{"id":6134,"date":"2010-08-06T15:00:03","date_gmt":"2010-08-06T20:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=6134"},"modified":"2010-08-06T09:51:32","modified_gmt":"2010-08-06T14:51:32","slug":"friday-mlb-preview-giants-at-braves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/friday-mlb-preview-giants-at-braves-6134\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday MLB Preview &#8211; Giants at Braves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Two teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today face off in the second game of a four-game weekend series in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p><strong>San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-4979\" src=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/braves-mlb-jones-glaus-831-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/braves-mlb-jones-glaus-831-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/braves-mlb-jones-glaus-831-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>San Francisco entered this four-game series winning 21 of their last 27 games since July 4, but fell 3-2 in defeat in the opener at Turner Field.\u00a0 The Giants have now dropped back-to-back games for the first time since July 1-2.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve won these kind of games.\u00a0 Look at the Dodgers series,\u201d manager Bruce Bochy said after the game.\u00a0 The club has a good chance of bouncing back over the weekend, given its 6-0-2 series record in their last eight sets.\u00a0 San Francisco is 37-33 this season against teams with a record above .500, while going 25-14 versus losing teams.\u00a0 The Giants are 29-28 on the road this season (+120) and the total is 31-25 O\/U in those contests.\u00a0 The team is 46-35 when facing right-handed starters in 2010 (+780) and a solid 166-147 in this situation over the last three seasons (+2,580).\u00a0 San Francisco hasn\u2019t dropped three in a row since a season-high, seven-game skid from June 26-July 2.<\/p>\n<p>Giants starting pitcher Barry Zito is 8-6 with a 3.38 ERA in 22 starts this season and is coming off one of his best outings of the year.\u00a0 In a 2-1 home victory over the Dodgers, he scattered three hits and allowed just a single run over seven strong innings.\u00a0 San Francisco\u2019s offense has managed to score just six runs over his last four starts, producing an even 2-2 record in those games.\u00a0 He is 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA in 10 road starts this season, issuing 20 walks and striking out 40 in 62 frames.\u00a0 In four career starts versus the Braves, he brings a solid 3-1 mark and 2.42 ERA, allowing them to hit for a combined .191 average.\u00a0 The Giants are 13-9 when Zito is on the hill this season.<\/p>\n<p>Atlanta carries a two-game divisional lead into the final three games of this series, as they face the team leading the National League Wild Card race.\u00a0 The Braves evened up the season series at two games apiece with last night\u2019s victory and now hold a 34-17-1 edge at Turner Field.\u00a0 At home, the club is 23 games over .500 and their home winning percentage is the best in the majors.\u00a0 Atlanta is 9-3 as a home favorite of -125 to -150 this season (+460) and the total is 5-7 O\/U in those contests.\u00a0 Facing left-handed starters has been a bit of a problem for the Braves, producing an 18-17 record this season, but they\u2019ve averaged a solid 4.5 runs and hit for a combined .260 average.<\/p>\n<p>Braves starting pitcher Tommy Hanson is an even 8-8 with a 3.83 ERA in 22 starts this season, but the club has dropped his last four outings.\u00a0 In those starts, Atlanta\u2019s offense has managed to provide just eight runs of support, with the right-hander allowing 11 runs (seven earned) over 24.2 innings.\u00a0 He stands an even 4-4 with a 4.35 ERA in 11 home starts this season, issuing 17 walks and striking out 60 batters in 62 frames.\u00a0 Hanson has a 6-6 record and 3.48 ERA in 16 nighttime starts this season compared to a 2-2 mark and 4.88 ERA during the day.\u00a0 He made his only career start against the Giants at home back on July 20, 2009, allowing three runs and five hits over seven innings in a 11-3 victory.<\/p>\n<p>Bettors will find that the Giants are 7-2 in Zito\u2019s last nine starts against the NL East and the under is 8-2-1 in his last 11 versus the division.\u00a0 Atlanta\u2019s record versus southpaws is not outstanding, but the team has captured its last four games against them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today face off in the second game of a four-game weekend series in Atlanta. San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves San Francisco entered this four-game series winning 21 of their last 27 games since July 4, but fell 3-2 in defeat in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":4979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444],"tags":[243,55,2101,736,958,1652],"class_list":["post-6134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-barry-zito","tag-bruce-bochy","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-tommy-hanson","tag-turner-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6135,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6134\/revisions\/6135"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}