Rockies Take on Giants with First Place on the Line

     The Colorado Rockies will be taking on the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon in San Francisco. Even though the game is still relatively early on in the season, it is an important game in that the winner will at the very least remain in a tie for first place in the division with the Diamondbacks. The Rockies are looking to not let yesterday's tough loss linger around and effect the performance on the field today. Taking the mound for the Rockies in today's game will be veteran Jon Garland who has a 3-5 record with a 5.19 ERA on the season. The Giants will be countering with Matt Cain who is 3-2 on the year with a 5.12 ERA.

     Jon Garland is looking to get back on track as he has lost his last three starts and has looked rather ineffective on the mound for nearly a month. His last outing against the Diamondbacks was one of his worst starts on the year as he went six innings while allowing a season high 11 hits, five runs and was unable to strike anyone out on the day. Garland has allowed at least three runs in a game in seven of his nine starts on the year and he has gone more than six innings only one time. Giants hitters have owned Garland in previous meetings with him as members of the Giants who have faced him are hitting for a combined .444 average in 63 at bats. Marco Scutaro, who has faced Garland the most, is hitting .480 with 12 hits in 25 at bats. Gregor Blanco is a perfect 3-3 against Garland with three RBI.

Jon Garland (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

     Time may be limited for Jon Garland as a member of the Rockies as he has failed to be consistent this year and with the success that some of the younger arms are having at the minor league level, then it may be time to go with one of them.

     Matt Cain has struggled this year and it all begins with the locations of his pitches. The former all star has failed to keep the ball down in the zone and the result has been a spike in the home run totals that he has allowed. Cain currently has a winning record at 3-2 but he is also sporting an ERA that is nearly two points higher than his career ERA. He still has great stuff, but has failed to hit his spots in some games which has caused him to get off to such a bad start on the year. Pitching in the NL West, Cain has had the chance to face the Rockies several times and has put up very good numbers as he has held current Rockies to a .228 combined average against him. Carlos Gonzalez has failed to get anything going against Cain in his career as he has just four hits in 35 at bats with 11 strikeouts. It is a similar story with Dexter Fowler and Todd Helton. Fowler has a career .174 average and Helton has just a .214 average. The one Rockies player that has had Matt Cain's number is Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo has faced Cain 56 times and has 19 hits including five doubles, one triple, four home runs and six RBI.

Matt Cain (Photo by Getty Images)

     This will be a good match up as both pitchers are looking to have a start that they can build some momentum on moving forward with the season.

     The San Francisco Giants lineup for the series finale today is as follows:
1. Gregor Blanco, CF
2. Marco Scutaro, 2B
3. Pablo Sandoval, 3B
4. Buster Posey, C
5. Hunter Pence, RF
6. Brandon Belt, 1B
7. Andres Torres, LF
8. Brandon Crawford, SS
9. Matt Cain, P

     The Colorado Rockies lineup for today's game is as follows:
1. Dexter Fowler, CF
2. Nolan Arenado, 3B
3. Carlos Gonzalez, LF
4. Troy Tulowitzki, SS
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Todd Helton, 1B
7. Wilin Rosario, C
8. DJ LeMahieu, 2B
9. Jon Garland, P

     First pitch for the game today is at 2:05 PM Mountain time.