Thursday, August 20, 2009

Potent Preview: San Francisco Giants (66-54) at Cincinnati Reds (50-69)

Probable starters:
SFO: Matt Cain (12-4) 2.49 ERA. CIN: Aaron Harang (6-14) 4.35 ERA.

Definitely has been a weird series. First Giants come back from four runs down in the second inning to win. Last night, the Giants win despite getting 10 hits and no runs. You wonder what the Giants will have in store for today's game. You think after those tough performances, they can put one altogether today on both the offensive and defensive end and blow the Reds out of the water.

Whatever happens, this is for sure: Cain needs a win. The guy had a great performance against the Mets, only to have Affeldt, Wilson and the Bullpen blow it. Yeah, I know they won, but still, this sucks for Cain. In the second half, it's been more typical of Cain of old rather than the first half Cain which seemed to be getting the run support he had deserved in his young pitching career.

Either way, I think Cain is due for a win, but that will all depend on the lineup. Hopefully, the Giants come out and hit right away and Cain is able to keep the Reds in check, which shouldn't be too hard considering how bad the Reds offense is looking right now. That being said, Cain needs to keep the ball out of the air to win this game. Balls fly in this ballpark, and with this being a day game, they will be extra lively. He can't allow batters to hit balls would be deep fly outs in San Francisco. They'll be home runs here at the Great American Ballpark (which I think should be around the 13,000 fan mark. I'll set the over/under fan attendance at 13,500).

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.

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