The St. Louis Cardinals have started the season by losing two of their first three games and they will try to bust out of that semi-slump when they travel to take on the World Series champion Giants in San Francisco on Friday afternoon.
The Giants will be raising up their championship banners on Friday and also will honor the reigning league MVP in catcher Buster Posey, who recently signed a huge extension with the club. On the mound for the Giants will be Barry Zito, someone who knows all about big contracts, as he is starting the final year of the $126 million deal he signed seven years ago.
Zito rebounded from being left off the first championship roster with the Giants and contributed greatly last season, helping the team win the essential game 5 in St. Louis to keep hope alive and eventually the team came back from a 3-1 deficit before winning the World Series. The team won the series 4-0 and are looking dominant again as they won two of their first three games to start the year.
Last season Zito went 15-8 with a 4.15 ERA in 32 starts and the 2002 Cy Young winner finally looked like it again in a Giants uniform and he is hoping to continue that into this season. The Giants had a rough opening day against the Dodgers, losing after a complete game and home run from Clayton Kershaw before taking the next two games, with help from home runs by Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence.
The Cardinals got started by losing two of three to Arizona and even had a 16 inning game go against them, losing 10-9 on Wednesday Yadier Molina did his part by knocking in three runs, including a leadoff home run in the seventh, but the team couldn't hold on. Zito will face Jake Westbrook on Friday at AT&T Park as the Cardinals try to rebound from being outscored 20-1 in the final three games of their series last season with the Giants.
