Florida @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Jul 26, 2010 ) Florida 4, San Francisco 3
The San Francisco Giants were cooled down Monday night and must now deal with the unenviable task of facing perhaps the best pitcher in the National League on Tuesday.
That would be All-Star Josh Johnson, who has allowed one run or less in 12 of his last 13 starts and leads the majors with a microscopic 1.61 ERA.
Johnson will try to make it two straight wins for the Florida Marlins in the four-game series when he takes the mound against a Giants team that lost for just the fourth time in 19 games on Monday.
Johnson (10-3) has been superb for the Marlins this season, striking out 141 hitters and walking just 29.
While Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez rightfully received most of the attention among National League pitchers over the first half of the season, Johnson has arguably put together a better campaign.
Johnson hasn’t allowed an earned run in six of his last 13 starts and has allowed just one in the other six. The lone time he allowed more than one run was during a 2-1 defeat to the San Diego Padres in late June.
And his control has been so good, it would make Hall of Famer Christy Mathewson blush. Johnson has walked just five batters over 57 1/3 innings in his last eight starts.
But there is this caveat that provides hope for the Giants - Johnson, who has a 44-19 career mark, has never defeated San Francisco. He has a 0-3 record in four career outings.
The Giants send Matt Cain (8-8, 3.10 ERA) to the hill and the hurler is coming off back-to-back terrific performances.
Cain shut out the Arizona Diamondbacks on three hits over eight innings in his last outing. Just five days prior to that, he permitted just two runs and four hits against the New York Mets.
Cain defeated the Marlins earlier this season by allowing just two runs and four hits in seven innings to improve to 3-0 with a 2.83 ERA in six career starts against Florida.
Florida second baseman Dan Uggla is just 2-for-12 (.167) lifetime against Cain, but has been swinging a hot bat. Uggla is 7-for-18 (.389) with three homers and six RBIs over the last four games. Uggla homered in Florida’s win on Monday.
Shortstop Hanley Ramirez went 0-for-5 in the opener, but has a .400 (6-for-15) lifetime average against Cain.
San Francisco catcher Buster Posey extended his hitting streak to 19 games. He’s now three shy of the franchise rookie record held by Hall of Famer Willie McCovey (1959).
Aubrey Huff saw his 12-game hitting streak come to an end Monday. Before the 0-for-4 effort, Huff had gone 19-for-47 (.404) during his hot streak.
Florida outfielder Chris Coghlan (knee) missed Monday’s game and is doubtful for Tuesday contest.