The San Diego Padres began the 2011 campaign on the road with two straight wins to take the series against the Cardinals in St. Louis. The Padres Opening Day victory was won in familiar fashion with great pitching and timely base running. They were able to manufacture runs with a new cast of characters as they did the year before.

The series win put them in first place with division rival San Francisco heading to San Deigo for the home opener on Tuesday April 5^th. Hometown product Aaron Harang will take the hill against Madison Bumgarner to start the two game series.

Here is a game by game recap of the Friars series against the Redbirds.

March 31^st, 2011 Padres 3 Cardinals 3

WP Pat Neshek (1-0) 1IP 0H 0R 0ER 2BB 0K 0HR

LP Bryan Augestein (0-1) 1IP 3H 2R 1ER 0BB 0K 0HR

S Heath Bell (1) 0IP 0H 0R 0ER 0BB 0K 0HR

Jed Hoyer said his highest priority in the offseason was to improve the Padres defense up the middle and that was on display for all to see in their season opening 11^th inning victory in St. Louis.

Nick Hundley’s two RBI, tying the game in the fifth and padding the lead in the 11^th, led the Friars offense that churned out five runs.

New centerfielder Cameron Maybin made a forward diving catch in shallow centerfield robbing leadoff hitter Ryan Theriot of a base hit in the bottom of the first. But his biggest contribution was silencing the Busch stadium crowd depositing the first pitch he saw over the fence in dead center to tie the game with two out in the top of the ninth.

Their new double play combination of Orlando Hudson and Jason Bartlett also got into the action, hooking up four times in the game. Albert Pujols grounded into three of those four double plays, setting a personal and opening day record of futility.

Tim Stauffer got the nod to start opening day and pitched effectively for six innings, getting the no-decision.

Heath Bell came in and pitched a perfect 11^th to earn his first save in as many tries.

April 1^st, 2011 Padres 11 Cardinals 3

WP Clayton Richard (1-0) 6IP 5H 3R 3ER 2BB 3K 1HR

LP Jake Westbrook (0-1) 4.1IP 6H 8R 8ER 5BB 3K 0HR

The Padres blew a close game open in the fifth inning, scoring six runs on their way to a 11-3 victory Saturday.

Chase Headley tied a career high of four RBIs starting with his two run single in the top of the fifth. He added his first homer of the year, a two run shot, to complete the Padres scoring in the ninth.

Clayton Richard helped his cause with two RBIs. His first came in the second on a safety squeeze scoring Cameron Maybin and then drawing a bases loaded walk in the fifth.

Cardinal pitchers Jake Westbrook and Jason Motte each walked in a run in the fifth, Cardinals pitchers walked eight Padres in the game.

April 2^nd, 2011 Padres 0 Cardinals 2

WP Jaime Garcia (1-0) 9IP 4H 0R 0ER 2BB 9K 0HR

LP Dustin Mosley (0-1) 7IP 4H 1R 1ER 1 BB 2K 0HR

Dustin Mosely pitched effectively for seven innings allowing only an RBI single by Yadier Molina in the fifth. But that would prove to be all the Cardinals needed as the San Diego Padres offense sputtered getting shut out 2-0 a day after posting 11 runs.

Jaime Garcia pitched a complete game shutout with an outstanding four-hit, nine-strikeout performance.

The Padres left four runners on base, most notably when Ryan Ludwick lined out to third with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the sixth. Pitcher Dustin Mosely was doubled up on the play to end the inning when Daniel Descalso then tagged third with his glove.

Luke Gregerson gave up a run on three hits in the eighth to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.