitching. The Phils will throw a trio of righties in the series.
The Phillies on the other hand are a dozen games below the .500 mark at 31-43, and are 8.5 games out of the final NL Wildcard spot. This despite a big 7-3 win in Thursday’s series finale vs the Minnesota Twins, which snapped a nine-game Phils losing streak.
San Fran manager Bruce Bochy is in his 10th season at the helm of the Giants following a dozen seasons as skipper of the San Diego Padres. He has a career 1,749-1,709 mark, led the Padres to three NL West crowns and the 1998 NL Pennant, and guided the Giants to three World Series titles over the six years prior to this season.
In the offensive lineup, the Giants feature 29-year old perennial MVP candidate catcher Buster Posey. The 3x NL All-Star and Silver Slugger winner was the 2010 NL Rookie of the Year and the 2012 National League Most Valuable Player.
This season, Posey has posted a .277/.338/.450 slash line with eight homers, 34 RBI, and 40 runs scored.
1st baseman Brandon Belt is enjoying somewhat of a breakout campaign at age 28. The lefty bat has put together a fine .302/.409/.529 slash line with a team-high 10 homers, as well as 35 RBI and 37 runs.
The club’s middle infield combo of 2nd baseman Joe Panik and shortstop Brandon Crawford is steady as they come defensively, and has combined for 13 homers, 78 RBI, and 71 runs scored.
The Giants lineup has been stretched a bit thin due to injuries. Angel Pagan missed a lot of time early in the season. Now right fielder Hunter Pence and 3rd baseman Matt Duffy are both out.
Pence, the one-time Phillies fan favorite from their last contending team back in 2011, will have surgery to repair a torn right hamstring, and is not expected to return until mid-late August.
The Giants will run, having a handful of players with five or more stolen bases. But two of those are Duffy and utility man Kelby Tomlinson, who is also out injured. Center fielder Denard Span has seven steals to pace those available this weekend.
When Bochy makes his calls to the pen at the end of games, 35-year old righty Santiago Casilla is the man who has stepped up as the closer. Casilla has allowed 23 hits over 29 innings with an excellent 38/7 K:BB ratio, and has recorded 16 Saves.
A group of four right-handers pitching from the middle innings through setup roles have all pitched well this season in Cory Gearrin, Hunter Strickland, Derek Law, and George Kontos.
Lefties Javier Lopez and Josh Osich have been less effective, but not entirely ineffective. It is a generally solid, reliable, though unspectacular group coming out of the San Francisco bullpen.
This is the middle leg of a three city, nine game road trip for the Fightin’ Phils. After this weekend, the club will venture into the Arizona desert for a series with the Diamondbacks.
In this series, the Phillies bats will be up against a trio of talented veteran pitchers. The pitching rotation is probably the main reason that San Francisco has the division lead. Those Phils bats will quickly learn that they have left Minnesota, and weak pitching, behind.
Next: PHILLIES at GIANTS: PITCHING MATCHUPS