If Madison Bumgarner has a weakness, its without question, giving up the home run ball. Bumgarner, who served up 23 home runs this season, coughed up two more Sunday night in game one of

the National League Championship Series. The end result, the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Francisco Giants 6-4 at AT&T Park to take a 1-0 lead in this best of seven series.
David Freese belted a two-run homer in the second inning, and Carlos Beltran, who has three home runs in post-season play, homered in a four-run fourth inning. That also outburst also sent Bumgarner to the showers.
The left hander, who was 16-11 this season, has struggled in recent weeks. He's seen his earned-run-average go from 2.83 on August 20 to a whopping 5.89 during his last seven regular-season starts.  He yielded four runs on seven hits in just 4.1 innings in a 9-0 loss against the Cincinnati Reds last Sunday in game two of the National League Divisional Series. Bumgarner is 0-2 in the playoffs with an 11.25 ERA.
"Mechanics were fine today," Bumgarner said. "Body feels great. Not a whole lot of life on the ball. Stuff's just not where it normally is. Pitches just not as sharp."
The Cardinals and Giants go at it again tonight at AT&T Field in game two of this series. Game time 8:07 p.m.