Road Trip!

The Cardinals open the beginning of their 10 game road trip through California and Arizona

Today the Cardinals open up the start of their first road trip on the year.  They travel to San Francisco, then Arizona and then back to Cali to face the Dodgers for a 4 game set.  Hopefully the warm climate awakens the Cardinals offense.  Despite weather factors, Saint Louis may have a tough time getting the offense jump started as it goes against the World Series champs.  The Giants boast one of the top pitching staffs in the majors. 

The Cards got the luck of the draw though and won't have to face 2 time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum.  He will probably use his days off to be productive.   The Cardinals will have to deal with Giants mega poser Brian Wilson to close games for them as he recently came off the DL this week.  That easily has to be one of the most annoying player poses ever, right next to the Dikembe Mutombo finger wave whenever he blocked a shot.

I see this as being a pretty even series, despite the fact that SF are the World Champs.  Both teams rely heavily on their starters (albeit the Giants staff is more talented on paper) but both offenses also have the capability to blow a game wide open.  It might still be too soon for a Holliday sighting, but he may make his return when the Cardinals travel to Arizona. 
Today's match up pits Jake Westbrook who looks to rebound from his last outing, against Jonathan Sanchez.  As I write this the game is 1-0 in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a Tyler Greene rbi that scored Mr. Freese.

Tomorrow is a match up between 2 up-and-coming aces, Jaime Garcia and Matt Cain.  I foresee the possibility of a  2-0 ball game that could go either way.  Both pitchers seem to have the ability to dominate a game, so it could be anyone’s game. 

The Sunday finale ends with Kyle Lohse vs. Barry Zito.  Zito owned the Cardinals in a game last April when he had 10 Ks in 8 innings pitched.  I remember watching the game and getting madder and madder with each Zito K.  I mean it was Barry Zito, not only is he an over paid disappointment in San Fransico, the guy seems like a complete dbag.  In August the universe realigned itself and the Cardinals defeated Zito who only went 3.2/3 innings and gave up 5 runs.  Lohse had a solid start last time out, until a 6th inning implosion in which he gave up 4 runs.  If he can avoid that one bad inning he should keep the team in the game. 

Hopefully the road trip is kind to the Cardinals and they will come back to Busch stadium running on all cylinders.  Also an fyi for all you who keep score at home, the team did gain a few hours due to the change in time zones, so look for TLR make his double switches earlier than usual until he gets adjusted.