[h=2]Larry Ness' 10* Division Game of the Month (5-0 L2 days MLB)[/h]My 10* Division Game of the Month (NL West) is on the SF Giants at 10:15 ET.
The San Francisco Giants rallied from three runs down, tying the game in the ninth and 10th innings but fell 7-6 to Arizona in 12 innings last night Thursday. The defeat was San Francisco’s SEVENTH straight, leaving the Giants in danger of losing EIGHT straight for the first time since June 13-22, 2007. The reigning World Series champs haven't started 0-5 at home since 2000. The Giants enter tonight’s game 3-8 (opened 3-10 in 1983 and 3-9 in both 1985 and 2000), sending Jake Peavy to the mound against Arizona’s Josh Collmenter.
The D’backs are 5-5 to open 2015 but lost 13 of 19 against the Giants last year, despite winning the final three games of the season series. The Giants won TWO of three in Arizona to open 2015 but last night’s Arizona win evens the series at two-all. Josh Collmenter gave up five runs and 10 hits in 4.2 innings of a 5-4 season-opening defeat to the Giants on April 6 and enters 0-2 with a 6.25 ERA in his first two starts of 2015. "For me to be successful I have to throw fastballs where I want them to be," the right-hander said after that start. "I was throwing them all over the place. I got behind in some counts. I threw some pitches that they could put the bat on and they did that sometimes." Collmenter had been 2-1 with a 1.50 ERA in his previous four starts against San Francisco but wasn't much better Sunday when he allowed three ERs on nine hits in five innings of a 7-4 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. "I've got to make better pitches," he said. "Even the ones that aren't getting a lot of the bat, they are getting enough of it so I have to put them in a better location."
"We're not happy about it, that's for sure," Thursday's starter Madison Bumgarner said about his team’s poor start to 2015. "But I definitely think things will turn around for us. It can be frustrating but we play a lot of games." Peavy’s only previous start in 2015 saw him allow four runs (on backup catcher Wil Nieves' grand slam) in his fourth and final inning of a 6-4 defeat. He had been dealing with lower-back stiffness (missed his first scheduled start of the season due to back soreness), giving up three other hits and walking three with five strikeouts. However, the veteran right-hander has won FIVE straight starts against the Diamondbacks, while posting a 1.77 ERA with 19 strikeouts and three walks in three over the last two seasons.
I’m ‘biting’ on the Giants to end their slide here behind Peavy, as the D’backs were just 49-73 vs right-handers last year, including 24-41 on the road while averaging just 3.3 RPG. SEVEN straight losses is ENOUGH!