• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Giants hope to bust the brooms out on Cardinals

Apr 10, 2011 - 3:04 PM (Sports Network) - It's been a celebratory weekend thus far for the San Francisco Giants, and today the defending World Series champions aim to finish off a three-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

It's been 10 years since the Giants have swept a series of at least three games from the Cardinals, and if they're going to accomplish the feat they'll likely need a strong pitching performance from Barry Zito this afternoon.

The left-hander has struggled to a 1-5 mark with a 5.02 ERA in seven games against St. Louis. Zito didn't get a decision in his first game this season, going six innings at Los Angeles. He's had just one victory over his last 16 outings going back to last season.

The Giants have filled AT&T Park with tremendous excitement over the last few days. They raised the championship banner in their home opener on Friday and then later that night Aaron Rowand drilled a deep shot off the base of the left-center field fence to score the game-winning run in the 12th inning. On Saturday, the night the team received its championship rings, Miguel Tejada roped a two- run double in the bottom of the ninth to give San Francisco a 3-2 win.

Giants starter Matt Cain went seven solid innings, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out four. Ramon Ramirez (1-0) got the win for pitching a perfect top of the ninth.

Colby Rasmus, who bobbled the catch on Tejada's game-winning shot, paced the Cardinals with a solo homer in the seventh while Ryan Franklin (0-1) blew his second save in as many days.

Jaime Garcia went a solid six innings for St. Louis, allowing only one run on four hits while striking out nine.

Trailing 2-1 after Rasmus' lead-off homer in the seventh, the Giants opened up the ninth with an Aubrey Huff groundout. Buster Posey singled and Pat Burrell worked a walk to put runners on first and second, and after Rowand flied out to deep right on his chance for back-to-back heroics, the game came down to Tejada.

Tejada worked the count full and took the ninth pitch of the at-bat, a high fastball, deep to the left-center warning track, where Rasmus bobbled the attempt at a basket catch.

"It definitely ruined my evening," Rasmus said. "It's not going to be a fun one the rest of the day."

Kyle Lohse gets the starting assignment today for St. Louis. He threw seven innings in a 4-3 loss against Pittsburgh on Monday. Lohse allowed six hits and four runs. The righty is 2-2 in four career starts against San Francisco.

These teams split six 2010 meetings, with the Giants winning two of the three bouts held at AT&T Park. St. Louis has lost in seven of its last nine tries in San Francisco.