With a solid record against left-handers, and facing one of this season's worst southpaws in San Francisco's Barry Zito, the Detroit Tigers are the play at the Giants.
Maybe Barry Zito can win a home game for the Giants. Yeah, and maybe the price of gas will start going down.
Wishing is one thing, reality is another. The Giants' reality is they have dropped six of their last seven home games, have failed to score more than three runs in five of their last seven games and aren't good enough to beat any quality club unless Tim Lincecum is pitching.
Zito is not Lincecum. He's the free agent bust poster child. Zito is 0-6 at AT&T Park this season with a 6.60 ERA. The southpaw is 0-4 in day games with an ERA of close to 8.00.
The Tigers are 11-5 versus lefties. They are hitting close to .300 against them. Detroit is coming on, winning nine of its last 11 games. There's a big differrence between these teams. The Tigers are much better. The pitching matchup favors Detroit, too.
Rookie Armando Galarraga has been more than solid, especially on the road and in day contests. He's 4-1 away from Detroit with a 2.23 ERA. He's also 3-0 during the day with an ERA under 2.00.
The Tigers have won eight of Galarraga's 10 starts.
Free Pick: Tigers -142