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Cardinals welcome back Pineiro vs. Giants

Apr 13, 2008 - 1:27 PM St Louis (9-3) at San Francisco (4-8) 4:05 pm EDT

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) - The St. Louis Cardinals were written off before the season because of the belief that the team did not have enough starting pitching to contend. Two weeks into the campaign, the Cardinals are amongst the leaders in team ERA.

The pitching staff will get another boost on Sunday when Joel Pineiro comes off the disabled list as St. Louis visit the San Francisco Giants.

Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan has made a career out of converting relievers into effective starting pitchers, and this season has been no exception as Todd Wellemeyer, Brad Thompson and Braden Looper are all undefeated and sporting ERAs of under 4.00.

With projected starters and former Cy Young winners Chris Carpenter and Mark Mulder joining Pineiro and Matt Clement on the DL, the rotation behind de-facto ace Adam Wainwright did not inspire much confidence before the season, but at 9-3, the Cardinals have the best record in the NL Central.

St. Louis dropped the first game of the series on Thursday but rebounded to take the next two, including an 8-7 win in 10 innings on Saturday. Chris Duncan homered and singled in the winning run in the 10th.

Pineiro (NR) went 6-4 with a 3.96 ERA after being traded to St. Louis last season. He spent the first half of the campaign coming out of the bullpen for the Boston Red Sox, but the veteran righthander was a key to the Cardinals' August surge last season that pulled them within a game of the NL Central lead before fading down the stretch.

The Giants will counter with 23-year-old Tim Lincecum (1-0, 1.80 ERA). The righthander has been strong in two outings this season, allowing just two hits in 10 total frames while striking out 11.