Giants vs. Cardinals, 2012 NLCS Game 4: San Francisco's offense leading to losses

The St. Louis Cardinals took down the San Francisco Giants in game 4 of the NLCS, pushing through on an 8-3 scoreline with some powerful offense and a solid pitching performance by Adam Wainwright. On the Giants side of things, it was less than stellar. San Francisco's team effort was weak as they allowed the Cards to put runs on the board early and often, putting up little fight of their own to get runs on the board.

Giants blog McCovey Chronicles wrote after the game that there were plenty of ways that the blame could be shifted around the team, but they were singling out the streaky offense that the Giants have been slumping through the entire series with:

"Worse, it's been the same kind of can't-hit that plagued the Giants early in the season: a lack of hits with runners in scoring position, especially with two outs. The hitting was generally lousy in Game 4 -- five hits! no walks! -- but over the series, the Giants have been miserable with runners on base. If the Giants got to cut Angel Pagan's triple and paste it into Game 3, for example, the series might be tied."

The Giants offense has scored 15 runs in the four games played so far, while the Cardinals have put up 18. That's good enough for a 3-1 series lead for St. Louis. Game 5 will be played on Friday night as the Cardinals look for their second straight appearance in the World Series.