Game 1 Lineups In; Zito, Guillen Out

We're less than an hour from the scheduled first pitch of the NLDS game 1 between the Giants and the Braves here at AT&T Park, and the lineups for both squads are in.

No real head-scratchers in the lineup tonight, but I was a little surprised to see that Jose Guillen did not make the Giants 25-man roster for this series. Apparantley, he's not at %100 (neck/back issue) and it's been showing lately, so I agree with rolling with Ross in right for this series under the circumstances. Anyway, enough pre-game blabber. Stay tuned during the game as we'll try and do a few in-game menions here, but regardless, here is the lineup (w/key '10 stats) the San Francisco Giants will be sending up against Derek Lowe, as well as the lineup that will oppose Timmy Lincecum:

BRAVES

3B Omar Infante
RF Jayson Heyward
1B Derek Lee
C Brian McCann
SS Adrian Gonzalez
RF Matt Diaz
2B Brooks Conrad
CF Rick Ankiel
P Derek Lowe (16-12, 4.02 era)

GIANTS

CF Andres Torres

2B Freddy Sanchez
1b Aubrey Huff
C Buster Posey
LF Pat Burrell
SS Juan Uribe
3B Pablo Sandoval
RF Cody Ross
P Tim Lincecum (16-10, 3.43)

Final Pre-Game Notes: Of course, the Giants have to get to Lowe early, he's a sinker baller and gets stronger as the game goes. If the Giants can make him get the ball up, they should be fine. For Lincecum, it's attack the zone early, trust Buster and trust your stuff. As long as he's not giving away free passes and putting himself in bad counts, he should be in control! One big key though will be to limit the damage of the Braves' top-3-4 hitters, as they do drop off drastically after that. I wanted to reframe from giving my prediction, for supersticious reasons, but I take the Giants tonight, 4-2.

Comments

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get

The Giants Baseball Blog

Search This Blog