St. Louis @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 22, 2012 ) St. Louis 0, San Francisco 9

The San Francisco Giants will be in a celebratory mood this weekend, starting with Friday’s home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals. After raising their World Series banner on Friday, Buster Posey will be recognized as the National League's Most Valuable Player on Saturday before the championship rings are distributed on Sunday. If that’s not enough, the Giants are also coming off a successful season-opening series against the rival Dodgers, when they won two out of three games.

The Cardinals, who lost the NL Championship Series in seven games to the Giants last October, could be extra motivated after watching the lengthy pregame ceremonies. “It might light a little fire under us, I'm sure,” St. Louis outfielder Shane Robinson told reporters. “Standing out there, it might get a little old.” The Cardinals opened the season by losing two of three in Arizona, including a 10-9 loss in 16 innings on Wednesday.

TV: 4:35 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Midwest (St. Louis), Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (San Francisco)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Jake Westbrook (2012: 13-11, 3.97 ERA) vs. Giants LH Barry Zito (15-8, 4.15)

The Cardinals would like to see Westbrook work at least six innings after using eight pitchers in Wednesday’s 16-inning marathon. The 35-year-old Westbrook, who is two wins shy of 100 for his career, ended last season early after suffering a right oblique injury on Sept. 8. He was completely healthy during spring training, when he went 2-2 with a 4.50 ERA in six games. Hunter Pence is 7-for-17 (.412) with one extra-base hit against Westbrook, who is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA in four career starts against San Francisco.

Zito will never be able to justify his $126 million, seven-year contract, but he won over plenty of Giants fans with his solid performance in last year’s postseason. The 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner is 2-6 with a 4.89 ERA in nine career starts against the Cardinals, including Game 5 of last year’s NLCS, when he tossed 7 2/3 shutout innings. Carlos Beltran is 10-for-44 (.227) with no home runs and nine strikeouts while Matt Holliday is 7-for-31 (.226) with two homers against Zito.

WALK-OFFS

1. The Giants have won 10 of their last 12 home openers, including their last four in a row.

2. St. Louis’ Matt Carpenter and Allen Craig were a combined 6-for-32 in the opening series against Arizona.

3. The Cardinals haven't won a season series against the Giants since 2006.

PREDICTION: Giants 5, Cardinals 3