• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Cardinals-Giants Preview

Apr 25, 2010 - 5:33 AM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

St. Louis (10-6) at San Francisco (9-7), 4:05 p.m. EDT

During the offseason, the San Francisco Giants offered Brad Penny a deal to stay with the club, but the pitcher turned it down and decided to sign with St. Louis.

The Cardinals are quite happy with his decision.

Penny looks to continue his strong start with his new team and help St. Louis avoid a three-game sweep Sunday in San Francisco.

The Boston Red Sox released Penny (2-0, 1.29 ERA) late last August after a disappointing five-month stint. He landed in San Francisco, which was in the thick of the NL wild-card race.

The right-hander found his rhythm with the Giants, going 4-1 with a 2.59 ERA in six starts down the stretch. Even though San Francisco (10-7) missed the playoffs, the team was impressed with Penny and offered him a one-year contract to stay.

He declined and quickly drew interest from the Cardinals (10-7) and manager Tony La Russa, who had been eying the two-time All-Star for some time. Penny is validating La Russa's interest.

He has pitched seven innings in each of his first three starts, yielding four total runs. Against Arizona on Monday, Penny gave up two runs and eight hits with five strikeouts in a 4-2 win.

"He's got a lot of weapons and the catcher knows how to use them," La Russa said. "His delivery is not an easy one to pick up. He's the real deal."

Penny now tries to help the Cardinals avoid their first three-game sweep in San Francisco since June 29-July 1, 2001.

He may well be up to the challenge, considering he's 5-0 with a 1.62 ERA in seven starts at AT&T Park since 2007. This will be Penny's first start against the Giants since 2008, when he beat them twice while limiting them to one run and five hits in 11 2-3 innings.

To get the win, Penny will need at least some run support - something that hasn't come easy for the Cardinals in the first two games of this series.

Two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum shut down St. Louis in Friday's 4-1 loss, and 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner Barry Zito outpitched Adam Wainwright in the Giants' 2-0 win Saturday.

Runs may be no easier to come by in the finale against Matt Cain, who was 1-0 with a 1.35 ERA in two starts against the Cardinals in 2009.

After recording a career-best 14 victories last season, Cain (0-0, 3.86) is still seeking his first win of 2010. All three of his outings have been quality starts, but he's been hurt by a lack of run support. In San Diego on Monday, Cain gave up two runs and seven hits in six innings of a 3-2, 10-inning loss.

The right-hander had similar bad luck in both 2007 and 2008, when he compiled a solid 3.71 ERA but went 15-30 due to a league-worst 3.32 run-support average in that span.

The Giants have had trouble scoring for the past week, plating 11 runs in their last six games.

Saturday's game remained scoreless until San Francisco pinch-hitter Andres Torres' RBI single in the eighth.