The St. Louis Cardinals will once again attempt to eliminate the San Francisco Giants when they face off on Sunday night in Game 6 of the NLCS.  Left-hander Barry Zito came through in a grandiose way for the Giants by blanking the Cardinals over the 7 2/3 innings he pitched in Game 5 on Friday. 

However, San Francisco must get their bats going in order to have a shot at forcing a Game 7.  For that to happen they must once again get to St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter, who  gave up four runs in just four innings against the Giants in Game 2. 

San Francisco will once again send Ryan Vogelsong to the mound to oppose Carpenter.  Vogelsong pitched very effectively in his Game 2 outing.  In his last postseason start against the Cards, the righty gave up just one run in seven innings and  struck out four batters. 

St. Louis is hoping that outfielder Carlos Beltran will continue his dominant hitting against Vogelsong (6-for-13, four doubles, one homerun).  In Game 2, Beltran was the only hitter in the lineup to have a multi-hit game against the starter, poking two doubles.  The only other base hits for the Cardinals were a first-inning single by Matt Holliday and a double by Carpenter.

The common denominator of St. Louis' two losses were their errors.  In Game 2, the club had issues fielding the ball.  However, Game 5 wasn't too much better with pitcher Lance Lynn botching a play, which led to four unearned runs.  Although the Cardinals are a solid defensive team overall, they must miminize their fielding mistakes on the baseball diamond in order to overcome the seemingly streaky Giants. 

CLICK HERE to watch the San Francisco Giants take on the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 of the NLCS via live stream.  Coverage is set to begin at 6:30 p.m. CT.

Tags: mlb television