New York @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 15, 2010 ) NY Mets 0, San Francisco 2
Buster Posey hasn’t had any trouble living up to the hype since being recalled by the San Francisco Giants in late May.
The 2008 first-round draft pick has been swinging a torrid bat during the month of July and will look to keep the hits coming Friday night when the Giants host the New York Mets in the second game of a four-game series.
Posey went 2-for-4 on Thursday to extend his hitting streak to nine games. He scored San Francisco’s first run (on Pablo Sandoval’s double) and drove in the second in a 2-0 victory that was also fueled by Tim Lincecum’s first shutout of the season.
Posey has been one of the hottest hitters in the majors since the calendar turned to July. He’s hitting .500 (22-for-44) with six homers and 16 RBIs in 12 games.
Overall, Posey is batting .355 with seven homers and 26 RBIs in 141 at-bats. He became the everyday catcher when the Giants recently traded Bengie Molina to Texas.
Posey has been billed as the Giants’ hitting stars of the future but the present is also proving to be his time to shine.
Upon his recall, Posey had three-hit games on back-to-back days and had two or more hits in seven of his first 12 games.
He struggled over the second half of June before his recent hot streak. Thursday’s two-hit game was his seventh multiple-hit game of July, including two four-hit games.
Mets starter Jonathan Niese has the task of trying to cool down Posey tonight.
Niese had won five straight decisions before losing to Cincinnati in his most recent start. He struck out eight in 7 2/3 innings but took the loss by giving up three runs and six hits.
Niese (6-3) has a 3.61 earned-run average. He has never faced the Giants.
Freddy Sanchez (0-for-3) is the only active San Francisco player to bat against Niese.
The Giants will counter with Barry Zito (7-4, 3.76 ERA), who has only one victory in his last 10 starts.
Zito had a 2.15 ERA after beating Houston on May 16 but has given up six runs twice and five runs twice over the last two months. The left-hander is 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA in five career starts against the Mets.
New York catcher Rod Barajas has routinely smacked Zito around. Barajas is a .345 career hitter against Zito and has two homers and four doubles among his 10 hits.
Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran is hitting just .211 against Zito in 38 at-bats.
Beltran made his season debut on Thursday by going 1-for-4. He missed the first half after offseason knee surgery.
While Beltran was back in the lineup, shortstop Jose Reyes (oblique) was a late scratch. Reyes has missed eight of New York’s last 12 games.
The Mets are close to getting second baseman Luis Castillo back. Castillo has been on the disabled list since early June due to a heel injury.