Series Evaluation: Rangers @ Giants (6/27-6/29)

[Molina00]

Projected Matchups
Game 1: Kevin Millwood vs. Matt Morris
Game 2: John Rheinecker vs. Noah Lowry
Game 3: John Koronka vs. Jason Schmidt

Game 1 Notes:
Millwood: Has been dominant on the road this season going 5-0 with a 2.44 ERA and is 5-2 with a 3.88 ERA lifetime against the Giants. Also his only career no-hitter came against the Giants back in 2003.

Morris: After 2 bad months in April and May, Morris has had a very solid June thus far going 2-1 with a 2.79 ERA. Morris has only been mediocre at home this season though going 2-4 with a 4.56 ERA.

Prediction: Millwood outduels Morris and the Rangers win the game with timely hitting.

Game 2 Notes:
Rheinecker: Has had a solid showing in the Ranger rotation this year posting a 3-1 record with a 3.57 ERA so far, but has struggled his last 3 starts going 1-1 with an ERA of 6.00.

Lowry: He has struggled his last 2 starts allowing 8 runs on 17 hits over 9 innings but is having a solid season overall. Currently 2-5 with a 4.23 ERA.

Prediction: Both pitchers have struggled as of late but I still pick the Rangers to win this one due to their offensive edge.

Game 3 Notes:
Koronka: Seems to be rebounding from a tough stretch having gone 2-0 with a 4.35 ERA in his last 2 starts, and is now 6-4 with a 5.02 ERA on the season.

Schmidt: Jason is easily the Giants ace posting a 6-3 record with a 2.82 ERA so far on the season. He has pitched well in June. Excluding his start against the Mariners where he gave up 6 runs, he has allowed just 4 earned runs in 22 innings in his other 3 starts including a complete game, 16 strikeout performance against the Marlins.

Prediction: Regardless of how well Koronka might be pitching, Schmidt has pitched like the Giants ace of late. Giants win this one to avoid a series sweep.

[Molina00]

Game 1 is in the books. As I expected, it was a low scoring game. I actually thought the score would be 5-3. I just thought the Rangers would be the 5.

The Giants jumped out to a 5-0 lead after 4 innings against Kevin Millwood, who was much less than spectacular last night allowing 5 runs on 12 hits over 6 innings for the loss. Matt Morris dominated the Rangers allowing only 1 unearned run on 6 hits over 8 innings for the win. The Giants bullpen almost blew the game but a botched call by the umpiring crew ended the Ranger rally. With the bases loaded in the 9th Teixeira hit a looper along the right field line which hit the chalk and rolled into foul territory. Obviously it should have been called a fair ball and at least 2 runs would have scored to tie the game, but the umpire called it a foul ball and Teixeira ended up being retired to end the game.

[Molina00]

So much for the Rangers offensive edge in game 2. Noah Lowry dominated the Ranger hitters allowing only 1 run in 7.2 innings. The Giants got all 5 of their runs in the 3rd off Rheinecker largely in part due to a grand slam by Ray Durham. The only Ranger to reach double digits in hits was DeRosa who went 3 for 4 and raised his batting average to .343 for the season. The Rangers have no dropped their 4th straight game, but luckily the A's lost again to the Padres so Texas remains 1.5 games out.

[Molina00]

Game 3 turned out to be a much better pitched game than I expected, mostly on the Rangers side since I knew Schmidt would do good. The Giants were only able to score 1 run on 4 hits over 6 innings off Texas starter John Koronka but the Rangers offense couldn't get the job done. Schmidt matched Koronka with only 1 run over 7 innings. Scott Feldman took the loss allowing the Giants game winning run in the 8th as the Giants completed the 3 game sweep with a 2-1 win in the finale.

Game Note: Mark DeRosa hit his first triple of the season off Schmidt.