Series Preview: Cardinals vs San Francisco Giants

Apr. 3, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) celebrates with second baseman Daniel Descalso (33) after scoring on an RBI single by shortstop Pete Kozma (38) during the twelfth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Overall Record: Cardinals (1-2) t-5 in NL Central, Giants, (2-1) t-1 in NL West

Location: AT&T Park, San Fransisco California

Dates and Times: Friday April 5th 3:35 CT

Saturday April 6th 3:05 CT

Sunday April 7th 3:05 CT

Probable Starters:

Friday: Jake Westbrook vs Barry Zito

Saturday: Shelby Miller vs Ryan Vogelsong

Sunday: Adam Wainwright (0-1, 4.50 ERA) vs Matt Cain (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Last series: The Cardinals come into San Fran having lost 2 of 3 in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. The Giants come home after taking 2 of 3 from the Dodgers in LA.

Notes: The Cardinals and Giants meet up for the first time since last year’s NLCS meeting in which the Giants beat the Redbirds in 7 games. The Cardinals will have to go through watching the Giants raise their flag and receive their World Series rings throughout the weekend.  It should be an interesting series for the Cardinals. Shelby Miller will make his 2nd career MLB start on Saturday against Ryan Vogelsong. Miller had a solid Spring Training and it’s time to see how well he does when working in the rotation full time. Then on Sunday you get a battle of the aces as two of the best pitchers in the game go at it.

Scale of Importance: (This ranks how big a series is for the Cards on a scale from 1-10, 10 being absolute must win)

It is very early in the season and the Cardinals have still got a long way to go, usually you don’t put huge importance on a series in April, but this is the team that knocked you out of the playoffs a year ago, so a series win in their own house on the weekend they celebrate their title would be rather sweet. I’m going to give this series a 5.