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Game Thread #85: Giants (43-40) at Brewers (37-47)


Current Series

Giants lead the series 2-0

Mon 07/05 WP: Jonathan Sanchez (7 - 6)
LP: Kameron Loe (0 - 1)
1 - 6 loss
Tue 07/06 WP: Madison Bumgarner (1 - 2)
LP: Randy Wolf (6 - 8)
1 - 6 loss

San Francisco Giants
@ Milwaukee Brewers

Wednesday, Jul 7, 2010, 7:10 PM CDT
Miller Park

Tim Lincecum vs Chris Narveson

Partly cloudy,rain. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Game time temperature around 80.

Complete Coverage >

Thu 07/08 1:10 PM CDT


Follow the jump for tonight's pitching matchup, a lineup switch and more!

Chris Narveson (5.29 ERA, 4.32 FIP) is coming off a pretty typical start for him: He allowed two runs on four hits in the first inning to the Cardinals on Friday, then rebounded to finish five innings. He's allowed more than one run in his first frame in three of his last six starts, and has allowed an average of 1.3 runs per first inning in his 13 starts.

None of the Giants have faced Narveson more than once, so at least he'll have the element of surprise. He should probably throw his curveball a little more: It's his only pitch that's been above average this season (+2.17 runs per 100), but he's only using it 19.1% of the time.

He'll face two-time defending NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum (3.28 ERA, 3.04 FIP), who even in a down year is one of the NL's best pitchers. Lincecum's had a bit of a rough go of it lately, allowing eight earned runs on 14 hits and seven walks over nine innings in his last two starts, against the Red Sox and Rockies. He had a 1.76 ERA on May 15 but has a 4.89 ERA since.

Lincecum throws a 91.4 mph fastball, changeup and curve, and the fastball (+0.83 R/100) and change (+1.99 R/100) are both very good. Five Brewers have faced him ten times:

Player PA AVG OBP SLG OPS
Ryan Braun 15 .462 .533 .923 1.456
Corey Hart 15 .267 .267 .467 .733
Prince Fielder 13 .200 .385 .300 .685
Jim Edmonds 12 .200 .333 .300 .633
Rickie Weeks 12 .250 .500 .375 .875

Among all batters that have faced Lincecum at least ten times, only Carlos Beltran (1.843) and Chris Iannetta (1.644) have higher OPSes than Braun.

Via Jordan Schelling, we know that the Brewers are moving Ryan Braun back into the #3 spot in an effort to wake up his bat:

Rickie Weeks 2B
Corey Hart RF
Ryan Braun LF
Prince Fielder 1B
Casey McGehee 3B
Jim Edmonds CF
Jonathan Lucroy C
Craig Counsell SS
Chris Narveson P

And in the bullpen:

David Riske pitched 1 inning (8 pitches) yesterday, and also pitched on Monday.
Todd Coffey pitched 1 inning (22 pitches) yesterday.
Chris Capuano pitched 1 inning (19 pitches) Monday.
Zach Braddock pitched .2 innings (17 pitches) Monday.
Kameron Loe pitched .1 innings (17 pitches) Monday.
Carlos Villanueva pitched 3.1 innings (38 pitches) Sunday.
Trevor Hoffman pitched 1 inning (19 pitches) Friday.
John Axford pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) Thursday.

Enjoy the game!