Giants face gantlet of good starters, the new Casilla plus lineup

Giants face gantlet of good starters, the new Casilla plus lineup

The Giants get no breaks over the next four games.

Given the pitchers they will face, it's almost like a playoff series.

At 15-1, with a 2.63 ERA and 161 strikeouts, Strasburg must be considered a Cy Young front runner with Clayton Kershaw out of the picture.

Fernandez is only 26-2 with a 1.62 ERA in 38 career starts at home.

The Giants beat Gonzalez in San Francisco on Sunday, but Roark held the Giants to one run in seven innings in the opener of the four-game series at AT&T Park.

[...] Jeff Samardzija makes his first start since losing last Friday's game to the Nats, when he allowed four runs in six innings.

With a 6.29 ERA and 14 homers allowed in his past 11 starts, he needs something to go right.

On the mound, Casilla has 13 saves in his past 14 chances and been particularly stingy since July 23, holding opponents to two hits in 7 2/3 innings.

Denard Span was asked after hitting the winning homer Thursday if he gained motivation when the Giants traded for Eduardo Nuñez, who can hit leadoff.

Brandon Belt and Joe Panik will sit, with Posey playing first and Ehire Adrianza getting his first start off the disabled list, at second base.