Cardinals Head to San Fran

Joel Pineiro has done a tolerable job with the Giants in the past.  Juan Uribe and Aaron Rowland have touched him up some, so he'll have to be careful with them.  

Matt Cain has been a little bit better historically against the Redbirds, though Khalil Greene has four home runs against him.  

I don't expect, however, that Khalil will be in the lineup today.  John Mozeliak wouldn't confirm it in his chat at MLB yesterday, but I still expect Khalil to be disabled as they activate Ryan Ludwick.  Cardinal fans just hope that Cain has an outing like the last one he had against St. Louis.

The AccuScore projections at ESPN give the Cardinals only a 40 percent chance of winning this game.  However, if Pineiro can keep the good pitching going, I think the Cards have a much better chance than that.  Pineiro is looking to become the first pitcher since Greg Maddux to have five straight starts without a walk or a home run.  I don't expect he'll get it, but it's something for which to watch.

If you want more on this series, you can check out the revamped Busch Birds and their series preview.  The Cards stack up well in this one with the two aces going this weekend.

And, if you want more from me, you can read my summary of the Redbirds' May over at Baseball Reflections.