National League Championship Series: San Francisco vs. Philadelphia

GIANTS VS PHILLIES

Game 1: Saturday, 4:30 p.m.

San Francisco (Tim Lincecum, 16-10, 3.43)

at Philadelphia (Roy Halladay, 21-10, 2.44)

Game 2: Sunday, 5 p.m.

San Francisco (Jonathan Sanchez, 13-9, 3.07)

at Philadelphia ( Roy Oswalt, 13-13, 2.76)

Game 3: Tuesday, 1 p.m.

Philadelphia (Cole Hamels, 12-11, 3.06)

at San Francisco (Matt Cain, 13-11, 3.14)

Game 4: Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.

Philadelphia (Joe Blanton, 9-6, 4.82)

at San Francisco (Madison Bumgarner, 7-6, 3.00)

Game 5: Thursday, 4:30 p.m.*

Philadelphia (Halladay)

at San Francisco (Lincecum)

Game 6: Oct. 23, 12:30 p.m.*

San Francisco (Sanchez)

at Philadelphia (Oswalt)

Game 7: Oct. 24, 4:30 p.m.*

San Francisco (Cain)

at Philadelphia (Hamels)

*if necessary / All times PDT

Projected lineups

SAN FRANCISCO

Andres Torres, CF (.268, 16, 63)

Freddy Sanchez, 2B (.292, 7, 47)

Aubrey Huff, 1B (.290, 26, 86)

Buster Posey, C (.305, 18, 67)

Pat Burrell, LF (.252, 20, 64)

Juan Uribe, SS (.248, 24, 85)

Mike Fontenot, 3B (.283, 1, 25)

Cody Ross, RF (.269, 14, 65)

Tim Lincecum, P

PHILADELPHIA

Shane Victorino, CF (.259, 18, 69)

Placido Polanco, 3B (.298, 6, 52)

Chase Utley, 2B (.275, 16, 65)

Ryan Howard, 1B (.276, 31, 108)

Jayson Werth, RF (.296, 27, 85)

Jimmy Rollins, SS (.243, 8, 41)

Raul Ibanez, LF (.275, 16, 83)

Carlos Ruiz, C (.302, 8, 53)

Roy Halladay, P

Keys to the series

Both teams have terrific starting pitching, but the Phillies have a big advantage on the bases — they stole 108 bases; the Giants ranked last in the majors in stolen bases (55) and stolen-base success (63%). Philadelphia loses some of that edge because of Jimmy Rollins’ recent groin injury — Rollins has not stolen a base since Sept. 7 and batted .091 in the National League division series — but San Francisco is a station-to-station team playing against a Philadelphia pitching staff that issued the fewest walks in the NL. That won’t help the Giants get into the bullpen, where the matchup is more favorable to them — the Phillies struggle to rely on any reliever besides closer Brad Lidge and setup man Ryan Madson. That was not a factor in the division series, with Roy Halladay pitching a no-hitter and Cole Hamels a shutout. The Giants’ NLDS starters — Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner — gave up three earned runs in 29 innings.