Giants/Padres
The Padres send Eric Stultz to the mound against the Giants. He is coming into this game with a 5.52 era and he is putting a lot of runners on base so far this season. as his whip is a very high 1.77. Both right handed and left handed hitters have given him trouble so far. Overall, hitters have a .328 avg against him. He posted a 4.71 era in spring training, so this didn't just happen once the regular season started.
We know that he is already having a lot of trouble on the mound. Now, he must face a team that has given him a lot of trouble in the past. He made 6 starts against the Giants last year and he went a total of 35 innings. These are his numbers in those games:
5.91 era
1.29 whip
.284 avg against
Even more alarming, it isn't just one or two players that have had past success against Stultz. Take a peak at what some of the Giants' hitters have done against him:
Brandon Belt 3-13
Brandon Crawford 3-9 w/ 2HR
Hunter Pence 8-25 w/ 3HR
Angel Pagon 5-18 w/ 3 2B
Buster Posey 7-15 w 2 2B + HR
Pablo Sandoval 12-22 w 3 2B + 3B
Joaquin Arias 7-19 HR
The Giants team has a .331 avg and .905 OPS in 160 AB
They haven't just hit Stultz, they have hit him VERY HARD. In 10 games (9 starts) over the last 3 years, Stultz has a 5.56 era in 55 innings of work. That is his most innings against any opponent over that time period.
The Giants have the most plate appearances against left handed pitching so far this year and they have done pretty good with those opportunities. They are 9th in MLB w/ a .753 OPS against lefties, much higher than there .710 OPS (15th) against right handed pitching.
On the other side, Tim Hudson goes to the mound for the Giants and he has been magnificent on the season. In 3 starts he has a 2.35 era. He has gone AT LEAST 7 innings in all 3 starts. In total, he has pitched 23 innings, while only giving 15 hits. His control is on point as well, giving up a grand total of ............... He hasn't walked anybody yet.
2.35 era
0.65 whip
.185 avg against
So its obvious that Mr. Hudson is on his game right now. Now he gets to face a team he has had plenty of success against.
The Padres team has a .218 avg against Tim Hudson.
There are two guys with real success against him that we should be worried about. Cameron Maybin is 6-16 w/ HR and Carlos Quentin is 4-9 w/ 2HR against Hudson. BUT, those guys are out
Without Quentin and Maybin, the Padres team has a .165 avg against Tim Hudson. In the previous 3 years, Hudson made 4 starts against San Diego and he had a 1.40 era and a 0.90 whip.
We should also note that the Padres are ranked 28th w/ a .647 OPS against right handed pitching and 29th in OB % at just .283
The bullpens have both been very good on the year, I don't think there is a major advantage either way. Of course, I will take the Giants offense against the Padres bullpen over the Padres O against the Giants bullpen. Both pens should be pretty rested after the starters gave them the day off. Huston Street did throw 31 pitches in the 9th last night, so who knows if he will be ready to go. He hasn't thrown that many pitches in an outing since June 17th, 2012 and he has had at least one day off after every 30+ pitch outing in his career (that I can see).
The umpire has called 4 of Hudson's games over his career, 3 tremendous games for Hudson and 1 bad (at Yankee Stadium in 2006). His era in those games is 2.57. The umpire has called 2 of Stultz's games (one good, one bad). The bad one was actually in April against the Giants in this ballpark a year ago (5er in 4 innings). His era in those games is 5.27. Does it matter, maybe not
The Giants are 4-2 after a loss this year, which I do think is important.