Arizona @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( May 20, 2010 ) San Francisco 7, Arizona 8
The last time the Arizona Diamondbacks saw the San Francisco Giants, they were feeling pretty good about themselves.
The Diamondbacks are in desperate need to recapture those vibes.
Arizona swept a mini two-game series at home against the Giants last week, including an 8-7 win in the second game in which they were able to beat up Tim Lincecum, the two-time defending National League Cy Young winner.
It was the start of a 4-1 homestand, a far cry from the previous six games at home when Arizona went 0-6. So the Diamondbacks understandably felt confident when they hit the road to Colorado.
That momentum was essentially placed in the Coors Field humidor this week and crushed after Arizona lost all three games to the Rockies.
If the Diamondbacks are going to turn things around on this nine-game road trip against NL West opponents, they’ll hope for it to come against the team that kick-started their last good run.
The three-game series at AT&T Park gets underway today with Arizona right-hander Edwin Jackson taking the mound and attempting to end the Diamondbacks’ four-game losing streak.
Following a terrible start to the season, Jackson has won his last two outings and pitched well over the last four after a horrendous two-game stretch in which he allowed 18 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings.
The difference has been pretty simple.
Early in the season, Jackson was holding back on his pitches in order to stay strong for the later innings. Problem was, he wasn’t getting that far.
Over the last four outings, he has started being more aggressive with his fastball, cranking it back up to the mid- to high-90s that he flashed last season in Detroit and snapping off a slider nastier than cottage cheese three weeks past the use-by date.
The results – a 4.00 ERA (compared to 8.07 before) with 36 strikeouts in his last 29 1/3 innings – have been dramatic.
In order to keep that string of a solid starts going, Jackson is going to have to beat one of the NL’s best in Matt Cain, but that might not be too hard based on the latter’s luck in 2010.
Cain has allowed two earned runs total in this last two starts covering 14 innings and lost both games. It partially explains why he is 2-4 on the season despite an ERA of 2.88.
It’s in stark contrast to last season, when Cain won 12 of his first 14 decisions en route to his first All-Star game.
Cain might be catching the Diamondbacks at the right time after they scored a total of seven runs in getting swept by the Colorado Rockies.
The Giants are coming off a series win against the Nationals, which had been preceded by a five-game losing streak.