Colorado @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( May 31, 2010 ) Colorado 4, San Francisco 0
Buster Posey made such a quick impact on San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy that he got to play in a third straight game.
The original plan upon Posey’s recall was for him to play Saturday and Sunday and then sit against Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez. But back-to-back three-hit games quickly called for an audible.
So Posey played against Jimenez and had his first hitless game since being recalled during Monday’s opener of a three-game series that continues Tuesday at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.
Posey was recalled to give a boost to the Giants’ stagnant offense and he did so by going 6-for-9 with four RBIs in his first two games.
That stellar performance by the organization’s top prospect led to Bochy playing him against Jimenez.
Posey played first base Monday but also will be seeing some action behind the plate. But make no mistake, it is his bat that the Giants covet most.
Posey was the national player of the year in high school and the college player of the year at Florida State before being picked fifth overall by the Giants in the 2008 draft. He was batting .349 at Triple-A Fresno this season prior to his recall.
The Giants have struggled to score runs most of the year and the hope is that the addition of Posey will help alleviate that issue.
At least San Francisco is back to facing a mere mortal Tuesday after being blanked by Jimenez on Monday. Jimenez is now 10-1 with an 0.78 ERA after his latest outstanding effort.
Jason Hammel starts for the Rockies and he’s a whole lot easier to hit than Jimenez. Hammel (2-3) has a 6.93 ERA in seven starts and has allowed five or more earned runs three times.
Hammel is 0-2 with a 3.52 ERA in four career starts against San Francisco.
Barry Zito (6-2) starts for the Giants and he’s had good success against Colorado even when he was being rocked often over the past three seasons.
Zito is 5-2 with a 2.00 ERA in 12 career starts against the Rockies. He allowed two runs and five hits in eight innings in beating Colorado earlier this season.
Zito has a 2.94 ERA and has pitched at least six innings in nine of his 10 starts.
Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is batting .312 this season but has seldom fared well against Zito. He’s hitting just .152 in 33 career at-bats against Zito with one homer and two RBIs.
Tulowitzki enters Tuesday’s game having hit five homers since May 20 (he has six on the season) and with nine multi-hit games in the month of May.
San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval went 3-for-4 against Jimenez for his second three-hit games in the last three days. Sandoval is now batting .293.