In a perfect world for the San Francisco Giants, they'd play a struggling Pittsburgh Pirates team directly after struggling through a tough series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Well, perhaps that not "perfect world." That term would be reserved for them beating the struggling Pirates after struggling themselves with the Phillies. Judgement for that scenario shall be reserved until, you know, the game has actually been played.
But it is true that they're in a great situation to recover from the recent slump. Although, maybe the Pirates are looking at the Giants and thinking "Well, they've been losing lately, this is a good chance for us to get back on the horse!" Something will give, and seeing it give will probably be hilarious, given the recent showings. The Pirates are losers in every one of their last ten outings, and the Giants have barely salvaged series against the Diamondbacks and Phillies with one win in each.
Tonight, Ryan Vogelsong will take the mound for the Giants. He's looking to get a winning streak going for the defending World Champions, as well as extend his own streak of not losing games. He's 9-1 with a 2.19 earned run average in eighteen starts (twenty games) and hasn't lost since May 26th. His last six games were wins, including an 8-1 beatdown of the Diamondbacks. He beat the Pirates earlier this year on April 28th, going 5 2/3 innings with two runs and eight strikeouts.
Vogelsong will have the support of guys like Orlando Cabrera and Chris Stewart. That last sentence was a funny one ... it was a joke, you see, though those two aren't without their moments, driving in RBIs in Sunday's 3-1 win over the Phillies, alongside Jeff Keppinger, who went 4-4. Unfortunately, he won't have Carlos Beltran, who won't be in the lineup today, according to Hank Schulman.
Charlie Morton will be taking the mound for Pittsburgh, hoping to get something going after going 1-3 over his last seven. He did pitch well in his last outing though, throwing seven shutout innings good for a no-decision against the Cubs. San Francisco will be looking for the Morton of the game prior, the one that gave up eight runs (six earned) and nine hits over just four innings to the Phillies.
It's not all bad. He's sporting a 8-6 record with a 3.80 ERA on the season and has a 5-2 record when on the road (nine starts). Credited with a no-decision the last time he played the Giants, Morton is 1-3 with a 3.48 ERA all-time against them.
The game is set for 7:15 p.m. on Monday night.