San Francisco Giants (45-40, 4th in NL West, 4 1/2 games back, W-4)
v.
Washington Nationals (38-48, 5th in NL east, 12 1/2 games back, L-1)

July 9-11, 2010 -- Nationals Park
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The Giants enter this series on a roll, sweeping a four-game set from the Milwaukee Brewers.  The bats really came alive for San Fran, hitting .325 with eight home runs and 36 runs total in the four games.  They has 16 hits with three homers in Thursday night's 9-3 victory.

The Giants are an interesting team with a nice mix of veterans and youngsters, and their most recently promoted rookie hitter, Buster Posey, is on fire right now.  The C-1B has hit four home runs this week and is one of the brightest future stars in the game.

Of course, you can't talk about the Giants without mentioning their pitching staff, although the Nats will miss San Fran's pair of Cy Young award winners, Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito.  But they will see impressive rookie Madison Bumgarner, who has an ERA under 3.00 in his first three big league starts.

San Francisco took two of three from the Nats when Washington visited the west coast earlier this season.
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Season Stats


Pitching  (Runs Per Game Against, Team ERA, Team Fielding %) Rank in N.L.
SF:  3.71 (2nd), 3.46 (3rd), .988 (3rd)
WAS:  4.66 (12th), 4.21 (11th), .977 (15th)

Hitting (Runs Per Game For, HRs, SB) Rank in N.L.
SF:  4.40 (11th), 79 (8th), 34 (15th)
WAS:  4.08 (13th), 76 10th), 59 (3rd)
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Who's Hot? (last ten games)

SF:  Posey (12-for-24, 4 HRs, 9 RBIs), Huff (10-for-25, 5 HRs, 12 RBIs), Sanchez (1-0, 1.50, 6 Ks in 6 IP)
WAS:  Zimmerman (10-for-23, 3 HRs, 7 RBIs), Dunn (8-for-24, 3 HRs, 8 RBIs), Peralta (0-0, 1.59, 5 Ks in 5.2 IP)
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Probable Pitching Matchups

Friday, 7:05 pm:  RHP Stephen Strasburg (2-2, 2.45) v. RHP Matt Cain (6-7, 2.98)
Saturday, 7:05 pm:  RHP Craig Stammen (2-3, 5.72) v. LHP Jonathan Sanchez (7-6, 3.15)
Sunday, 1:35 pm:  RHP Livan Hernandez (6-4, 3.11) v. RHP Madison Bumgarner (1-2, 2.86)

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