Giants vs. Rockies, 6/25

Today’s the fifth anniversary of Tim Lincecum’s second no hitter, a game that’s now far enough back in time that I only barely remember watching unfold live. Here are all 27 outs set to a pop song:

Are we likely to see a no hitter tonight? Not from the Giants’ side, I don’t think. This Rockies lineup looks formidable against lefties:

RF — Charlie Blackmon
CF — Ian Desmond
3B — Nolan Arenado
LF — David Dahl
C — Chris Iannetta
2B — Ryan McMahon
1B — Mark Reynolds
SS — Garrett Hampson
SP — Chi Chi Gonzalez

They’re a combined .278 against Bumgarner with six home runs, but also 42 K : 12 BB. As a team this year, the Rockies have an .813 OPS against left-handed pitching. Their left-handed batters are doing even better than the righties (.870 OPS vs. .767, though in about 130 fewer plate appearances).

Against that Dodgers lineup he faced in his last start, I said that Bumgarner was probably facing the toughest lineup he’d ever faced. Tonight’s might be a close second. Seriously. Ian Desmond is slugging .518 on the year, 1.103 against lefties and .462 on the road.

Meanwhile, Bruce Bochy is just here posting a lineup so he doesn’t get fined:

1B — Brandon Belt
RF — Mike Yastrzemski
C — Buster Posey
LF — Alex Dickerson
CF — Kevin Pillar
3B — Evan Longoria
SS — Brandon Crawford
2B — Donovan Solano
SP — Madison Bumgarner

Belt in the leadoff spot didn’t work out the one and only time it’s been tried, but Belt’s not hitting for very much power right now, so using him to soak up pitches early and run up this never before seen Chi Chi Gonzalez’s pitch count in the early going is probably the best way to deploy Belt for now.

Inserting Dickerson into the middle of the order makes sense, but again, we’ll see if he can keep hitting it as hard as he did in his first two games of the season. He’s already showing signs of slowing down and a simple fastball-breaking ball combo overwhelmed him last night.