=== San Francisco Giants Team Report - September 20 ===

(My Sportsbook) - The San Francisco Giants start a huge three-game series against the Houston Astros Tuesday night at SBC Park.

Both teams are battling for the National League wild card spot. The Astros came into Monday's play with a one-game deficit on San Francisco in the wild card chase. Houston was also a half game in back of the Chicago Cubs.

The Giants have won seven of their last eight games, including Sunday's 4-2 triumph over the San Diego Padres at SBC Park. J.T. Snow doubled in the go- ahead runs in the eighth inning and finished with four RBI. Dustin Hermanson (6-6) earned the victory with a perfect 1 1/3 innings in relief of Kirk Rueter, who tossed seven shutout innings.

Relief pitcher Dave Burba reportedly separated his left shoulder on a play at first base and may miss the rest of the season.

Barry Bonds was rested Sunday and didn't start the game, but came on as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and was intentionally walked. Bonds needs one run to tie Willie Mays (2,062) for sixth place on the all-time list and needs five RBI to equal Carl Yastrzemski (1,844) for 10th on that list.

Brett Tomko will be on the mound Tuesday night for the Giants. The righthander is 4-0 with a 1.00 ERA (4 ER, 36 IP) in his last five starts, during which time he's allowed a .160 batting average. He has slashed .85 points off his ERA (from 5.11 to season-low 4.26 mark) during the stretch. Tomko has also equaled his career-best winning streak at five games and hasn't lost since July 29 at San Diego. He was dominant last Wednesday in Milwaukee, allowing four hits and one run in a complete game victory. Tomko owns the lowest ERA among NL hurlers with a 0.82 mark during September. He is 9-2 over 17 games (16 starts) since coming off the disabled list June 24.

Tomko is 3-4 with a 5.18 ERA lifetime against the Astros. Tomko is looking to snap a five-start winless stretch versus Houston, dating back to a complete game victory September 4, 2002 in San Diego.

The last time the Giants and Astros met were the first three games of the season when the Giants won two of three at Minute Maid Park. The Giants are 11-4 against Houston since the start of the 2002 season.