World Series Game 4, Giants Vs. Rangers: Madison Bumgarner Hoping To Restore Commanding Lead

This is a viewing guide to help prepare you for Game 4 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers. Click here for the complete 2010 World Series schedule.

The Giants had done exactly what they needed to do through the first two games. Though 2-0 isn't an insurmountable series lead, it is the best possible situation in which any team can ever find itself two games in. But the funny thing about series is how quickly they can turn around, and after traveling back home for Saturday's Game 3, the Rangers came out and pulled themselves right back into it all. Mitch Moreland hit a big home run. Josh Hamilton hit a big home run. Colby Lewis was stellar. All of a sudden, where just a day ago people were wondering if the Rangers were finished, now they're one win away from being able to hand the ball to Cliff Lee with a chance to pull ahead.

(1) Colby Lewis was a difficult matchup for the Giants. The Giants had six right-handed hitters slotted in to face the right-handed pitcher, and Lewis went to town against them, taking advantage of holes in their swings by throwing breaking ball after breaking ball. Lewis had them behind in counts all game, and so Lewis was in control. Tommy Hunter is going to be different. Hunter is a contact-first kind of guy, and though he's generally able to throw a lot of strikes and spot the ball where he wants, he doesn't have a swing-and-miss weapon against righties the way Lewis does. Hunter's margin of error, then, is going to be slim. If his location is great then he'll be able to make the Giants get themselves out, but if it isn't, he can't rely on the ability to rack up a bunch of strikeouts. Despite his two playoff outings so far, that's not his style.

(2) Just as they did against the left-handed Jonathan Sanchez in Game 3, the Rangers are going to put seven righties in the lineup against the left-handed Madison Bumgarner in Game 4. For the Giants, Bumgarner seems like the better bet, just because he isn't prone to Sanchez's sudden lapses in control. But he isn't a perfect matchup, though. Less because of the lineup, and more because of the ballpark. One of Bumgarner's favorite pitches to righties in two-strike counts is an inside slider. It's effective when he drops it down, but Texas plays in a small yard, and if Bumgarner leaves two or three of them up a little too far, that could end up deciding the ballgame. If he's going to throw that pitch, he needs to be very confident that he can keep it just too far down, and just too far inside.

(3) After going 0-4 with four strikeouts in Game 3, Pat Burrell's playoff batting average is down to .158, with 19 strikeouts in 45 trips to the plate. He's clearly not exactly right, which is going to give Bruce Bochy an interesting decision to make. Burrell's been a productive power hitter with the Giants. However, he's slumping, and the left-handed Nate Schierholtz is available off the bench to spell Burrell against the right-handed Tommy Hunter. Given the platoon advantage and the fact that Schierholtz is a vastly superior defensive outfielder, one wonders if the Giants wouldn't be way better off going with the replacement. Alternatively, Bochy could leave Burrell in and hope that facing a contact starter like Hunter would help shake off his rust. But Schierholtz, right now, seems the better play.