Two very convincing wins the last two nights and now San Diego will go for their first three-game sweep of the year. Prior to this series, our Padres hadn't won a series at AT&T Park since October of 2010. That streak ended last night with a 7-2 victory in favor of Jesse Hahn against the previously undefeated-at-home Tim Hudson.
Ian Kennedy gets the ball for the Friars on this getaway day. Kennedy's had his share of struggles lately, going 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA in his last three starts. But the righty has been mostly successful against the Giants in the past. He is 7-3 with a 2.49 ERA all-time against San Francisco, keeping Giants hitters to a .209 average over 17 career starts. He'll try to build on that success this afternoon and take advantage of a recent offensive surge from Padres hitters.
So far this series our boys have combined for 13 runs on 20 hits. They've now won five of their last seven games, including a two-game home sweep against the Mariners. They've also won nine of their last 15 against SF dating back to last season. The Giants, on the other hand, though still leading the NL West, are suffering the worst slump of their season right now. They're just 3-11 in their last 14 games (worst record in the MLB in that span) while their lead in the division standings has dropped from 9 1/2 games to 3 games. They've combined for only two runs this series and have been kept to a .197 average in eight matchups against San Diego this year.
During their 3-11 stretch, Giants pitchers have posted a collective 5.12 ERA. They'll look to Tim Lincecum this afternoon to lower that a bit. Lincecum, however, is in the midst of arguably his worst season in the majors and today he comes off one of his poorest starts of the season. He gave up four runs in six innings while striking out only one batter to tie a career-low. This season he has the lowest K/9 (8.38) and highest BAA (.270) of his career. But the right-hander has a three-game winning streak going against San Diego going into today's matchup. He's also 14-6 with a 2.47 ERA in 27 lifetime starts against the Friars. Earlier this season he was on the winning end of a 4-3 decision at Petco Park. He gave up three runs through six innings of work, striking out seven batters along the way.
Join us in the game thread later and enjoy some day baseball with your lunch this afternoon as our Padres go for the sweep. First pitch is set for 12:45 PDT.