August 4, 2011
GIANTS PAGEGIANTS VIDEO
CSNPHILLY.COM
CSNBayArea.com staff
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Starting PitchersPhillies: Cliff Lee (10-7, 3.14) is 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA in the regular season all-time against the Giants. He faced them twice in the World Series last year as a member of the Rangers, going 0-2 with a 6.94 ERA. Lee defeated the Pirates in his last start on Saturday, yielding four runs in 7 23 innings with 11 strikeouts.
Giants: Madison Bumgarner (6-10, 3.80) has only started one career game against the Phillies -- in Game 4 of the NLCS last season. He gave up three runs in 4 23 innings but did not factor into the decision. Bumgarner was touched up for seven runs in four innings Saturday against Cincinnati.
Previous games
The Phillies have won six straight games, courtesy of sweeps against the Pirates and the Rockies. In Wednesday's 8-6 win over Colorado, Ryan Howard homered and drove in four runs, while Chase Utley had two hits and scored twice.
The Giants held on to first place in the NL West by defeating the Diamondbacks, 8-1, on Wednesday. Ryan Vogelsong allowed one run in six innings, while Cody Ross and Orlando Cabrera drove in three runs apiece.
News
Head-to-head
The Phillies lost two of three games against the Giants at Citizens Bank Park last week. This is the second and final regular-season series between the teams, who of course met in the 2010 NLCS, won by San Francisco in six games.
Whos hot?
Over his last five games, Howard is 9-for-22 with four doubles, four homers and nine RBIs. ... Hunter Pence has hit safely in each of his first five games as a Phillie. He had a sacrifice fly to open the scoring on Wednesday afternoon.
For San Francisco, Carlos Beltran is 7-for-16 with two triples in his last four games. Also, Pablo Sandoval has five hits in his last two games.
Storylines
The Phillies may need a good performance in this series to prove that the Giants don't have their number or arent' "in their heads." ... The Phillies are averaging 6.7 runs per game during their six-game winning streak. ... The Giants had lost five in a row prior to Wednesday's victory. Overall, they are 5-8 in their last 13 games. ... Beltran is 1-for-8 all-time against Lee. ... Seven straight wins would match the Phillies' season high.