Pirates@Giants June 8th/11th

[Giants666]

Thursday, June 8 7:15 PM PT
Zach Duke, LHP (4-6, 4.23)VS.Matt Cain, RHP (4-5, 5.10)
Scouting Report:
Duke shook off another rough first inning Saturday night against the Padres to earn his second consecutive win. After allowing three runs in the opening frame, the southpaw blanked San Diego on just one hit over his final six innings. The slow start was nothing new for Duke. He's given up 14 first-run innings in 11 starts, including three starts in which he allowed three runs in the first. Duke has never faced the Giants.
Cain has won three straight games after fixing some mechanical problems. He's throwing strikes with great location, although he struggled in a 6-4 win over the Mets last Saturday, giving up three earned runs in five innings. The 21-year-old owns a great fastball with excellent movement.

Friday, June 9 7:15 PM PT
Victor Santos, RHP (3-6, 4.70)VS.Matt Morris, RHP (3-6, 5.32)

Scouting Report:
Santos had his two-game winning streak snapped Sunday against the Padres. The right-hander allowed just one run in five innings despite surrendering seven hits and two walks. He was lifted after throwing 108 pitches. Santos has gone 1-2 with a 3.80 ERA in seven career appearances against the Giants.
Morris hasn't won since May 17, but he had a no-decison in a quality start against New York last Sunday in a 12-inning affair in which he lasted six innings, giving up three runs. In a 5-1 loss against the Marlins in his previous outing, he also went six frames but had little offensive support.


Saturday, June 10 1:05 PM PT
Ian Snell, RHP (6-3, 5.26)VS.Noah Lowry, LHP (2-3, 3.76)
Scouting Report:
Snell is pitching with confidence, posting a 2.19 ERA over his last two starts. He had all four pitches working Monday in Colorado, setting a career high with 10 strikeouts, mixing in his offspeed stuff with excellent command of his fastball to keep the Rockies off balance. He handled the little traffic he saw, diffusing scoring situations by bearing down and killing the Rockies' rallies.
Lowry picked up his second win of the year on Monday night, pitching five strong innings against the Florida Marlins. He gave up one run on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. He's back from a stint on the disabled list with a right oblique strain for a month now and is throwing loose and easy.

Sunday, June 11 1:05 PM PT
Paul Maholm, LHP (2-5, 4.57)VS.Jason Schmidt, RHP (6-2, 2.53)
Scouting Report:
Maholm gave up four runs in five-plus innings Tuesday in Colorado, only the second time he's yielded as many runs in over a month. He worked himself out of jams throughout the game, minimizing the damage of his 11 hits, two walks, and a hit batsman. Most troublesome was a string of six consecutive leadoff hits during his five-plus innings.
What does Schmidt do for an encore after winning NL Player of the Month honors for May? All he did was strike out 16 Florida Marlins last Tuesday night to match the 102-year-old franchise record established by Christy Mathewson on Oct. 3, 1904. Schmidt has allowed two or fewer runs in his last eight starts, and is on a six-game winning streak.

[Bear]

Lets hope Cain can have another good outing as the Bear will be in the House on Thursday!


GO GIANTS BEAT THE PIRATES!!!

[Giants666]

Have fun man.......

[Bear]

Is there any other reason to go to the game! Thanks.

[love_that_reefer]

Let's hope Cain can make it through the 6th ****ing inning without a 100+ pitch count! GET AHEAD OF THE GODDAMN HITTERS!!!!

[Bear]

On this point we can both agree

[Giants666]

GAME PREVIEW

Cain to go for fourth straight win
Pirates (22-38) at Giants (31-28), Thursday, 7:15 p.m. PT

Giants rookie Matt Cain is on a nice roll, a career-high three-game winning streak, heading into the nighttime matchup vs. the Pirates.
At 21, Cain is still learning to be consistent, but he's back on track after some rough early outings. He's tied for the lead among National League rookies with four wins and ranks second with 46 strikeouts.

In his winning stretch, Cain sports a 1.83 ERA and has limited opponents to a .134 average. Over his last four appearances, he has cut 1.94 points from his once 7.04 ERA, locating his fastball well and showing great command.

Still, Cain will try to correct mistakes made in his last game, a rain-delayed, five-inning effort against the Mets when he gave up six hits yet still struck out six.

"I made bad pitches when I got ahead of guys -- I should have put them away."

Pitching matchup
SF: RHP Matt Cain (4-5, 5.10)
Cain will be making his 11th start in the series opener and first-ever outing vs. the Pirates. Although giving up four runs (three earned) over only five innings at New York last Saturday, the Giants still won, 6-4.

PIT: LHP Zach Duke (4-6, 4.23)
Duke shook off another rough first inning on Saturday night against the Padres to earn his second consecutive win. After allowing three runs in the opening frame, the southpaw blanked San Diego on just one hit over his final six innings.

The slow start was nothing new for Duke. He's given up 14 first-inning runs in 11 starts, including three starts in which he allowed three runs in the first. Duke has never faced the Giants.

Player to watch
Outfielder Moises Alou has roared back from the disabled list, collecting a pair of RBIs in his first two games after a 4 1/2 week layoff with a severe ankle sprain.

[Bear]

It looks like Bonds will miss tonights Game! We get Alou back and Bonds goes out! This could be a season long problem with older players going in and out with injuries. Will we ever see a long run of 25 plus games with the entire 25 man roster available? I just do not know!

[SF Kid]

As I posted in another thread there is a possibility that Barry will miss the entire Pittsburgh series. This is not a good thing.

[Bear]

SAY IT IS NOT SO KID!!!

[SF Kid]

SAY IT IS NOT SO KID!!!

It's just what I read somewhere or maybe I heard it on SportsCenter this morning! We'll see.

[love_that_reefer]

Bonds' injury is not that bad and hopefully we don't need him to win a series against the Bucs. If Bonds does sit out the entire four game series plus the off day on Monday, Bonds should be ready to go against the top dog Dbacks!

[Bear]

I do not like to see any older player out with an injury. You never know if this is the one that will spell the beginning of the end!

[SF Kid]

Isn't that the truth Bear. A guy like Finley for example could pull a hammy and that could be the end of his career. It can happen easily. So I hope we can avoid it but it's a real crap shoot.

[SF Kid]

Pirates get to Cain early...3-0.

Damn it.