San Francisco @ St. Louis preview
Busch Stadium
Last Meeting ( Apr 25, 2010 ) St. Louis 2, San Francisco 0
The San Francisco Giants visit the St. Louis Cardinals in a matchup of two teams looking to catch their respective division leaders.
The Cards (68-53), who have lost four straight, come into this one three games back of the Cincinnati Reds in the National League Central. Meanwhile, San Francisco (68-54) looks to make up some ground on the surging San Diego Padres, who lead the NL West by six games.
Jake Westbrook (7-7, 4.48 ERA) makes his fourth start for St. Louis since coming over from Cleveland in a late-July deal that saw Ryan Ludwick heading the other way. Madison Bumgarner (4-4, 3.27 ERA) starts for San Francisco.
After missing all of last year recovering from Tommy John surgery, Westbrook might be the piece St. Louis needs to make a real push for the division title.
Westbrook struggled with his command early this season, but is starting to look more like himself. He is averaging a strikeout per inning with the Cardinals and is coming off a win over the Chicago Cubs that saw him go six strong innings, allowing just two runs.
The Cardinals made a deal to help out their defense on Thursday as well, acquiring third baseman Pedro Feliz in a trade with the Houston Astros. St. Louis has been concerned about its infield defense, so Feliz should give them a boost.
And with Albert Pujols enjoying another huge year (31 homers, 87 RBIs) to go along with some great support from Matt Holliday (21 home runs, 74 RBIs), the Cardinals can usually muster enough runs to get by. St. Louis’ team ERA ranks third in the show at 3.42.
The young San Francisco Giants seem to be having a tough time dealing with the pressure of a pennant race, dropping three of their last four while San Diego continues to push forward in the NL West.
Bumgarner, a 21-year-old left-hander, has been solid on the mound for the Giants. He hasn’t won in four starts, but allowed just 12 runs over that stretch. San Francisco doesn’t want to push his young arm too much down the stretch, so he may see his innings cut back over the next few starts.
The bullpen welcomed back setup man Jeremy Affeldt on Wednesday. The lefty went on the 15-day DL on July 23 with a right intercostal strain but had thrown 12 out of 13 scoreless innings before landing on the shelf.
Outside of Aubrey Huff’s big year - .292 average, 20 home runs – the Giants continue to struggle at the plate. They’re averaging 4.33 runs per game of support for one of the best pitching staffs in the league.