GDT 6/25 Padres @ Giants

[Mays-Fan]

San Diego Padres vs San Francisco Giants, 3:45 P.M. ET

San Diego Padres Lineup

CF: Will Venable
SS: Everth Cabrera
RF: Seth Smith
LF: Carlos Quentin
3B: Chase Headley
1B: Tommy Medica
2B: Alexi Amarista
C: Rene Rivera
SP: Ian Kennedy

San Francisco Giants Lineup

CF: Gregor Blanco
RF: Hunter Pence
1B: Buster Posey
3B: Pablo Sandoval
LF: Mike Morse
SS: Brandon Crawford
C: Hector Sanchez
2B: Joe Panik
SP: Tim Lincecum

 

[Mays-Fan]

Padres seek sweep of Giants behind Kennedy
Veteran looks to follow rookies' lead in matchup with Lincecum

By Ryan Hood / MLB.com | 6/25/2014 2:30 AM ET

The Giants were flummoxed by two unfamiliar faces -- Odrisamer Despaigne and Jesse Hahn -- the past two nights, to the tune of two runs in 13 innings against the pair of Padres rookies who entered the series with three career starts combined.

Perhaps Ian Kennedy's familiar face will be a pleasant sight for the Giants on Wednesday afternoon as they try to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the Padres. There won't be any surprise pitches in Kennedy's arsenal or a lack of film to study from.

That said, with apologies to pitcher-friendly Petco Park, Kennedy probably won't mind getting to see the Giants at AT&T Park.

Kennedy is 3-3 with a 3.53 ERA in seven road starts this season. At his home ballpark, he's 2-5 with a 4.19 ERA in nine starts.

This will be the first time this season Kennedy has faced the Giants. For the first two months of the regular season, he was the most consistent and reliable starter in the rotation.

June has been a different story, as he has a 5.40 ERA in four starts. He hasn't won since June 4, but he continues to keep the Padres in a lot of games.

The Giants will counter with Tim Lincecum. Though far from his two-time Cy Young-winning form, Lincecum has recently bounced back from a disastrous start to the season, which saw his ERA at 5.55 on May 11. Through 15 starts, it now sits at 4.90. He still represents an uncertainty on the mound, though, having surrendered 17 runs in 22 1/3 innings during his past four starts.

Lincecum is 14-6 with a 2.47 ERA in 27 career starts against the Padres. He was tagged for three runs in six innings April 20 in his only start against them this season.

Giants: Starting pitching problematic

The Giants are 3-11 in their past 14 games, a span that's seen 6 1/2 games chopped off their National League West lead over the Dodgers. Manager Bruce Bochy wasn't shy in pinpointing the team's biggest problem after Tuesday night's 7-2 loss -- its starting pitching.

Giant starters have given up 53 earned runs in 84 2/3 innings in the that 14-game span.

"It's the rotation that put us in a good position, but we've hit a bump in the road with some of them, and that's going to happen," Bochy said. "What's going to be important is that we come out of this, and it's going to be our starting pitching that gets us out of this. Some days are hard to explain, like our struggles here at home where they've done such a great job."

The Giants have lost five consecutive games at home and have given up 33 runs in those games. They're 1-8 in their past nine home games and have gotten just four quality starts in their last 14 games overall.

Padres: Headley returns to lineup

After missing four games with a herniated disk in his back -- and receiving an epidural -- third baseman Chase Headley was back in the starting lineup Tuesday.

"He's feeling better," said manager Bud Black. "He got that injection and we think the shot helped. The four days off helped, too."

Black wasn't sure if Headley would be ready Tuesday, but he went through a full workout before Monday's game and awoke feeing fine.

"He texted me this morning and told me he was ready to go," Black said.

Worth noting

• The loss Tuesday dropped the Giants to 18-19 against teams below .500 this season.

• Prior to their first two wins this series, the Padres hadn't scored six or more runs in back-to-back games since May 9-10 against the Marlins.

 

[SFGRTB]

Duvall up, Pagan down.

 

[Band of Brothers]

Giants try and avoid getting swept by a Padres team that could not hit the broad side of a barn coming into this series. Lincecum on the bump who threw a NO-Hitter @ SD last year. Giants only three games up and need this game to stop this 5 game losing streak at home. I know it's a long year and all the ups and downs but I would like to see a little more red ass out there on the field for the Giants.

Picks to click...Pence...Posey...and the force Morse who is due big time to go yard. It's been about a month now.

Go Giants !!

 

[Stokes1931]

The Padres have only scored 55 runs in June, and 13 of them in the last two games. They are hitting .182 in June, even with the last two games.

 

[calsnowskier]

I am confused.

I thought lead off hitters were not allowed to see more than 3 pitches in their first AB. How is this possible?

 

[SunsGiantsNiners]

for all of you out of towners like myself, it's MLB's free game of the day online

go giants!

 

[calsnowskier]

for all of you out of towners like myself, it's MLB's free game of the day online

go giants!

Unless u live in the Padres market.

Weren't there some lawsuits against MLB about their market restrictions regarding the subscriptions?

 

[Stokes1931]

I am confused.

I thought lead off hitters were not allowed to see more than 3 pitches in their first AB. How is this possible?

 

[Stokes1931]

Good start by Timmah.

Now, SCORE SOME RUNS!

 

[calsnowskier]

A lot of pitches, but very nice inning by Timmeh.

 

[calsnowskier]

Real question...

Do we care about Timmeh's pitch count?

We would be thrilled with 5 or 6 innings, so averaging 15-20 pitches per inning should be OK.

 

[Stokes1931]

I am confused.

I thought lead off hitters were not allowed to see more than 3 pitches in their first AB. How is this possible?

Blanco hitting .056 as leadoff hitter in the first inning this year.

He does have a wonderful .150 OBP in that split, though.

 

[msgkings322]

Blanco hitting .056 as leadoff hitter in the first inning this year.

He does have a wonderful .150 OBP in that split, though.

Pagan = team MVP

 

[calsnowskier]

Blanco hitting .056 as leadoff hitter in the first inning this year.

He does have a wonderful .150 OBP in that split, though.

That is some amazing plate discipline.

I am sure he is getting hurt by the BABIP gods, as well.

 

[Stokes1931]

I am confused.

I thought lead off hitters were not allowed to see more than 3 pitches in their first AB. How is this possible?

Blanco with a seven pitch AB.

Will most likely see FPOM the rest of the day. "That's enough patience. Screw patience. I'm going up there swinging!"

 

[Stokes1931]

Blanco's average in the first is now down to .052

Posey hitting .407 in the first inning. Gotta count for something, right?

 

[calsnowskier]

We all (well, at least me) feels that Posey is having an absolutely horrid year.

.280 with 9 HR = horrid year?

We are spoiled.

 

[calsnowskier]

Damn it.

There goes the perfecto.

 

[Stokes1931]

From a 1-2 count to a walk.