Game 3 Preview

With a 2-0 lead in the World Series, Giant fans are feeling very confident. The Giants have dominated the Tigers bullpen, knocked out their ace and silenced their bats. However, the enthusiasm should be tempered slightly. In any series, their is never a real advantage until one team loses at home. That has yet to happen here but tonight is the Giants first opportunity to change that in Detroit against Anibal Sanchez and the Tigers.

Sanchez is a guy that should concern Giants fans because of his career numbers against them, in 5 starts he has an  E.R.A. of under 2 and has shut them out in 2 of those. That is some own-age and it certainly grabs your attention. If his slider is sharp and he settles into a rhythm then it could really be a tough test for the Giants hot lineup. The Giants will need to get after him early and make sure he doesn't settle in.

Meanwhile the Giants will hand the ball to the steady Ryan Vogelsong who has allowed one run over seven innings in all three of his starts this postseason. Vogelsong has been the most reliable arm for the Giants this postseason. He pitches with a chip on his shoulder and I am sure he will go out there thinking about all the people who never thought that he would get to this spot in his career. It will be interesting to see how the Tiger hitters do against Vogelsong because they have been much better all year against right handed starters.

This is easily the biggest game of the series and I expect it to look much more like game two than game one. Both pitchers should be able to contain the offenses and the game would then come down to execution and maximizing opportunities. The Giants are in for a dog fight, I don't like the prospects of facing Sanchez at all but the Giants have shown that they can turn around numbers all year long. Here are my keys to a Giants victory.

1) Don't Allow Sanchez to Settle in
If Sanchez gets his slider working and has success early, it will be a very tough test for the Giants hitters. They really need to find a way to get to him in the first couple of innings.

2) Rally Vogey
If Sanchez does what I think we should expect him to, it would be essential for Vogelsong to deliver another stellar start. Just keep pace and keep the Giants in the game.

3) Get into and Feed on Their Bullpen
Even if the Giants can't score much off of Sanchez, they can get him out of the game by running up the pitch count, much like they did against Fister in game two. If they can get that done, they will get much better pitches to hit against the Tigers pen. 

That is what I think the Giants need to do to try to get this series to 3-0 but I must emphasize that this is the toughest matchup the Giants have had in this series and it should be a great test for the best team in baseball.