What exactly did game one of this brief two-game set mean in regards to the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies season series? It's hard to gauge right now, but it appears as though it probably isn't a good indication of how things have went thus far and how they'll be going in the future. Tim Lincecum had moments where he pitched well, and there was a clear, definable point in which he began to struggle when Bruce Bochy should have pulled his young pitching ace. He didn't and the Giants paid for it in bulk, and that was that.
It's never good to lose, but the Giants didn't get dominated and they didn't get out-matched by any stretch of the imagination. They'll have a chance to illustrate that this afternoon when they try and force a series split in game two, as they send Jonathan Sanchez to the mound to work against Ubaldo Jimenez.
Jimenez remains a threat to have a shutdown game, but smart money at this point is on it not happening for the hard-throwing Dominican. He's 0-3 with a 6.67 earned run average through six starts this year, coming off a year in which he won nineteen games. Against San Francisco, he's 0-1 in two starts this year and 5-6 with a 3.23 ERA all-time in 16 career starts. His most recent outing was his worst yet, giving up five runs in only 3 2/3 innings against the New York Mets on Thursday. It's an upward battle for the struggling right-hander, and the Giants will look to make it that much harder to surmount tonight.
Sanchez has been hot of late, with three wins in his last four starts, including his last outing on Wednesday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, giving up three runs with seven strikeouts in six innings. Sporting a 3-2 record, Sanchez appears to be leveling out right now, but with a tendency to get wild and inconsistent, this could go from what should be a high-level pitching duel to seeing who can last longer without screwing up. Sanchez did beat the Rockies on April 19th with just over six innings of work with two earned runs, four walks and four strikeouts in a Giants 6-3 win.
They've still got a half-game lead in the NL West, and they'll increase that if they can beat the Rockies tonight and split this series, which would make them 6-2 against Colorado on the year. The game is set for 12:10 pacific.