I had a dream one time that the Giants missed Clayton Kershaw in a series, and then the aliens that were holding me hostage on a Hungarian shrimp boat forced me to read them Shakespeare. I had a similar dream the night before, only it was Nolan Arenado taking a day off against the Giants, and instaed of aliens it was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

So Tuesday night it's Kershaw vs. Ty Blach (with Christian Arroyo batting second! See more below). The Giants' last two victories have been 2-1 games, and you figure if they want to win this one they will have to do it by a similar score.

Blach is pitching in Madison Bumgarner's turn, of course. Now we are going to find out if Blach really has what it takes to be a starter in the majors.

It's one thing to pitch well in a spot here or there. It's another to do it every five days.

Blach does have the perfect foe for his first 2017 start. Go back to last year, when Blach shut the Dodgers out for three innings of mopup relief in his second big-league game on Sept. 25 then blanked them again for eight innings to beat Kershaw for his first big-league win a week later. With that he showed he can retire the same hitters in one game not long after the other.

So Blach takes an 11-inning shutout streak against the Dodgers into this one. He also has a one-game "hitting streak" against Kershaw, scoring two hits against him in that October game.

Melancon observation: I do watch some Giants games on TV on my nights off. It gives you a different perspective and allows you to see things you miss when you are sitting in the press box with your head buried in a laptop.

On Monday night, I noticed that closer Mark Melancon hit Buster Posey's target. Every. Single. Time.

Even the "wild pitch" that Melancon threw was supposed to be a curveball buried in the dirt. Buster Posey blocked it, but Justin Turner made a fantastic heads-up running play by taking second base anyway. That, of course, was the prologue to his terrible baserunning that ended the game.

Melancon also hit 93 on the gun. Combine that with his command, a great curveball and ability to cut or sink his fastball, and you can see why he has been successful even without a prototypical closer's velocity.

Romo back: I was glad to see the fans give Sergio Romo a huge ovation. He deserved it.

Patience, sir: Eduardo Nuñez, now a super-utility guy, has not given the Giants the offense they need from him, and it's easy to see why. He is hacking, which is not normally his game.

Nuñez is seeing 3.20 pitches per plate appearance. He usually is somewhere between 3.50 and 3.56 - still below league average, but a lot better than this year.

Nuñez showed what patience can do in the eighth inning Monday night when he took an eight-pitch walk from Sergio Romo.

Which is not to say it's always wrong to swing early in the count. In the sixth inning he lined Hyun-jin Ryu's second pitch to left. It's all about being aggressive within the strike zone. Problem is, Nuñez is getting a lot of pitches outside the zone because he has been swinging at them. Mostly they ended up on the ground.

If he stops pressing and becomes less jumpy, I think you'll see more production from Nuñez.

Lineup switch: Arroyo has moved from sixth to second in the lineup after one day!

It has to do with manager Bruce Bochy’s decision to sit Brandon Belt against Kershaw, another way of saying he decided to stop beating his head against the wall.

Belt is 3-for-51 with 27 strikeouts against Kershaw. So Buster Posey will play at first base and Nick Hundley will catch. Hundley has one thing in common with Belt. The pitcher each has faced most in his career is Kershaw. Hundley has been a bit better: 10-for-40 with a double.

Kershaw loves pitching here. He has gone at least six innings in all 17 career starts at AT&T and is 10-4 with a 1.36 ERA. Overall against the Giants he is 18-8, 1.61.

Your lineups:

DODGERS (vs. LHP Ty Blach)

Still to come. The news is they have called up their top prospect, outfielder Cody Bellinger, a left-handed hitter who was batting .343 with five homers and a 1.055 OPS at Triple-A Oklahoma City.

GIANTS (vs. LHP Clayton Kershaw)

Pence RF

Arroyo 3B

Nuñez LF

Posey 1B

Crawford SS

Hundley C

Panik 2B

Stubbs CF

Blach P