Cardinals Grab 1-0 Lead Over Texas Rangers

Imagine how many pitchers Tony La Russa and Ron Washington will go through once the two lineups heat up.

Allen Craig's pinch single in the sixth dropped just out of reach of Nelson Cruz's glove to bring home the winning run in a 3-2 victory for the St. Louis Cardinals over the Texas Rangers in Game 1 of the World Series.  La Russa got six innings out of a starting pitcher, ace Chris Carpenter, and still went to his bullpen for five extra hurlers.

Washington needed three relievers himself after CJ Wilson battled control issues with six walks, one hit batter and a wild pitch.

Texas will try to even things up Thursday behind Colby Lewis when he opposes St. Louis lefty Jaime Garcia.  The earliest of MLB odds for this game had Garcia and the Cardinals slight favorites at -115.  Game 2 opened with an 8-run total.

Lewis has been an anomaly in the Rangers rotation this postseason by averaging nearly six innings per start.  He'd been Washington's most reliable playoff pitcher the past two Octobers before the Tigers caught up to him in Game 3 of the ALCS.  Even with the four earned runs he surrendered during 5 2/3-innings of that outing, Lewis' postseason resume still includes a 2.37 ERA in six assignments (Texas 4-2).

A few Cardinals have seen Lewis when they were in different uniforms.  Lance Berkman is 0-for-7 with four Ks and Ryan Theriot has two singles in as many at bats.  Gerald Laird (3-for-8, HR) has been successful, but it's doubtful he'll get a chance to see Lewis in this game unless it's late and the Rangers are up big.

For a guy with a 5.74 ERA this postseason, Garcia hasn't been too bad.  The southpaw had the one bad pitch to Ben Francisco in Game 3 of the NLDS, struggled with control and had one bad inning against the Brewers in the NLCS opener, and then couldn't make it out of the fifth in St. Louis' Game 5 win over Milwaukee.

Texas did alright against lefties during the regular season (26-21), going 1-1 in the ALDS vs. Tampa Bay; Garcia will be the first left-hander the Rangers have faced since David Price on Oct. 3 (ALDS Game 3).  Rangers backup catchers Yorvit Torrealba and Matt Treanor are the only two on their World Series roster who have seen Garcia (1-for-6, 4 K combined).

Greg Gibson will be working the plate in a World Series game for the first time in his now 15-year career.  He was the top umpire for 'under' bettors during the regular season at 20-9-2 to the low side of totals.  He continued that trend earlier this month with an 'under' in Game 4 of the ALDS between the Rangers and Rays, a 4-3 Texas triumph.

Ah, yes, the weather.  The experts at weather.com are predicting it will be dry with no chance of rain for Game 2, but it's going to be a bit cool, temps in the upper-40s for the first pitch (8:05 p.m. ET), and an 8-10 mph wind from the west blowing out to right.

The clubs will take Friday off before Game 3 in Texas on Saturday.  Kyle Lohse is the expected starter for St. Louis, with the Rangers yet to make their choice official.