The National League Wild Card spot is at stake as the Giants take on the Braves
Four games separate the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco
Giants at the top of the National League Wild Card standings as the two second
place squads prepare to open a 4-game series on Monday. Game 1 from Turner Field will begin shortly
after 7:00 PM (ET) with ESPN2 providing the telecast.
The Giants also find themselves two games behind Arizona in the NL West
Division standings. The Diamondbacks
will begin a series in Philadelphia on Tuesday,
meaning this is a golden opportunity for San
Francisco to gain on the Braves as well as the D-Backs
who will be facing the team with the best record in baseball.
Bruce Bochy's clubs is coming off a series win in Florida to begin a 10-game trip that will take the Giants
on to Houston
next weekend.
Atlanta missed a great chance to have more breathing room in
the NL Wild Card chase after dropping two at home to the Cubs this past
weekend. The Braves squandered a
four-nil lead in Sunday's contest when their usually reliable bullpen let one
get away. The Giants and Braves begin
this week tied atop the MLB rankings with both bullpens owning a 2.92 ERA.
Pitching matchup
Monday's mound battle pits young lefty Madison Bumgarner
(7-11, 3.53) for the Giants against veteran righthander Tim Hudson (12-7, 3.18)
for Atlanta. MLB betting odds for the contest opened the
Braves -155 with a 7-run total which has since dropped to 6.5.
It's the second meeting of the season between the clubs and
the second time each starter will be taking on the other team. Atlanta swept
three from the G-Men in San Francisco
nearly four months ago when the clubs met for the first time since their 2010
NLDS playoff collision. Two of those
three went OVER.
Bumgarner faced the Braves on April 22 and was chased in the
third inning when he allowed all of the Braves' runs in their 4-1 win as an
even-money underdog. The southpaw got
off to a rough start to the season with San Fran dropping his first five starts
and Bumgarner's ERA over 6.00 exiting April.
He has since bounced back with the Giants winning seven of
his last nine overall, and five of his last six on the road. Bumgarner's only career start at Turner Field
came in Game 4 of the 2010 NLDS. He
worked six innings and surrendered just two runs while striking out five in San Francisco's clinching
3-2 triumph.
Hudson
beat the Giants as a +140 underdog in that April series, coming within an out
of a complete game 5-2 win. The Georgian
enters Monday's tilt looking for his fourth consecutive win and has been
especially tough at Turner Field where he's holding batters to a .212 average
and owns a 2.71 ERA in 14 outings.
Recent performances
Despite those fine numbers, the Braves are a pedestrian 8-6
in Hudson's
home assignments. One Giants hitter that
has given him fits over the years is Carlos Beltran who came over from the Mets
in a deadline deal a couple of weeks ago.
Beltran hasn't played in a week, however, due to a hand injury and so
far hasn't provided the lift to the San
Francisco lineup as hoped.
The Giants were also without closer Brian Wilson in Sunday's
finale vs. the Marlins. Wilson reported some back pain but should be
fine for Monday's battle.
The Braves saw the return of catcher Brian McCann over the
weekend following a stint on the disabled list with an oblique injury. McCann was one bright spot for Atlanta in the loss to
Bumgarner last October, taking him deep and driving in both runs for the
Braves.
Taking a Chance: UNDER 7.
The Giants, at least by their standards, exploded for five runs in
Sunday's win, only the third time since July 19 they've scored as many runs in
a game. Atlanta's offense has been cooking lately
(6.1 RPG last eight games), thanks in large part to Dan Uggla's batting streak
that was snuffed at 33 on Sunday. But the Braves have had problems against southpaws
this year, just 18-17, and both bullpens are solid.