Holliday Continues Hitting Streak
Matt Holliday is doing his best to help Colorado‘s offense shake its slow start.
Holliday looks to extend the longest hitting streak of his career Wednesday when the Rockies wrap up a three-game series with Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park.
Oddsmakers have made San Francisco -155 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for todays game, the over/under has been set at 8 total runs (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 85% of bets for this game have been placed on San Francisco -155 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
Holliday has hit safely in 14 straight games, the longest active streak in the National League, and is batting .467 (28-for-60) with seven doubles and 14 RBIs over that span. Manager Clint Hurdle moved him up to two spots to third in the Rockies’ lineup on Tuesday, and he responded by going 3-for-5 with a homer, a three-run double and two runs.
The Rockies (11-16) rank among the worst teams in the league with 115 runs and are tied with Washington for last in the majors with 12 homers. However, Holliday ranks second in the NL with a .395 batting average.
Garrett Atkins took over the fifth spot in the batting order and went 1-for-3 for Colorado, which has a chance to win its first road series of the season. Reliever Alberto Arias pitched 3 2-3 scoreless innings to win his major league debut .
"That’s a pretty impressive first outing in the major leagues," Hurdle said. "I don’t know if I’ve seen one better than that out of the bullpen. He came as advertised. We saw him in spring training, but that’s spring training."
Bonds went 0-for-4 with a run scored for the Giants (13-12), who have dropped four of five since an eight-game winning streak. Bonds, who drew three walks in Monday’s series opener, has eight homers this season and is just 13 shy of Hank Aaron’s all-time record of 755.
He is 4-for-10 with one homer and four walks lifetime against Jeff Francis (1-3, 6.52 ERA), who takes the mound for Colorado in the series finale. Francis lost his third straight start on Friday, allowing four runs and 11 hits in 5 1-3 innings of a 9-7 home loss to Atlanta.
He has allowed 17 runs and 33 hits in 16 1-3 innings, all at home, during his losing streak.
"He’s been able to get to get into good counts and then hasn’t been able to put hitters away like he has in the past," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "He can’t keep the pitch off the barrel of the bat and gotten the ball up in the zone."
Francis, who has won at least 13 games in each of his last two seasons, is 3-4 with a 6.11 ERA in 10 career starts against the Giants, and 1-3 with a 8.89 ERA in five outings at AT&T Park.
"I feel like I’ve been battling against myself," he said. "Not anything against the other team, but I am not making good pitches and they are hitting my mistakes. It’s been the same story."
San Francisco will counter with ace Barry Zito (2-3, 3.73), who allowed three runs in seven innings of Friday’s 3-2 loss at Arizona.
"My timing was out of whack," he said Friday. "I think it was coming and going, coming and going."
Zito, who signed a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants as a free agent in the offseason, had not allowed a run in 13 1-3 total innings in winning his previous two starts. That stretch included an 8-0 win at Colorado on April 16 in which he lasted six innings and beat Francis, who gave up seven runs in five innings and was charged with the loss.
Zito’s only other start against the Rockies came on June 21 last season at Coors Field while pitching for Oakland. He allowed two runs in seven innings of the A’s 3-2, 11-inning win.
by: Michael Cash – thespread.com – Email Us
More MLB Baseball coverage from theSpread.com
– MLB news wire
– Current MLB Injuries
– 2007 MLB standings
– 2007 MLB schedule
– 2007 MLB Umpire sheet
– 2007 MLB stats
– MLB scoreboard
– Expert MLB picks
– Accuscore predictions
– Comments and discussion
– Signup for theSpread.com daily newsletter
– MLB home