Potent Preview: San Francisco Giants (63-54) at New York Mets (55-62)

Probable starters:
SFO: Joe Martinez (2-1) 6.00 ERA. NYM: Livan Hernandez (7-7) 5.28 ERA.

The Giants couldn't pull one out yesterday despite Jonathan Sanchez and Eugenio Velez's best efforts. Oh well. I basically had that one as a loss anyways simply because Mike Pelfrey has had great success against the Giants in the past, and Sanchez is well...Sanchez (i.e. you don't know what the hell to expect). I didn't expect Zito to lose, especially to some pitcher who is normally a reliever, but this Giants-Mets series is turning out how I figured out it would: a split.

Granted, the Giants need to come through tonight to get the split, but I think they are more than capable of doing so. For starters, I like what Joe Martinez has brought to this rotation. He had a good start against Houston, and his start against Los Angeles wasn't all that bad. Had Velez not dropped that ball on the Martinez comebacker, that game may have turned out differently. Furthermore, the blowout score was more of an indicator how badly the bullpen pitcher rather than Martinez. It wasn't a great start, I admit that, but it wasn't terrible either and I believe he is capable of bouncing back, especially against a David Wright-less Mets team.

The Giants need to come out early against the Mets today, which has been easier said than done this year. However, the Giants are going against the kind of pitcher who is susceptible to getting shelled in Livan Hernandez. In his last start against the Giants he gave up five runs in five innings on eight hits, and he's coming off two brutal starts where he has allowed 12 runs and 15 hits in his last two outings. This game really does have all the indicators of a breakout game for a Giants offense that needs some momentum before they hit the road for Cincinnati.

Of course, so have a lot of games this year. Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself today, especially against "Krispey Kreme" Livan.

For game updates check out the SJ Mercury's Andrew Baggarly's Giants blog at Extra Baggs. For live game thread and chat, check out the McCovey Chronicles.