This series spotlight features a pair of teams that have a lot in common. Both teams have a dynamic pitching staff, though one is on the younger side and one is on the older side. Both teams are largely devastated by injuries, with one not having their closer and starting second baseman, and one lacking the right side of their infield. Oddly, both teams feature identical 4-5 records and have run differentials almost identical to one another (+1 and 0). The two teams in this series spotlight are the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies and 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants, who will duel this week in three night games in San Francisco.
Two of the Phillies three aces will get starts this series, as Roy Halladay starts the opener tonight, and Cliff Lee starts the finale on Wednesday. The middle game of the series will be started by Joe Blanton. The Giants on the other hand will be starting their three best pitchers. Tim Lincecum will duel with Halladay in the opener, Madison Bumgarner starts the second game against Blanton, and the epic game three matchup will pit Matt Cain, coming off of his one hit shutout of the Pirates, against Lee.
Offense has been an issue for the Phillies this year. The team has just a .643 OPS on the season, and has homered just five times. In lieu of the lack of power, the team is running on the basepaths, and running efficiently, going 10/11 on stolen bases in the nine games so far this season. But the overall offensive struggles for the Phillies is a problem that can’t be solved with just running more. The team’s leading hitter right now is catcher Carlos Ruiz, with an .845 OPS. Hunter Pence follows Ruiz with an .826 OPS, and Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins are next in line. The Phillies are getting no production at third base, where Placido Polanco has really struggled (just a .412 OPS with no extra base hits), and in left field, where the platoon of John Mayberry Jr (.536 OPS) and Juan Pierre (.700 OPS without a walk or an extra base hit) has struggled terribly. Mayberry has also gotten time at first base along with Ty Wigginton (.730 OPS), and the duo isn’t doing a great job replacing the injured Ryan Howard.
While the Giants offense has been better than Philadelphia’s, it hasn’t been awesome. The team has a .721 OPS, and features a pair of hitters knocking the hell out of the ball better than any Phillie so far in Pablo Sandoval (1.026 OPS) and Melky Cabrera (.877 OPS in his first year with the club). Catcher Buster Posey has struggled out of the gate with a .750 OPS, and the struggles of young (and super-talented) Brandon Belt at first base (.508 OPS) has led to Aubrey Huff and his .750 OPS (and no upside) getting more starts at first, much to the chagrin of Giants fans. However, San Francisco has gotten more offense than expected thusfar out of Nate Schierholtz in right field (.987 OPS) and shortstop Brandon Crawford (.719 OPS, but based on last season, the Giants will definitely take that).
On the mound, it’s been a mixed bag for the Giants. Lincecum has struggled in his first two starts despite striking out ten hitters in 7 2/3 innings, but Cain has been amazing. Bumgarner has held his own through his two starts so far, but hasn’t really dazzled like he did last season. Despite the loss of closer Brian Wilson, the Giants bullpen has been pretty good outside of a couple of characters. Santiago Casilla, Clay Hensley, Sergio Romo, and Javier Lopez have combined to pitch 8 2/3 innings, striking out nine hitters and walking just three.
Philadelphia’s rotation has been strong, as expected. Halladay has allowed just one run in 15 innings, which is typical of him. Lee has 11 strikeouts to just two walks in 13 innings, but still doesn’t have a win on the season. Blanton has made just one start (and one relief appearance), and allowed one run in seven innings to the Marlins. The Phillies bullpen hasn’t featured much dominance like the Giants bullpen has, but new closer Jonathan Papelbon has two saves and one run allowed in four innings, and another free agent this offseason, Chad Qualls, has thrown four shutout innings so far this year.
This is going to be a series dominated by pitching. The scores will likely be very low, and while it’s silly to call anything a must-win this early in the season, but the Phillies could use a series win more than the Giants. The Phillies just lost two out of three at home to the Mets, and the Giants are coming off two straight series victories, over the Rockies and Pirates. The thing about the Giants is that despite their success in the last two series, the Dodgers are on an even better roll, and have already opened up a 4.5 game lead in the division. They’ll obviously start to stumble once they hit a tougher patch of their schedule, but for the Giants to find themselves in a hole this early has to be a little worrisome. The NL East is much tighter, but it’s also a much tougher division. With the Nationals coming out of the gate hot, there are rumblings that Philly’s time as the kings of the NL East are numbered. What better way to shut the critics up than by cracking a playoff contender in the mouth against their top pitchers?
The pick: Phillies take two outta three, and then take three out of four from the Padres as they start to look like the team they’ve been over the last five years.
