• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Giants-Braves Preview

Aug 5, 2010 - 3:57 AM By BRETT HUSTON STATS Writer

San Francisco (62-45) at Atlanta (60-46), 7:10 p.m. EDT

While this four-game set at Turner Field could be a potential playoff preview, there's one reason the Atlanta Braves might not be too keen on seeing the San Francisco Giants in October.

Tim Lincecum's six wins versus Atlanta are more than he has against any other opponent, a total the two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner looks to increase Thursday night in the majors' toughest venue for visitors.

Atlanta (61-46) has a two-game lead over Philadelphia in the NL East, the same edge San Francisco (62-46) holds over St. Louis in the wild-card race.

Both teams have pitching staffs that look built for the playoffs - the Giants have baseball's second-best ERA (3.41) while the Braves (3.57) are fifth - but Lincecum (11-4, 3.10 ERA) may give San Francisco a trump card.

He's faced Atlanta seven times, far less often than he sees the Giants' NL West rivals, but has made quite an impression. Lincecum is 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA against the Braves, striking out 54 in 46 2-3 innings.

The right-hander beat them April 11 as he had 10 strikeouts over seven innings, yielding two runs in a 6-3 win.

"He's the best pitcher in the game," said catcher Brian McCann, who homered off Lincecum and is 8 for 19 against him. "... His changeup is close to unhittable."

The Braves will see a slightly different delivery from Lincecum than the one they're used to. He went to a revised wind-up before Friday's start against the Dodgers after some recent inconsistency, bringing both hands over his head.

It seemed to work. After allowing two runs early, Lincecum cruised through seven innings and struck out nine in a 6-5 win.

"It's something I did before (in college) when I was dealing with a control issue," Lincecum told the Giants' official website. "I figured I'd go back to it and it felt pretty comfortable considering I haven't thrown with it all year."

He'll have a big challenge at Turner Field, where the Braves are a major league-best 36-14.

McCann and Chipper Jones hit back-to-back, third-inning homers in Wednesday's 8-3 win over the visiting New York Mets, and the pair combined for six hits and five RBIs.

"I've been seeing the ball well and I put together some good at-bats tonight," said McCann, hitting .395 with four homers and 12 RBIs in his last 10 home games.

The Giants, meanwhile, will be looking to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since July 1-2. San Francisco had won four straight before getting shut down by Ubaldo Jimenez in a 6-1 loss at Colorado on Wednesday.

Despite the defeat, the Giants are 13-3 on the road since July 5, outscoring their opponents 99-47.

San Francisco tries to bounce back against Jair Jurrjens (3-4, 4.62), who hopes to rebound from a shaky start. The right-hander gave up one run through six innings Saturday at Cincinnati, but was tagged for four in the seventh en route to a 5-2 loss.

Jurrjens is 1-2 with a 2.61 ERA against the Giants, and he's the only Braves starter to beat Lincecum after pitching 7 2-3 dominant innings - striking out nine and yielding one run - in a 4-2 win July 22, 2009.

This will be his first time seeing rookie catcher Buster Posey, a Leesburg, Ga., native who comes back to his home state as the reigning NL player of the month.

"It's a big series, no doubt about it," said Posey, hitting .415 since July 7. "Atlanta's a good team, and it'll be a good test for us. For myself, I'm looking forward to it. It should be fun."