The Washington Nationals and St. Louis Cardinals stand for the National Anthem before Game 1 of the NLDS. Game 2 at Busch Stadium is set for today at 3:37 p.m. UPI/Bill Greenblatt

If the Cardinals want to avoid going to Washington down two games to none, Jaime Garcia will need to keep his trend of solid starts at Busch Stadium going, and the offense needs to break out of it’s mini postseason slump. Garcia will get the ball in Monday afternoon’s Game 2 vs. Jordan Zimmerman of the Nationals. Things are lined up for the Cardinals to even up this series.

Cardinal hitters went 6 for 32 in the Atlanta game and benefitted from three Atlanta errors which lead to three unearned runs. In Game 1 against Washington, the Cardinals were held to just three hits and didn’t get a hit until the fourth inning off Gio Gonzalez. The Cards manufactured their two runs in the second inning off four walks and a sacrifice fly and left ten runners on base while going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

Zimmerman  faced the Cardinals on Sept 1, in Washington, and had his worst outing of the season. He lasted just 3.2 innings and gave up eight earned runs including two homers.  He last pitched against St. Louis on the 29th, where he allowed three runs in 6.1 innings in a 6-4 Nat’s win. Zimmerman is hoping he did enough on his time off to not repeat a shaky inning similar to Gio’s second on Sunday.

AUDIO Zimmerman on what he’s done since his last start (:10)

The hitters on the Cardinals’ playoff roster are a combined 26 for 69 (.377) against Zimmerman with Yadier Molina going 5 for 11.

Garcia gave up two homers in his only start against Washington on Aug 31 and gave up nine hits and six runs in 5.1 innings, but that was on the road and as we know, Garcia always pitches better at home. Since returning from the DL on Aug 19, the Cardinals are 1-4 when Garcia started on the road, but 4-1 at Busch Stadium during that same time span. Experience is certainly on the side of Garcia as well. He will pitch in his sixth playoff game since the beginning of last October. He went 0-2 with a 4.21 ERA in five starts during the Cardinals’ championship run, but the worst of those came on the road and he allowed only six runs over 21.2 innings in St. Louis.

AUDIO Garcia on his experience and what he’s looking for today (:30)