Series Preview: Phillies at Giants, April 16-18

Each team will send its top hurler to the mound in the opener of a 3-games series on Monday night, although just one of the two has pitched like an ace thus far in 2012.

Philadelphia's perennial Cy Young Award contender Roy Halladay will take the mound at San Francisco's AT&T Park against the Giants in game 1. Halladay is coming off two great outings against the Pirates and the Marlins to begin the season.

The Giants will counter with two-time former National League Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, who is fresh off the shortest outing of his career, after allowing 6 earned runs in 2 1/3 innings against the Rockies on April 11th.

This will mark the pair's first meeting in the regular season.

The Phillies won 4 of 7 meetings with the Giants last season, including 3 of 4 in San Francisco.

Read ahead for more details on the pitching match ups and loads more stats for this series.

Monday, 10:15 PM. Roy Halladay (2-0, 0.60 ERA) vs. Tim Lincecum (0-1, 12.91 ERA). In 3 career regular season starts against the Giants, Halladay has a 0-2 record with a 7.23 ERA and a .313 batting average against. Lefty batters are hitting .080 against the right-handed Halladay this season. In 9 career regular season starts against the Phillies, Lincecum has a 4-1 record and a 2.61 ERA. Lincecum posted a 6-7 record with a 3.07 ERA in 17 home starts last season. Hunter Pence is 3-for-26 (.115 avg) in his career against Lincecum.

Tuesday, 10:15 PM. Joe Blanton (1-1, 2.35 ERA) vs. Madison Bumgarner (1-1, 3.97 ERA). In 3 career starts at AT&T Park, Blanton is 0-1 with a 3.57 ERA. Blanton is 2-3 with a 4.73 ERA in 7 career regular season starts against San Francisco. Angel Pagan is 6-for-12 with 2 HR in his career against Blanton. The lefty Bumgarner will be making his first home start this season. In 17 home starts last season, Bumgarner posted an 8-6 record with a 3.12 ERA.

Wednesday, 10:15 PM. Cliff Lee (0-1, 3.46 ERA) vs. Matt Cain (1-0, 3.00 ERA). In 4 career regular season starts against SF, Lee has a 4-0 record with a 0.82 ERA. Opponents are batting .159 against Lee this season. Lee tossed a complete game shutout in his third start last year and has a 0.59 ERA in third starts of the season dating back 4 years. Cain is 1-4 with a 4.17 ERA in 7 career regular season starts against Philadelphia. Jimmy Rollins is 7-for-17 (.412 avg) with 2 doubles, 3 triples and a HR in regular season action against Cain.

Pablo Sandoval is batting .333 through 9 games this season. Sandoval is 0-for-6 against Blanton and is just 1-for-8 against Lee, but has 2 hits in 4 at bats against Halladay.

Melky Cabrera is a .224 hitter in 19 career games against the Phillies. Cabrera is 9-for-38 (.237 avg) in 9 career games at AT&T Park.

In 39 career games against the Phillies, reliever Guillermo Mota is 1-5 with 2 blown saves and a 6.18 ERA. Mota has a 2.95 ERA in 25 career regular season games at AT&T Park.

Hunter Pence is a .310 hitter in 33 career games against the Giants. In 17 career games at AT&T Park, Pence has a .323 average with 3 doubles and 4 homeruns.

In 18 career games at AT&T Park, Ty Wigginton has posted a .169 batting average.

Shane Victorino is 8-for-39 (.205 avg) in his career against Lincecum and Cain during regular season play. Victorino has hit safely in 8 straight games.

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