Cardinals hoping to rebound against the Giants

A great pitchers battle brews tonight in San Francisco when the Giants (47-36) host the St. Louis Cardinals (44-40).

The Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright (10-4, 2.01 ERA) is really starting to heat up during his last four starts, which include a record of 2-1 and a 1.16 ERA. Just last week he stifled the hot-hitting Los Angeles Dodgers giving up only one run and five hits over eights innings of work.

Wainwright is hoping to forget about his last game against the Giants, a loss during which he gave up seven runs and lasted only 4 1/3 innings.

As for the Giants, it’s the Ryan Vogelsong, (5-4, 3.96) who last week had a solid outing despite the loss against the Reds.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said, “That was a great start from Vogey. You can’t ask for anything more.”

What Vogelsong can ask for is more hitting from a Giants team that has been struggling at the plate. The same can be said for the Cardinals, which had been shutout in consecutive games (including last night) during a three-game losing streak.

Then again, St. Louis has had a rash of bad luck this season facing three different pitchers – Josh Beckett, Clayton Kershaw and Tim Lincecum – that have thrown no-hitters. However, there have been opportunities.

Allen Craig said, “We’ve tried to be realistic, too, with the caliber of pitching we’ve been seeing, but when you see an opportunity slip away like that, you can’t completely give all the credit to the pitching,” Craig said.

At +127, the Cardinals woes make the Giants (17-11 as run line underdog) appear promising.