Giants (54-67) vs Marlins (46-74)
The Giants and Marlins combined for a week’s worth of offense in their opener Friday night with the Giants winning 14-10. San Francisco cranked out 19 hits with OF Hunter Pence and 3B Pablo Sandoval going a combined 7 for 10 with 8 RBI.
Saturday August 17
Marlins Stadium – Miami, FL
7:10PM
Probable Starters:
SF: Matt Cain (R)
MIA: Henderson Alvarez (R)
Moneyline: San Francisco -132, Miami +122
O/U: 7
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San Francisco
If they have any chance of putting a
late run together they need a bat or two beyond C Buster Posey to get hot and those are excellent candidates. So is 1B Brandon Belt who should see more time after the Giants announced Posey would not be playing as much first base in the future.
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Giants starter Matt Cain has been pretty awful most of the year but since the All Star break things have been much better.
Since then he has lowered his ERA by more than half a run and has not given up more than 3ER in any one start. Unfortunately he is just 2-2 in those game with the team going 2-3.
He is again falling victim to a lack of support from the offense as they have scored just 5 runs in the losses. Cain has been pitching better away from San Fran but his career record against Los Marlins is nothing special.
Miami
The Miami Marlins scored 8 runs off Giants starter Chad Gaudin, but when your own starter gives up 11 it makes it very hard to win.
To give you an idea of what kind of game it was OF Justin Ruggiano didn’t even start but still had enough plate appearance to grab 3 hits including a couple of homers…and push his average over .200. [dfads params=’groups=10&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
This team is so bad on offense that their leading hitter with enough at bats to qualify is SS Adeiny Echevaria who is hitting just .234 on the season.
Henderson Alvarez came over to the Marlins in their big swap with the Blue Jays but it is only for the last couple of months that they have given him a chance to crack their young rotation.
So far the results have been solid though the young righty never wows you with his pitch to contact stuff. On the Marlins, with potential yong aces in Jose Fernandez and Jacob Turne, he could easily slot in the back half of the rotation and do well.
He has never faced the Giants before and is pitching well at home with a 2.77 ERA. Like Cain he sometimes struggles to get the support he needs to get a victory.
If this game mirrors their season than the Giants will come up short after a performance like this. Alvarez is capable of keeping a lineup in check and you just don’t know what you are going to get with Cain this year.
Normally I wouldn’t suggest backing Miami unless Jose Fernandez was pitching but I like the way this game sets up.
O/U Pick: Over
Score Prediction: Miami 5 – San Francisco 3
