Re: the Giants, Landen Roupp is like a lot of the Nats starters, a later round pick who has leapt over the more hyped prospects in the system. He has mostly underperformed his component ratios this year, i.e. higher FIP than ERA, and has been throwing far fewer ball fours this year. Even still, many fans here were calling to move him to the pen until he shut out the A's in his last start. He comes inside to lefties a lot with his curveball, so expect a lot of that tonight. The Giants are making a big push across the board to take a little speed off pitches and throw strikes. They want a rotation full of Logan Webb (who the Nats won't see) types who can average 6 innings per start.
The Giants bullpen is lights out. They traded Taylor Rodgers before the season, but kept his brother Tyler who has a 2.01 ERA and stays in the zone. One key piece of the pen, Hayden Birdsong, was recently swapped into the rotation with Jordan Hicks moving to the pen. Hicks has been incredibly unlucky as a starter, but Birdsong is a top prospect and had a good start against the Royals earlier this week. I don't think Hicks really weakens the pen as his component numbers have been solid.
Giants lineup is full of players going up and down. Wilmer Flores started off strong but has trailed off. FA Willy Adames had a miserable start but has been picking up. Singing Adames has allowed Tyler Fitzgerald to move to 2B where he's been far more of a threat than Thairo Estrada, so I still think it was a good signing in spite of Adames' slow start. Jung Hoo Lee was red hot and has cooled off a little. Expect to see his shirts at Nats Park, he's got a fan section here and is probably the most popular player. LaMonte Wade Jr. is like Josh Bell - low AVG but lots of walks. Wade is seen as a temporary piece until top prospect Bryce Eldridge - from Madison High in Fairfax County - is ready. Eldridge has been OPS'ing around .900 in AA. Heliot Ramos has been picking up lately and Yaz has probably been the most consistent. Overall, the lineup tends to be fairly distributed in terms of strength with random guys being the offensive leaders in any series as opposed to the dependence the Nats have had on Abrams and Wood.
I watch the Giants as much as any team besides the Nats, and one of the biggest differences is they tend to be a polished team. They go into slumps and have bad outings like any team, but the defense is tight and they don't make many blunders on the basepaths.
I won't be able to hear Franny because of the local blackout but he's from here and expect he'll have some comments about the team.
