Game Preview: Game 121 vs. San Francisco Giants

After going 3-4 on their road trip, our Padres are back home to take on the Giants, and tonight they'll start by facing Matt Cain.

He is going for his second straight victory and 12th win of the season. Cain, already the thrower of a perfect game earlier this year, hopes to take advantage of a Padres team that is on a three-game losing streak and has only scored one run in their last 29 innings. He had a rough start to the month, losing back-to-back games at the beginning of August before bouncing back and winning his most recent outing. Cain is quite used to pitching against San Diego, against whom he's had more starts than any team he's faced in his career. However, his 6-11 all-time record against us is something he'd like to improve on. This season, he's 1-0 against us with no earned runs allowed, and he hopes to extend our scoreless streak tonight when he takes the mound at Petco Park.

The Giants offense will try to continue coping without Melky Cabrera. This will be their second game since Cabrera's suspension. They'll definitely miss his .346 batting average with his NL-leading 159 hits and 84 runs, but will be looking to make due without him in the lineup. San Francisco is 6-3 (2-1 in San Diego) against our Friars this season and hope that, even without Cabrera, they can continue to dominate the season series.

Taking the mound for San Diego, Ross Ohlendorf will try to take advantage of a Melky-free Giants team and ruin their hopes of regaining the NL West lead tonight. Ohlendorf is 3-3 in his nine starts so far this season. He only lasted three innings his last time out, giving up six earned runs, five of which came on a bases loaded walk and a grand slam in the same inning. Three starts ago, he failed to escape the second inning, giving up six runs before leaving the mound after just 1 2/3 innings. However, he has gone 2-0 in three starts at Petco Park this season.

Ohlendorf will need a much better offensive showing to back him up than the one that left Atlanta on the losing end of three straight. Thankfully, Petco Park has been good to us lately. Not only is Ohlendorf undefeated at home, but the team has won the last four straight and 10 of the last 12 games at Petco Park. Chase Headley will try to get his groove back after going through a mini slump in Atlanta, where he hit 4-for-20. He'll be glad to be back in San Diego, where he's hitting .324 with three home runs and nine RBI over his last nine games. Furthermore, he is hitting .321 against Cain all-time.