Giants Get Ready For Phillies, Hope To End Slump

(AP) -- While streaks have to be getting a little old for the San Francisco Giants, when the good ones outweigh the bad, the ups and downs probably become more tolerable.

With each loss on the current skid, the bad moves closer to canceling out the good, something the Giants will try to end Friday night in a visit to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Giants (30-25) have three winning steaks and two losing streaks of at least five games, including one eight-game surge as well as an eight-game slide.

Wednesday's 5-2 loss to Pittsburgh was its fifth straight to conclude a seven-game homestand, though they're riding a three-game road win streak. They've also won their last four series at Citizens Bank Park with nine wins in their previous 12 games there.

Last season, they wouldn't have had the confidence in Tim Lincecum being a stopper the way they might this time, though the two-time Cy Young winner has fallen off of late.

Lincecum (5-3, 3.00 ERA) started the skid by allowing four runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings of Saturday's 8-0 loss to Atlanta, and the right-hander has surrendered eight runs and 13 hits in 9 1-3 over his last two starts.

Even so, his ERA entering June is his lowest since 2011.

"When I get a chance to go out there and compete, it's fun for me," Lincecum said. "The way things are going right now, it's something I want to keep going, obviously, try to ride it out and continue reiterating what I've been doing."

Most of that success has come at home. On the road, he's 1-1 with a 4.79 ERA. That hasn't held true in Philadelphia, where Lincecum is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in five starts and one relief appearance. Ben Revere is 5 for 9 against him and enters the three-game series with hits in five of his last six at-bats and a career .373 average against the Giants.

A 3-for-4 effort with a triple and a double wasn't enough in Thursday's 6-4 loss in Cincinnati that left the Phillies (21-34) just shy of a three-game sweep. Those two wins stand as Philadelphia's only victories in 10 games. The offense improved in the series with 14 runs after scoring 12 in the previous seven, but pitching remains a concern.

The Phillies haven't held an opponent below four runs over their last 10 with the starting staff's ERA a robust 5.16 in that time.

Jerome Williams seems unlikely to send that back in the right direction. Williams (3-5, 5.49) has given up at least three runs in 10 straight starts since his first. After surrendering four runs and eight hits in five innings of Sunday's 4-1 loss to Colorado, he's 0-2 with a 6.75 ERA and .400 opponent on-base percentage in his last three outings.

The first time through the lineup, opponents are batting .247; after that it's .355.

"Sometimes it's a combination of elevating the ball as the game goes on and then missing with location," manager Ryne Sandberg told MLB's official website.

The right-hander, who began his career with San Francisco in 2003, is 0-2 with a 4.35 ERA in two starts versus the Giants, but those came in 2005 and 2012.

San Francisco leads the majors in road batting average (.286), OBP (.342) and slugging percentage (.442), with leadoff hitter Nori Aoki batting .386 to help the club average an NL-leading 5.08 runs.

Buster Posey is in a 4-for-28 slump, but he's a .392 hitter in 12 career games at Citizens Bank - his highest average at any park where he's played more than 10 games other than Coors Field.

Updated June 4, 2015