Preview: Welcome home, Giants

The San Francisco Giants are back at Oracle Park for the first time since Sept. 27, 2020, and have fans there for the first time since Sept. 29, 2019.

And even though they probably feel they should be in better standing entering the first home series, given their massive blown lead on Opening Day, the Giants return from the road .500, which is a pretty solid place to be.

Series details

Who: San Francisco Giants vs. Colorado Rockies
Where: Oracle Park, San Francisco, California
When: Friday (1:35 p.m.), Saturday (1:05 p.m.), and Sunday (1:05 p.m.)
National broadcasts: Friday (MLB Network, out of market only)

Where they stand

San Francisco Giants

Record: 3-3, 3rd in the NL West
Run differential: -2, T-8th in the NL
Postseason standing: 0.5 games out of the second wild card

Colorado Rockies

Record: 3-4, 4th in the NL West
Run differential: +5, T-5th in the NL
Postseason standing: 1 game out of the second wild card

Three Giants to watch

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Mike Yastrzemski: Yastrzemski entered the season with the label of “best player on the team,” but has struggled mightily through two series. He’s hitting 3-22, with 2 walks to 10 strikeouts, though one of the hits was the go-ahead home run during Monday’s win.

Is it soreness in the hand that was hit by a pitch on the final day of Spring Training? Is it an early season lack of rhythm? Or is it just the normal bad week that every hitter has at some point during the season, and we only noticed it because it’s the first week? Whatever it is, there’s nothing to worry about with Yaz, but it sure will be exciting when his bat comes around.

Logan Webb: By now you know the drill with Webb. He had an unspeakably good Spring Training, with 7 hits, 2 walks, 22 strikeouts, and just 1 earned run in 17 innings. And while he wasn’t bad, per se, in his season debut, he wasn’t particularly good either. He’ll pitch Saturday, and we’ll all be watching to see if he can recapture that spring magic.

Brandon Belt: Similar to Yastrzemski, Belt has been struggling out of the gates, though he has a pretty good excuse: he only had 9 plate appearances all spring. The Giants are treating Belt like a platoon player right now, which means we don’t get to see him as much as I’d like, but when we do see him it’s a favorable matchup. So far he’s just 1-13 on the year, with 2 walks to 7 strikeouts. The Giants are scheduled to face two righties in the three-game series, so Belt should have his chances to get re-acclimated with the right field bricks.

Three Rockies to watch

Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images

Trevor Story: Story’s been a very good player for quite a while now, and would likely be a reigning three-time All-Star had there been All-Stars in 2020. But with Nolan Arenado no longer calling Denver home, Story is now the unquestioned face of the team. The shortstop frustrates teams in the batter’s box, in the dirt, and on the base paths, so the Giants will have their hands full. Keep a close eye if he gets on base Friday — he led the league in steals a year ago, but Johnny Cueto is as good as they get at pick-offs.

Ryan McMahon: McMahon has never had a season where he hit even 90% as well as the average MLB hitter, per OPS+. But on Tuesday he had a three home run game, with a double added in as well. The Rockies lost, of course, which is both hilariously Rockies and hilariously Coors Field.

Austin Gomber: Gomber is the starting pitcher for the first game of the series, and mostly I’m just looking forward to hearing what kinds of things the broadcasters do with that name.