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NL Wild Card GameThread: San Francisco Giants at Pittsburgh Pirates

So, who's coming to D.C. on Friday to start the NLDS with the Washington Nationals? The San Francisco Giants are in Pittsburgh's PNC Park tonight to take on the Pirates in the NL Wild Card Game. Madison Bumgarner vs Edinson Volquez at 8:00 PM.

By Patrick Reddington
Justin K. Aller

Washington Nationals' GM Mike Rizzo talked in his weekly appearance with 106.7 the FAN in D.C.'s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier this afternoon about watching tonight's game and adjusting the Nats' roster accordingly depending upon which team the Nats will be facing in the upcoming NLDS.

"We're going to see who we're going to play on Friday, we'll evaluate that game tonight and then we'll sit down and put together the roster that gives us the best chance to compete against that team." -Mike Rizzo on watching Giants vs Pirates tonight

"We're going to see who we're going to play on Friday," Rizzo explained, "we'll evaluate that game tonight and then we'll sit down and put together the roster that gives us the best chance to compete against that team.

"There will be slight changes between the Giants' roster and the Pirates' roster, so we'll sit down and construct that and give us the best chance to win baseball games."

The Nationals have press conferences set for tomorrow afternoon with manager Matt Williams and "Game 1 Starting Pitcher" since they still haven't tipped their hand as to which pitcher will get the nod in the series opener.

Waiting to name the Game 1 starter is not a strategic decision as Williams explained to reporters last weekend.

"It's going to be pretty evident the day before the game who's going to pitch, because we have to announce it then," he said. "We just want to make sure we know who we play and try to make the best decisions we can to try to combat that opponent."

Before the Nationals make any decisions, the Pirates and Giants have to decide who moves on.

The Pirates were 4-2 against the Giants during the regular season.

Madison Bumgarner, who starts for San Francisco tonight, faced Pittsburgh back on July 28th in AT&T Park, giving up six hits and five runs in four innings of work.

The 25-year-old lefty finished strong in the second half, going (8-3) in 13 starts with a 2.29 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 11 walks (1.10 BB/9), 91 Ks (9.07 K/9) and a .207/.239/.347 line against in 90 ⅓ IP.

Edinson Volquez, 31, is (5-0) in his last 10 starts with a 1.36 ERA and a .199/.294/.277 line against in his last 66 IP.

Overall in the second half, the right-hander went (5-1) in 13 starts with a 2.20 ERA, 3.87 FIP, 34 walks (3.75 BB/9), 67 Ks (7.38 K/9) and a .226/.327/.336 line against in 81 ⅔ IP.

Game Time: 8:00 PM EDT tonight...

• Here are the lineups:

Today's Lineups

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Gregor Blanco - CF Josh Harrison - 3B
Joe Panik - 2B Jordy Mercer - SS
Buster Posey - C Andrew McCutchen - CF
Pablo Sandoval - 3B Russell Martin - C
Hunter Pence - RF Starling Marte - LF
Brandon Belt - 1B Neil Walker - 2B
Brandon Crawford - SS Gaby Sanchez - 1B
Travis Ishikawa - LF Travis Snider - RF
Madison Bumgarner - LHP Edinson Volquez - RHP

• Volquez vs the Giants:

Name PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP missG
Hunter Pence 41 36 7 2 1 3 9 5 16 .194 .293 .556 .848 0 0 0 0 1
Gregor Blanco 22 19 5 0 0 0 1 3 9 .263 .364 .263 .627 0 0 0 0 0
Brandon Crawford 20 20 3 0 0 0 0 0 7 .150 .150 .150 .300 0 0 0 0 0
Brandon Belt 18 18 8 1 0 1 5 0 4 .444 .444 .667 1.111 0 0 0 0 0
Pablo Sandoval 13 13 6 3 0 0 3 0 1 .462 .462 .692 1.154 0 0 0 0 0
Buster Posey 12 9 5 2 0 0 1 2 1 .556 .583 .778 1.361 0 1 0 0 0
Angel Pagan 10 10 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 .100 .100 .100 .200 0 0 0 0 0
Joaquin Arias 7 5 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .200 .286 .200 .486 0 1 0 1 0
Travis Ishikawa 6 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 .250 .500 .250 .750 0 0 0 0 0
Tim Lincecum 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 .000 .600 .000 .600 1 0 0 0 0
Mike Morse 6 4 3 0 0 0 1 2 0 .750 .833 .750 1.583 0 0 0 0 0
Madison Bumgarner 5 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .250 .250 .250 .500 1 0 0 0 1
Juan Perez 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .500 .500 .500 1.000 0 0 0 0 0
Tim Hudson 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Ryan Vogelsong 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Total 174 152 43 8 1 4 23 17 48 .283 .355 .428 .782 2 2 0 1 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/1/2014.

• Bumgarner vs the Pirates:

Name PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SH SF IBB HBP GDP missG
Clint Barmes 16 13 3 0 0 1 7 1 2 .231 .250 .462 .712 0 2 0 0 0
Andrew McCutchen 12 10 2 0 0 0 0 2 2 .200 .333 .200 .533 0 0 0 0 0
Gaby Sanchez 12 9 3 0 0 0 2 2 3 .333 .417 .333 .750 0 1 0 0 1
Neil Walker 11 9 3 0 0 0 1 0 1 .333 .333 .333 .667 2 0 0 0 1
Russell Martin 8 7 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 .429 .500 .429 .929 0 0 0 0 0
Jordy Mercer 7 7 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 .429 .429 .429 .857 0 0 0 0 0
Jose Tabata 7 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Josh Harrison 6 5 4 0 0 1 1 1 0 .800 .833 1.400 2.233 0 0 0 0 0
Edinson Volquez 5 5 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 .200 .200 .200 .400 0 0 0 0 0
Ike Davis 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Pedro Alvarez 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Brent Morel 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Gregory Polanco 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 1 0 0 0
Vance Worley 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0
Total 95 82 22 0 0 2 14 7 23 .268 .312 .341 .653 2 4 0 0 2
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/1/2014.

Who's coming to Washington?

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