AT & T park (or whatever it is that they are calling it these days); the place they built for Barry Bonds and then unceremoniously kicked him to the curb and took down all the chickens and the like. It always seems as if the Cardinals have trouble here, but with the make-up of the Giants, 3 of 4 should be in order.
April 10 – St. Louis 1 San Francisco 5
Well, that 3 of 4 is in serious trouble now. You just figured that Wainwright vs. Correia was a mismatch that would favor the Cardinals. However, they certainly played like a team that just got into San Francisco at 4 am the night before. Sluggish and without life is an apt description for what I saw on the field last night. Correia pitched well, no doubt, but the Cardinals did not work counts, made too many easy outs, and just did a whole bunch of sleep walking in general.
Wainwright did not help his cause by coming out missing location in the first and third innings, but, as he has done in the past, settled in until the 7th when he ran out of gas.
Not much offense to discuss, with Skippy and CIzzy leading the way with 2 hits each, and they scratched across a late run in the 9th, but, all in all, a lackluster performance for sure.
April 11 – St. Louis 8 San Francisco 2
Kyle Lohse actually gave up runs in this game, ending his season opening run of scoreless innings, but pitched well enough to come away the winner in this game after 5 1/3. The bullpen then closed the door. The defense also stepped up with two OF assists by Schumaker and Barton.
The offense was lead by some guy named Pujols, who put up a double and a dinger and four big RBIs. Schumaker continued a hot road trip with 3 base hits and on base all 5 trips to the dish. Ludwick added a dinger and two hits and the infamous Brian Barton contributed two hits and two RBIs.
Barry Zito, while better than he has been, still looked very hittable, much more hittable than a guy you just inked for 7 years @ $126 mil.
April 12 – St. Louis 8 San Francisco 7
Wow. What a wacky game this one was. Matt Cain was on, baby, and took a no hitter into the 7th inning, and maybe his rhythm was upset by his hitting a home run in the bottom of the 6th inning and having to sit while his mates tacked on 4 more runs for a 5 run lead.
But AP took Cain off the wall in the 7th, and Duncan, Ankiel and Ludwick added on dingers as the Cardinals came back to stun the Giants in extras. The Cardinals needed the added the frame due to the first meltdown of the year by Izzy that was helped by an error by AP. Now, it will not be an error in the box score due to the fact that the San Francisco official scorer is off in his own little world.
April 13 – St. Louis 4 San Francisco 7
The first start of the year did not go well for Joel Pinerio as he was roughed up for 6 runs in less than 4 innings pitched. The defense was shaky, but, in their defense, it was a get away day line-up.
Those things above did not help the fact that they were going up against baby faced Tim Lincecum. Lincecum K’d 11 in 6 innings pitched, allowing only 2 runs.
Duncan, Ludwick and Ankiel all had 2 hits, and Ludwick banged another home run.
A disappointing finish to nice road trip. I thought that they could squeeze a 5 and 2 record on the trip, but that loss Thursday night with Wainwright on the mound screwed that notion all up. But any road trip that ends up on the plus side of the ledger is a good trip in my book.
