Giants vs. Dodgers, 5/1

Regardless of last night’s outcome, the Giants have clearly given the Dodgers everything they’ve got. They’re the Davids in this David v. Dodger situation, after all, and while we expect them to lose, it’s nice to see them show a little bit of fight.

After stealing game one, they’ve got their best chance of winning the series tonight thanks to Madison Bumgarner being on the mound. Oh sure, you might agree with everyone here on the site that he’s an ace in decline, but you know, he’s probably going to pitch six innings tonight. Anything can happen.

Of course, in his last start, he created an unearned run situation that led to a five-run outburst by the Dodgers (Cody Bellinger with a home run, of course) but the Giants managed to make it close in their 6-5 loss. Maybe if Bumgarner holds it together, they Giants might have a shot?

On the other hand, he’s coming off one of his worst starts ever — 11 hits and five earned runs allowed in 5.2 innings against the Yankees. He never looked... uh... what’s the word... good in that game and the Yankees’ emergency backup lineup never broke a sweat on their way to mashing his 84 mph cutters.

Here’s the lineup that will be facing a bunch of 84 mph cutters:

Meanwhile, Hyun-Jin Ryu has comined for 19 strikeouts and 1 walk in his last two starts (12.2 IP) which were against the Brewers in Milwaukee and against the Pirates in LA. He’s 6-6 with a 2.94 ERA in his career against the Giants (16 starts, 88.2 IP), and the lefty has held right-handed batters to a .665 OPS over the course of his career.

Still, I’m looking forward to seeing what Tyler Austin and Kevin Pillar can do against him.