Florida @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( May 6, 2010 ) San Francisco 6, Florida 3
Two teams that are feeling really good about themselves square off over the next four days as the San Francisco Giants host the Florida Marlins in a series that begins Monday night.
The Giants are the hottest team in baseball with a 15-3 record over the last three weeks and are fresh off a four-game road sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Marlins are coming off a wild homestand in which they went 7-3 and won four games in their final at-bat.
The final-inning magic has allowed the Marlins to get back to the .500 mark and has offered hope that they can get back into the NL East race. Florida is in fourth place, eight games behind the front-running Atlanta Braves.
The Giants have been able to keep the San Diego Padres in their sights with their hot play. San Francisco suddenly has the third-best record (56-43) in the National League after being just one game above .500 (41-40) at the season’s midway point.
San Francisco trails San Diego by three games in the NL West and currently leads the wild card standings.
The hot hitting of rookie Buster Posey has provided the fuel for San Francisco’s vastly improved play.
Posey had four hits in Sunday’s victory over the Diamondbacks to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. He has three four-hit games this month and is hitting .469 (38-for-81) in July.
Posey is closing in on the San Francisco record for longest hitting streak by a rookie. Willie McCovey currently holds that distinction with a 22-game hitting streak in 1959.
Florida right-hander Ricky Nolasco takes a shot at slowing down Posey in the series opener. Nolasco lost to the Giants in early May – before Posey’s recall – when he gave up three runs and five hits in six innings.
Nolasco (10-7, 4.50 ERA) is 5-1 over his last six starts and has struck out eight or more hitters in five outings. He defeated Colorado in his last start when he gave up two runs and four hits over eight innings.
Monday might be a good night for Giants shortstop Edgar Renteria to get a day off – he is 0-for-15 against Nolasco.
Barry Zito starts for the Giants and the left-hander is just 1-3 over his past seven starts.
Zito (8-5, 3.45 ERA) lost a 2-0 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last start. Zito allowed two runs and six hits in 7 1/3 innings.
Zito has excelled against the Marlins, going 5-0 with a 2.15 ERA in six career starts. He defeated Florida earlier this season by allowing one run and seven hits over seven innings.
Marlins All-Star shortstop Hanley Ramirez traditionally struggles against Zito. He’s just 1-for-13 (.077) against Zito, but the one hit is a homer.
Florida hasn’t seen a homer from Ramirez since July 2. That homer is Ramirez’s only extra-base hit of a month in which he has just three RBIs.
The Giants will again be without third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who went home to Venezuela for personal issues.
San Francisco also placed outfielder Eugenio Velez on the disabled list. Velez received a concussion after being hit in the head by a foul line drive by teammate Pat Burrell during Saturday’s game.