The San Francisco Giants will end the month of July on the road against the first place Philadelphia Phillies and the fourth place Cincinnati Reds. This six game road trip could prove to be the toughest the Giants have left on the schedule.
Today’s game is the first game on the road for the NL West leading Giants and is a rematch from the 2010 NLCS. Like last postseason, the Phillies are regarded as the best team in baseball and have the best record in the game to back up such a claim.
The Phillies pitching staff’s ERA is second only to the Giants’ in large part to the starting rotation. The Giants come into Philly at the right time as they will not have to face Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay or Roy Oswalt. You might like the Giants chances but they will still have to face Cy Young candidate Cole Hamels who is 12-5 with a 2.62 ERA. With Tim Lincecum scratched from today’s start with a stomach illness things are looking better for the Phillies.
The Giants then travel to Ohio to face the Cincinnati Reds for three games. The Reds are having a down year compared to last year’s record but are always tough at Great American Ballpark. The Reds have NL rankings of second in runs, fifth in batting average and fourth in home runs. With 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto in the middle of the lineup, the Reds offense continues to be formidable.
When the Giants return home, they will open up a very tough home stand on August 1 where they will play host to the second place Arizona Diamondbacks (three games), four games with the Phillies and three games with the NL Central leading Pittsburgh Pirates.
As teams stand now, there is not another stretch on the Giants schedule which include more teams with records above .500. With the Giants ranking near last in all important offensive categories, the next 16 games will tell how great the pitching staff is, how badly the Giants need to acquire a middle of the order bat or both.
Either way, today the Giants start the most critical stretch of the 2011 season.
Steve Bostwick
blog GIANT 
Leave a comment