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Giants look to end slide behind Schmidt

Sep 25, 2006 - 2:46 PM Arizona (73-82) at San Francisco (75-80) 10:15 pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants look to bounce back from being swept when they open a three-game series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.

Dropping all four games of a series in Milwaukee to end a road trip at 1-8, the Giants were officially eliminated from the National League West on Sunday. They can also expect to be bounced from wild card contention if they do not end their struggles soon.

San Francisco is currently seven games behind of Philadelphia in the wild card.

Jason Schmidt (11-8, 3.50 ERA) gets the chance to try and turn around his team's problems while also trying to figure out his own.

The team's ace, Schmidt has given up seven runs and eight walks in 11 2/3 innings over two starts, failing to figure in either of them. Since the All-Star break, the righthander is just 5-3 with a 4.74 ERA in 12 starts.

Arizona counters with Edgar Gonzalez (2-3, 4.41), who was sharp in his last start on Wednesday. The righthander worked seven innings against the San Diego Padres, allowing only one run in seven innings of a 8-2 victory.

The Diamondbacks have dropped five of their last seven games, including a 5-1 loss at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday. Nomar Garciaparra hit a game-winning grand slam in the ninth.