The San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies begin a four-game series with a day-night doubleheader on Monday. The first game is to make up for a contest that was postponed on May 8.
Slogging Along
The Giants are currently 43-49 after beating the Brewers in Milwaukee in their last game. San Francisco is sitting in last place in the NL West, 17.5 games back from the first-place Dodgers. Despite having such a down season so far, the Giants are 8-2 in their last 10 games. They will be taking on the Rockies on the road where they are 23-23 this season.
Starting on the mound for the Giants in the first game of their Monday doubleheader will be veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija. On the season, Samardzija is 6-7 with a 4.01 ERA, though he has won his last two decisions. In his last outing, Samardzija shut down the St. Louis Cardinals, going seven innings and allowing just four hits and no runs while striking out two and walking none. Samardzija may be pitching for his next destination, as he will likely be talking about in trade discussions over the next couple of weeks.
As you can imagine, the Giants have not had the most impressive batting stats this year. Leading the team in home runs with just 13 is third baseman Evan Longoria. Centerfielder Kevin Pillar leads the team with his .255 batting average and 48 runs batted in. If the Giants want to get anything going to have something to build on for the future, they will need a lot more production out of the batter’s box from top to bottom.
The Giants are losing one of the hottest hitters in baseball as Evan Longoria goes to the 10-day IL with plantar fasciitis (via @PavlovicNBCS) https://t.co/fgNoW0ReIw pic.twitter.com/FditpotLtP
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) July 15, 2019
Stuck At .500
At 46-46 this season, the Rockies will look to get some momentum going in the second half of the season to get away from the .500 mark. Colorado is 14.5 games back from the Dodgers and tied with Arizona in the NL West. Colorado has a small advantage of playing at home, where they are 26-20 so far this year. While the Rockies are far behind the tough Dodgers in the division, they are right in the middle of a tight race for a Wild Card spot, just 1.5 games back.
German Marquez will be getting the start for the Rockies in their first Monday game. Marquez is 8-4 so far this season with a 4.45 ERA and leads the team with 125 strikeouts. The 24-year-old took a loss in his last outing after giving up five runs over six innings against the Diamondbacks. In each of his last two games, Marquez gave up four earned runs over six innings, so look for him to try to bounce back against a weak Giants team.
Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon lead the team in hitting this year yet again. Arenado’s 21 home runs and 70 runs batted in both are the most on the roster, while Charlie Blackmon leads with his .327 batting average. Colorado has some great players on its roster, but the goal of championship contention always seems to be just out of reach. They will look to get things headed in the right direction as they make an attempt to extend their season into October.
What To Expect
Everything in this game from home field, starting pitcher, and batting seem to be in favor of the Rockies. Despite the Giants’ recent success, I believe the Rockies will handle this entire series with ease. Take Colorado in this one.
