Ortiz (1-1, 4.24)
Schmidt (2-1, 3.00)
After that unexpected, if nerve-jangling, victory, we find ourselves in the pleasant situation of being able to do no worse than a split of the series. I'd certainly have taken that coming into San Francisco.
However, if we thought last night was rough on our hitters, this evening, our sputtering offense faces Jason Schmidt, one of the toughest pitchers in the NL West, who has gone 57-22 since coming over from Pittsburgh. We haven't beaten him since 2002, and against AZ over the past three seasons, he's gone 7-2 with a 2.85 ERA, holding our hitters to a .199 average in 13 starts. It's not going to be easy for our batters tonight.
We send up Russ Ortiz, who has been serviceable but not spectacular. In his three starts, he has a 4.24 ERA - 17 hits and 7 walks in 17 innings, which is about what I'd expect based on his 2004 stats. No doubt who's got the edge there; the question is, whether the Giants run-scoring woes (very apparent last night, and even worse than ours) will cancel out this pitching advantage.
I won't be able to watch much of the game, but that's no bad thing - my defibrillator is stil recharging after heavy usage yesterday. :-) Let me know what it's like, as you peer round a cushion or the edge of your sofa...