SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
At AT&T Park (Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday)
The skinny: The Giants are now challenging for the best record in the National League after a strong week that included the sweep of the Braves at Turner Field. While the Braves will miss Tim Hudson, the former Braves standout who lost his outing Tuesday on a call reversal for the game-winning run, it doesn't help that they will face the same threesome that dominated them at the Ted.
Series history: The Braves lead the overall series 408-397, dating to the 1958 season. The Giants won four of the seven games in 2013 and swept a three-game series from Braves a week ago at Turner Field.
Last 10 games (through Wednesday): 7-3
State of the union: Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday night's replay reversal, the first in history to end a game and provide a game-winner and give a loss to Tim Hudson: "Naturally it remained a big topic. Nobody in the clubhouse was denying that (Starling) Marte could have been safe at home. At the same time, nobody could understand how the replay umpires in New York could find the evidence in 1 minute, 14 seconds to say conclusively that Marte was safe. … Manager Bruce Bochy said it's like a jury in a murder trail convicting the defendant because it "thinks" he did it. The jury has to be sure."
Three things: 1) Pablo Sandoval, who's hitting .173 and looks like a candidate for the Braves' batting order, injured his thumb making a tag play at third base and may be in and out of the lineup this weekend against the Dodgers. 2) The Giants lost Wednesday afternoon to fall to 10-3 in day games and fell to 16-3 in games in which they score first. 3) Tim Hudson has surrendered only two earned runs in both of his losses.
ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
At Busch Stadium (Friday-Saturday-Sunday)
The skinny: St. Louis' slugging and OPS averages are worse than the Braves and it led to a benching of Allen Craig on Wednesday and has Cardinals Nation abuzz about how much some younger players in the organization might get to play soon.
Series history: Cardinals lead 269-239 since 1966; Braves are 110-85 since 1991.
Last 10 games (through Thursday): 5-5
State of the union: Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the team's top prospect, Oscar Tavares, still biding his time at Triple-A: "The Cardinals have used three players in center field so far. What does that tell us? Easy answer: They aren't sold on any of 'em. They're fishing. And when you don't have a regular center fielder, then maybe you ought to sacrifice a little defense by installing Taveras there to see how it goes."
Three things: 1) Right-handers are working over the now-benched Allen Craig; he's 17-for-102 against righties (.167) with 19 strikeouts, a staggeringly high ground-ball rate of 77 percent, and four double plays. He's batting .078 against inside fastballs. 2) Right-handed reliever Jason Motte has had two strong outings in rehab outings at Springfield and is within days of returning to the majors. 3) Left fielder Matt Holliday is batting .444 with runners in scoring position despite a pedestrian average of .285.
