Giants vs. Nationals Series Preview

            The San Francisco Giants are happy to be home after an abysmal six game road trip that only produced one win. The Giants are 24-20 this year and are tied with the Colorado Rockies for second place in the National League West. It is early in the season, but the Giants should have some very serious concerns with their starting pitching, because none of them are pitching with any consistency.

            The Washington Nationals are in the Bay Area for a three game set with the Giants. Washington has underperformed this season, mostly due to injuries to stars like Bryce Harper, Bruce Werth, and Ross Detwiler. The Nats are 23-21, and are two and a half games back of the Atlanta Braves for first in the NL East. Many experts predicted them to win upwards of 100 games, but they have a lot of winning to do before they get there.

            Last season the Nationals and the Giants were fifth and sixth respectively in team batting in the NL. This season the Giants are third in the NL, while Washington is sitting in 13^th place. Despite the struggles of Washington as a team, there are still many hitters to watch in this series.

            Bryce Harper is a little banged up after crashing into the outfield wall at Dodger Stadium, but he has proved to the league that he is a star. He is batting .297 this season and is top three in the NL in homeruns, slugging percentage, and on base plus slugging percentage. Even though he has some swelling in his left leg still, Giants pitchers have to be careful when he is at the plate.

            Nationals’ shortstop Ian Desmond emerged as a very solid player last season when he hit .292 with 25 long balls. He is hitting .268 with six bombs this season, but he is struggling mightily in May. AT&T Park is the last place that a struggling hitter wants to visit.

            The first Giants hitter to watch in this series is Brandon Crawford. The shortstop has improved his swing since last season, and he has been doing a great job when he is behind in the count. As the eighth place hitter, he has to be very aggressive at the plate, and he is batting .333 in 1-2 counts and .400 in 2-2 counts.

            Pablo Sandoval is looking very skinny to Giants Manager Bruce Bochy and General Manager Brian Sabean; because of the way he is swinging the bat this season. He is hitting .302 with seven homeruns and 32 runs batted in. The Nationals better watch out because the Panda has come to play this year.

            Even though both the Giants and the Nationals staffs have had a tough time getting guys out this year, this series will feature a lot of great pitching.

            Monday night’s game will feature Ryan Vogelsong and Zach Duke. Vogelsong is not pitching anywhere near the level he s expected to be pitching at. He has not given up less than three earned runs in any of his starts this season and he has given up 16 earned runs in his last three outings. Zach Duke has been working out of the bullpen this season and will be making his first start of the year. The Giants hitters will likely have to take advantage of Zach Dukes’ inexperience, in order to give Vogelsong some support.

            In the second game of the series on Tuesday, it will be between superstars Matt Cain and Stephen Strasburg. Cain has not been his usual consistent self, and he has given up nine homeruns in his 13 starts on the year. The Giants have had to score a lot, but they have won the last four times he was on the bump. Stephen Strasburg is 2-5 on the year, but he has a very solid earned run average of 2.83. He is one of the up and coming star pitchers in the league, and this matchup will be very exciting to watch.

            Madison Bumgarner and Gio Gonzalez will square off in the final game of this series on Wednesday at 12:45. Bumgarner has established himself as one of the league’s best pitchers this year, but in his last outing he gave up seven earned runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Colorado Rockies. Gio Gonzalez started slow in April, and has really picked it up in May. He was a Cy Young candidate last year, and the Nationals hope he finds that same form on Wednesday.

            The Giants are going to take two of the three games in this series because Zach Duke is too inexperienced to beat the defending World Series Champions. Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner are going to find themselves again now that they are back at home and out of the death trap in Denver.

            Enjoy the series and get ready for when the Rockies to come to AT&T Park on Friday.