The San Francisco Giants enter Game 2 of the 2010 National League Championship Series looking to come away with a huge road sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies. Coming off a thrilling Game 1 victory, the Giants send out Jonathan Sanchez to face Roy Oswalt. Sanchez has been arguably the GIants best pitcher since the end of August and will look to continue his hot streak tonight. In the NLDS, Sanchez went 7 1/3 innings striking out 11 while giving up one walk and two hits. Sanchez has actually faced Philly twice this season and is 2-0 with a 1.38 era in 13 innings.
Offensively the Giants will look to have as much success against Roy Oswalt today as they did against Roy Halladay last night. I did a quick search at baseball-reference.com (such a great database) and of the players expected in the starting lineup, Freddy Sanchez and Juan Uribe have both had some solid success against Oswalt. Sanchez is 11 for 36 (.306) with 5 doubles, while Uribe is 6 for 16 (.375) with a home run.
The general philosophy is that a split on the road is sufficient for a team during a seven game series. Obviously any road wins are welcome, but a split means you can only win the series at home with a sweep of your three home games. The Giants certainly play well at home, but a sweep in Philly would make life so much easier (says Captain Obvious). It will be interesting to see what last night's game does to the psyche's of both teams. Of course, as I say that I'm watching Ryan Howard on the sideline with Tony Siragusa at the Falcons-Eagles game. So maybe the mental aspect is fine?