Giants vs. Rockies, 9/14: To win or not to win

As mentioned in the series preview, the Giants can get revenge for all the times the Rockies screwed them in their playoff hunts over the years simply by winning a game in this series. Conversely, if they get swept, they will screw the Dodgers’ playoff odds.

Winning a game seems like the wrong move for the Giants, but as many of you have joked, that means it’s probably the most likely outcome. It cannot be stressed enough how completely embarrassed the Rockies should feel for losing any game of this series. If the Rockies don’t sweep the Giants, their fans should feel embarrassed. They should renounce their Rocktober fandom and never watch the team again.

The Giants do not have the talent of a major league baseball team. They’re coasting on name recognition the rest of the way. The Rockies have put together a good team with good pitching that does well on the road (4.16 ERA in 634.0 innings vs. 4.80 ERA in 670.0 home innings).

You have no excuse, Rockies. You can’t slink away from the reality of the situation by saying, “Well, the Giants were due. It’s hard to lose 11 games in a row and baseball is unpredictable enough that on any given night, one team can beat another. Anything can happen”, either. If you lose a single game to these Giants, you are fools. The Giants are ready to roll over for you.

They can’t help it, even if they tried.

Lineups:

Chris Stratton (9-9, 4.46 FIP) can make himself the first (and only?) 10-game winner on staff in 2018 by pitching a shutout tonight. Since his heart-to-heart with Ryan Vogelsong, he’s had one great start (8.0 shutouts innings vs. Arizona on 8-27) and one other quality start (6.0 innings, 2 earned runs allowed vs. the Mets on 9-2), but his last start in Milwaukee didn’t go well (4 runs in 5 innings) against a hot-hitting lineup.

16 of the Rockies’ last 22 games have been at Coors Field and their last home game was on September 2nd, so, it’s tough to get a clear picture of where they stand now in terms of their road efforts — they could lay a huge fart now that they’re not at home. On their last road trip (6 games), they hit .206 / .276 / .322 and went 3-3 through Los Angeheim and San Diego. Stratton can, in theory, keep them off the board. The Giants can’t, practically, score any runs for him, however.

But maybe?

Tyler Anderson (6-8, 4.74 FIP) is a left-handed pitcher, which should be enough to shut down the poor Giants tonight. He does have a 10.13 ERA over his last seven starts (29.1 innings), but he did manage to strike out seven and limit the Giants to just three runs in 5.1 innings at Coors Field back on September 3rd.

And, again, he’s left-handed. The Giants have a team OPS of .666 against left-handed pitching, which feels like it means something.

The Giants haven’t lost more than 11 games in a row since before the 1950s. Does history continue or will the Giants help out the Dodgers in their arch rival’s playoff quest?