Taming Barry Zito

The Rockies are preparing to face Giants left-hander Barry Zito, whose struggles since signing a massive free-agent contract are well-documented. But Rockies manager Clint Hurdle noted that he thinks Zito has pitched well in stretches and there are signs of a rebound.

“He had some success against us late last season — soft early, hard in late, still uses his changeup as a go-to pitch and he’ll mix in the breaking ball,” Hurdle said. “One of the things we’ve seen is his control has bene more challenged out of the stretch than out of the windup. He’s been on some nice rolls in some outings, eight, nine, 10 hitters in a row, then somebody’s gotten on base and some problems have come up.”

Here are the lineups:

Rockies

Dexter Fowler         CF

Ryan Spilborghs      LF

Todd Helton            1B

Garrett Atkins         3B

Brad Hawpe            RF

Troy Tulowitzki        SS

Chris Iannetta           C

Clint Barmes           2B

Jason Hammel          P

Giants

Fred Lewis               LF

Edgar Renteria         SS

Pablo Sandoval        3B

Aaron Rowand         CF

Travis Ishikawa         1B

Emmanuel Burriss    2B

Steve Holm                C

Barry Zito                  P