Derek Lowe will pitch on Monday. It's the same guy we faced in Game One, so I'll be lazy and copy-and-paste what I said about him: "Derek Lowe has been fantastic in September/October with a 1.17 ERA in 30.2 innings pitched. His overall 2010 numbers are nothing special, though -- a solid 4.00 ERA, along with a decent 58.8% groundball rate -- still below his career average of 62.9%. Nevertheless, he has the veteran, postseason experience -- for what that's worth -- and he did well in his two starts against the Giants this year: 11.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 2.38 ERA. The Giants need to avoid the double play. Derek Lowe is a groundball pitcher, and if he exposes this Giants weakness, they won't be scoring many runs..." In Game One, he went 5.1 innings, allowed one earned run and four hits, and walked four. The Giants need to avoid the double play.
Madison Bumgarner has been a road warrior this year. He owns 1.91 road ERA in ten starts, and finished strong this year, with a 1.13 ERA in September. He's shown the ability to pitch well in big games, and although he hasn't faced Atlanta yet this year, he should have no problem handling their relatively weak offense (one with a struggling Jason Heyward).
If the Giants win, they advance to the NLCS to play the Phillies. They don't need to win game four, but it would be extremely helpful if they win...that way they can have a rested team ready to take on the Phillies' powerhouse of a team.
