Today at 4 p.m. ET, the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants continue their best-of-seven National League Championship Series with Game 3 action live from AT&T Park in San Francisco. The game can be live streamed for free here. St. Louis fans can hear all of the action on KMOX 1120 while San Francisco fans can do the same on KNBR 680.
As the series shifts to San Francisco, each team will look for a 2-1 edge as they both notched one win apiece in St. Louis.
The Giants blanked the Cardinals 3-0 in Game 1 and the Cards responded with a power surge in Game 2 by launching four homers, the most important of which was a walk-off by rookie Kolten Wong that nodded up the series at 1-1 and gave St. Louis a 5-4 victory.
The Cardinals send John Lackey to the mound, who went 14-10 with a 3.82 ERA and is 1-0 in these playoffs with a 1.29 ERA after limiting the Los Angeles Dodgers to one run on five hits in an NLDS victory.
Lackey is 7-5 with a 2.93 ERA in his postseason career through 20 games and 17 starts.
The Giants counter with Tim Hudson, who went 9-13 with a 3.57 ERA in the regular season and is 0-0 this October with a 1.23 ERA.
Hudson held the Washington Nationals to one run on seven hits in 7.1 innings pitched in the NLDS and got a no-decision in the game, which San Francisco eventually won. Hudson is 1-3 through 11 games and 10 playoff starts in his career with a 3.19 ERA.
One noticeable leader missing for the Cardinals in Game 3 will be catcher Yadier Molina, who left Game 2 with an oblique injury and will not play this afternoon. A.J. Pierzynski will be the battery mate for Lackey, though Molina said he does feel better.
"I woke up [Monday] moving a little better," Molina, who is 2-for-6 (.333) in the series said via MLB.com. "I feel good enough to catch."
Molina was kept on the active roster so he could return as the series progresses.
The Giants have had a solid catcher in their own right in Buster Posey, who is hitting .313 this postseason with 10 singles, but he has yet to notch an extra-base hit through the NL Wild-Card Game, the NLDS and the two games of the NLCS.
After seeing the Cardinals' offensive explosion in Game 2, Giants manager Bruce Bochy is hopeful to get some homers out of his stars.
"It would be nice to hit a couple long balls, to kind of balance things out here a little bit," the skipper told MLB.com.
The Cardinals have had no shortage of power, especially from third baseman Matt Carpenter, who has rocketed four in six games this postseason -- double the Giants total for the whole playoffs.
First baseman Brandon Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford are the only two players to go deep for San Francisco thus far this postseason. St. Louis has launched 11 homers this October.
It's an important swing game when the Cardinals and Giants take the field tonight in NLCS Game 3 live from AT&T Park in San Francisco
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