• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Zito hope to spur Giants to another road series win

Aug 18, 2008 - 12:48 PM San Francisco (52-71) at Atlanta (56-68) 4:35 pm EDT

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants attempt to win a road series for the second time in their last three opportunities on Monday when they complete a four-game set with the Atlanta Braves.

San Francisco, with its .423 winning percentage this season, is on pace for its worst season since 1996, when the team went 68-94. Much of the blame for the poor record can be placed on the offense, which has the second-lowest

run production on the league.

The Giants' pitching staff has fared marginally better than their offensive counterparts, ranking 18th in the majors with a 4.37 ERA while featuring two of the top five strikeout artists in the National League, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

While San Francisco has gone 8-8 this month, four of those victories have come at the expense of the Braves. In the wins, Atlanta has scored no more than two runs against Lincecum or Cain in either of the pair's four combined starts against them.

San Francisco would like nothing more than Barry Zito (6-15, 5.73 ERA) to follow the two young righthanders with a win of his own in the series finale. However, the lefthander took his second straight loss in Wednesday's 6-2 setback against Houston after surrendering six runs and four hits with five walks over 5 2/3 innings.

He'll be opposed by Jorge Campillo (7-5, 3.09), who is hoping to rebound from a rare defeat after suffering his first non-winning decision in his last seven games. The righthander permitted five runs and seven hits over five frames and took the loss in an 8-0 setback against the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday.