Miami Marlins Series Preview: Marlins Face Defending World Champs

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May 2, 2015; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Hudson (17) gets a standing ovation as he walks to the dugout after being relieved in the ninth inning of their MLB baseball game with the Los Angeles Angels at AT&T Park. The Giants won 5-4. Mandatory Credit: Lance Iversen-USA TODAY Sports.

EK: Can you give us a quick scouting report on the pitchers the Marlins will face this series?

MC: None of the pitchers the Giants are throwing out this series have been consistently dominant, but all of them have looked really good of late.

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At the ripe old age of 39, Tim Hudson is still the same guy we’ve seen for the past decade, though he’s struggled with command a little more than usual in 2015. Pencil him in for a quality start since he’s historically done well (seven wins in a row) against the Fish.

The other Tim seems to have (finally) taken a page out of Hudson’s book, mixing and matching his diminished stuff to the tune of a staff-leading 2.40 ERA. Gone is Lincecum’s mid-90s heater and 12-to-6 curve, but his deceptive splitter/slider/sinker combo can be effective with the right location.

Bumgarner needs no introduction if you watched last year’s World Series. He’s an absolute horse with elite competitiveness, and his last couple starts would seem to indicate that being overworked in October won’t affect him this year.

Ryan Vogelsong has been largely disastrous this season, but is coming off seven innings of shutout baseball his last time out. He’s only in the rotation due to injuries and lack of other viable options.

EK: How do you see this series playing out? Any bold predictions?

MC: I really like this matchup for the fact that it pits a pair of underachieving teams with very different, but intriguing, rosters.

I’ll give the Giants two out of three, due in part to McGehee taking his lukewarm hitting to the next level against his former club. (Note: that is about as bold as it gets if you’ve seen him at the plate this year). They’ve been great at home this season, winning eight of their last nine.

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