Cubs@San Francisco 6/30-7/3

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The Giants are in for a true test of their abilities with a four game set against the Cubs. Cubs are in first place in the Central while the Giants sit 10 games under .500 and are in third place in their division. Cubs have lost four in a row and the Giants have won two in row and finally won a series against the A's. Giants sit just five games out of first and need a split to help stay in the race for the All-Star break.

Game One- Ted Lilly (8-5, 4.74 ERA) vs Barry Zito (3-11, 5.91 ERA). Zito is coming off his best performance of the year and it came against the Indians. Zito went 6 2/3 giving up just one run and struck out four. He didn't walk a soul and got ahead of hitters instead of working from behind. Barry also established his fastball and went inside on righties. Let's hope he can do it again. Zito is 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA lifetime against the Cubs. Lilly is 2-1 with a 6.08 ERA against the Giants lifetime.

Game Two- Jason Marquis (6-4, 4.96 ERA) vs Matt Cain (4-6, 4.44 ERA). Cain was roughed up in his last outing going just five innings and giving up four earned runs. Giants will need Cain to be more consistent. Cain is 1-2 with a 4.50 ERA in his last three games. Cain is 3-2 with a 4.09 ERA against the Cubbies, Marquis is 3-0 with a 2.56 ERA against the Giants.

Game Three- Ryan Dempster (9-3, 3.26 ERA) vs Kevin Correia (1-5, 4.79 ERA). Giants desperately need Correia to get on track. He has been hurt for much of the season but he is back now and should be getting back to form. He went just five innings in his last start and gave up one run so things are looking up. Correia is a terrible 0-2 with a 18.00 ERA versus the Cubs. Sad thing is he has only pitched two innings against them

Game Four- Sean Gallagher (3-3, 4.36 ERA) vs Tim Lincecum (9-1, 2.38 ERA). Our ace will be on the hill again after dominating the A's in his last outing. Tim struck out 11 in seven shutout innings and doesn't look to slow down anytime soon. Lincecum 2.51 ERA in two starts versus the Cubs is very encouraging.

I can see the Giants winning three of four but it will be hard to match the Cubs offense. A split is more realistic. I would like to see Vizquel and his wonderful .156 average sitting on the bench more and Molina needs to start driving in runs again. Sergio Romo has looked good in his first two appearances so hopefully he can emerge as a late inning guy. If Burriss starts over Vizquel, this Giants team could have seven starters hitting .280 or higher.

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Cubs go up 1-0 in the 2nd on a Fukudome single. Zito has thrown 47 pitches in two innings.

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Giants are down 5-0 in the 6th. Zito was rocked for five runs, four earned in just five innings. Giants haven't done anything with RISP.

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Make it 9-0 after a GS from DeRosa. He wore us out tonight. Looks like that all she wrote so I am off to bed.

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Giants are up 1-0 in the first thanks to a good old fashioned double steal. Cain had a shaky first but got out of it unharmed.

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Cain is dominating!! 1-0 in the 6th.

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Castillo just made an amazing play at third. It will be on Sportscenter. So will Matt Cain. He has struck out 10 guys tonight and given up just two hits through eight. Giants lead 2-0.

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Giants blow a huge opportunity to get some insurance runs. Durham lead off with a bloop double. Winn then proceeded to pop up on the infield, Molina flew out to RF and Rowand grounds out. Terrible situational hitting! They have got to do a much better job of moving runners over.

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Wilson gives up a run. 2-1 with one out and one on.

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Wilson shuts it down and the Giants win!!! Cain gets the win and is now 5-6! He lowered his ERA to 4.13. Wilson pitched just one inning and gave it more hits than Cain in eight innings. That is not supposed to happen!! Giants five games back again.

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Rowand just struck out with the bases loaded and two out. Giants once again cannot get the big hit in the clutch. Rowand needs to sit a game out as his bat looks slow.

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Bowker homers to make it 3-2 Cubs in the 6th! Rowand has struck out three times.

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Durham hits a three run bomb to tie it at 5-5 in the 8th!!

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I can see the Giants winning three of four but it will be hard to match the Cubs offense. A split is more realistic.

And a split is just what the Giants got. It was a good hard fought series but Lincecum shut them down in game four.