The San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies head west for games three, four and five of their 2010 National League Championship Series. The NLCS is currently tied 1-1 after the teams split the first two games in Philadelphia. For a rundown of the first two games of the series, check out our first stream. Given the volume of updates and the easy break-up of the series into nice chunks, we've decided to host the Giants home games in a separate stream.
As important as pitching has been in this series, timely hitting has been just as important, if not more so. Game One saw Cody Ross hit a couple huge home runs for the Giants. Pat Burrell and Juan Uribe each contributed important insurance RBIs on singles in the sixth inning in a 4-3 Giants victory. Game Two saw Jimmy Rollins blow the game open in the seventh inning with a bases-clearing double to lead the Phillies to a 6-1 victory.
As the teams head to AT&T Park for the next three games, offense will likely be at a premium in game three as well, with Matt Cain and Cole Hamels locking up in what could be a solid pitchers' duel. Game Four is currently slated to have rookie Madison Bumgarner face Joe Blanton. The Giants will be hoping to see Bumgarner repeat his performance in Game Four of the NLDS against the Braves.
Offensively the Giants will clearly be hoping to see some kind of improvement from the top of their lineup. Andres Torres is 3 for 25 (.120) at the top of the Giants order and I would imagine Bruce Bochy has to be pondering whether to replace Torres at this point. Of course, he's not the top four hitters in the Giants lineup as a whole are struggling. Torres, Freddy Sanchez, Aubrey Huff and Buster Posey are hitting a combined 5 for 33 (.152). If it wasn't for Cody Ross and Pat Burrell who knows where this offense would be. The entire team is hitting .194 this series and will need to figure something out if they want to advance to the World Series. Their pitching is strong, but no pitcher can win when their team isn't scoring.
We'll be around all week providing updates for the next three Giants home games. In the meantime, head on over to McCovey Chronicles to discuss all things Giants.