3 Game Set in San Francisco - Giants at a Season Low

Look for the San Francisco Giants to be playing some desperate baseball on Friday and Saturday because the schedule has them pitted to face Clayton Kershaw on Sunday and Matt Harvey of the Mets on Monday.  Starting off the series against the Dodgers with a couple of losses may simply send them spiraling deep into the division basement.  San Francisco is currently six games under .500.

Giant Manager Bruce Bochy is trying to find the right offensive combinations to snap his championship team out of their offensive funk.  (photo by Frank Victores/USA Today)

After a 1-8 road trip, you would think that the Giants would be happy to be back for some home cooking, but a series against the red hot Dodgers, and the recently streaking Mets doesn't bode well for them pulling out of this rough patch.  They are coming off three games in Cincinnati where they scored only three runs in the Great American Ballpark bandbox, (with a no-hitter thrown at them to boot), so their offense has had some difficulty scoring runs.

As Dodger fans we know what it is like to have significant portions of the lineup in prolonged slumps, but look at these eye-popping numbers for the Giants.  In the Cincinnati series (Jul. 1-3), the Giants tandem of Pence, Sandoval, Crawford, Blanco, Scutaro, Torres and Posey went 0 for 51.  Yes, zero hits in fifty-one at bats forseven of their eight position players in the lineup, (the lone guy that was hitting was Brandon Belt who went 2 for 7 in that span).  The last time Brandon Crawford collected a hit was when the Giants were in Dodger Stadium back on Jun 25th.

Pablo Sandoval is 1 for 29 over the last eight games.  Giant fans are calling for the organization to send him to AAA for a rehab assignment.  

What this all means is that the Dodgers have a perfect opportunity to really set the Giants back this season.  And if you have the opportunity to destroy a division rival, you do it.

It'll be no easy feat as San Francisco is hungry.  Nobody can expect that type of hitting futility to continue for a prolonged period.  With their fortunate rain-out in Cincinnati yesterday the Giants have restructured their rotation for the series.  Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner will take the mound on Friday and Saturday, followed by Chad Gaudin who will emerge from the D.L. for Sunday's series finale.

The Giants are 10-20 since June 1st.