With ace Adam Wainwright sidelined for the year with Tommy John surgery, the St. Louis Cardinals are going to need someone to step up and pitch them deep into ball games this year, and the best candidate for that is last year's rookie sensation, Jaime Garcia.
Today he didn't disappoint, throwing a complete game shutout, leading the Cards to their first win of the year, 2-0 over the Padres. It was the first Major League shutout thrown this season.
Garcia threw only 102 pitches to complete the game, a pretty efficient performance considering he struck out nine in the process. The Padres only managed four hits and two walks in the process.
The first of the Cards' two runs came in the fifth inning off a Yadier Molina single, which brought Lance Berkman home. Ryan Theriot knocked in the second when he batted in Skip Schumaker.
It was encouraging to see the Cardinals newcomers contributing, particularly since Albert Pujols was once again was prevented from reaching first base.
While it's hard to call any game this early in the season "must-win" this was a "needed win." The Cards have been beaten pretty hard with the misfortune stick so far.
First, there was the whole saga of whether Pujols would sign or not and then the outcome was "not."
Then came Wainwright's injury, the two-out top of the ninth home run that lost the season opener, the announcement of Matt Holliday's surgery and yesterday's blowout loss.
At this point, any news is good news and seeing Garcia pitch this well gives the team at least one good thing to feel good about from their opening series of the season.
The Cardinals have a good opportunity to continue their winning tomorrow night when they host the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kyle Lohse will get the start. With the exception of his last outing when he gave up six runs in five innings, Lohse had a stellar spring with a 1.88 ERA, striking out 15 while walking none in 24 innings of work.
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