Phillies Series Preview: at San Francisco Giants

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

PITCHING MATCHUPS

FRIDAY: Zach Eflin (0-2, 10.80 ERA) vs Jake Peavy (3-6, 5.47 ERA): Peavy is a now 35-year old veteran in his 15th big league season, his 3rd with the Giants. He is a long way from his prime, when he won the 2007 NL Cy Young Award as a member of the San Diego Padres, and even his final All-Star season of 2012 while with the Chicago White Sox. Still, he has pitched very well over his last eight starts after a rough beginning to the season. In these last eight, Peavy has allowed just 35 hits in 43.1 innings with a 34/14 K:BB ratio. In four of his last five outings, the righty has allowed just one run or fewer. Eflin is making just his third Major League start. He followed up a disastrous debut against the Toronto Blue Jays with a very solid effort against Arizona, and is looking to establish that he belongs in the big leagues to stay.

Related Story: Phillies Call-Up: Zach Eflin

SATURDAY: Jeremy Hellickson (4-6, 4.41 ERA) vs Madison Bumgarner (8-3, 1.85 ERA): one of the best pitchers in baseball, Bumgarner is the lefty half of a potent 1-2, left-right punch that the Giants toss at teams. Lucky Phillies, they get to face both in less than 24 hours. Bumgarner is a 26-year old lefty who was San Fran’s 1st round pick in the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft at 10th overall out of a North Carolina high school. He has grown to become a 3x NL All-Star, a 2x Silver Slugger winner, and was both the 2014 NLCS and World Series Most Valuable Player. Just beginning to enter his prime, this season he has allowed just 76 hits over 102 innings with a 115/28 K:BB ratio. Hellickson is, well, to put it plainly, trade bait. In fact, he may be the most valuable trade chip that the Phils currently possess. It is extremely important, both for his sake as he seeks a free agent contract this coming off-season, and the Phillies sakes as we move closer to the July 31st trade deadline, that he pitch consistently well.

SUNDAY: Aaron Nola (5-7, 4.11 ERA) vs Johnny Cueto (11-1, 2.06 ERA): Cueto is the righty half of that great Giants left-right, 1-2 punch with Bumgarner. Just prior to last season’s trade deadline, Cueto was dealt from the Cincinnati Reds, who originally signed him as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic all the way back in 2004, and for whom he had pitched over the first eight seasons of his career, to the Kansas City Royals. With KC, Cueto helped the Royals to become World Series champions. He then became a free agent, and signed a massive 7-year contract for nearly $150 million with the Giants, a deal that he may opt out of following next season. An NL All-Star and the Cy Young runner-up with Cincy in 2014, Cueto is pushing for those honors again this year. He has allowed just 87 hits over 109.1 innings with a 96/21 K:BB ratio. Nola is, right now, the best the Phillies have on the mound based on talent. However, the 23-year old has struggled mightily over his last three consecutive starts. In this worst stretch of his nascent career, Nola has failed to even reach the 4th inning in any of his previous three outings. That needs to change, and fast.

Next: PHILS KEYS TO VICTORY IN THE CITY BY THE BAY

KEYS TO VICTORY

Pester Peavy: let’s be honest here, do you really think that this popgun offense has any chance whatsoever to beat either Bumgarner or Cueto on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon respectively? I didn’t think so. Sure, miracles happen, and we all know anything can happen in any given game. One of those superstar arms could just have an off night, suffer an injury, or heck, maybe the Phillies just have one of those games. But the odds are great that the aging Peavy will be their best chance at putting up a few runs and gaining a victory. Trouble is, as our Pitching Matchups preview revealed, he has been really good over the last month or so.

Pray for Rain: …..and then comes the Bumgarner-Cueto combination. To get a rainout in either game, you would probably need to pray for it, since as you will see as you click through this Series Preview slideshow, the weather forecast by the bay is for a gorgeous weekend. If Bumgarner does indeed dominate the Phils on Saturday night, then go to church on Sunday morning and start to pray for the Phillies on Sunday against Cueto. Heck, even if the Phillies find some miraculous way to win on Saturday night, go to church anyway. It’s good for your soul, and God’s wants to see you in his house. And in most churches, it will be okay to wear your Phillies jerseys or shirseys.

Next: PHILLIES TV & RADIO BROADCAST SCHEDULE

Next: SAN FRANCISCO / AT & T PARK WEEKEND WEATHER

INJURIES / DISABLED LISTS

San Francisco Giants

Philadelphia Phillies

Next: Phillies Call-Up: Zach Eflin