Sports

Theriot solid backup for Giants if Scutaro can’t play

Matt Holliday slide

Matt Holliday slide

GIANT DEPTH: Ryan Theriot, who replaced Marco Scutaro after Scutaro hurt his left hip on a hard Matt Holliday slide (inset), hit a two-run single in the Giants’ 7-1 win over the Cardinals Monday night. (Getty Images; UPI (inset))

ST. LOUIS — If he’s needed to start in Marco Scutaro’s place for the Giants today, Ryan Theriot certainly won’t be overwhelmed by the surroundings.

The only difference is Theriot will be attempting to prevent the Cardinals from reaching the World Series instead of trying to help the team get there.

“It’s a great atmosphere, great baseball town,” said Theriot, who was a contributor to last year’s Cardinals team that beat the Rangers in the World Series. “I would imagine the atmosphere is going to be very similar to what it was [in San Francisco] — something that both teams feed off.”

Before the Giants worked out last night at Busch Stadium in preparation for today’s Game 3 of the NLCS, manager Bruce Bochy said Scutaro is questionable with a left hip strain and contusion. The second baseman sustained the injury in the Giants’ 7-1 victory over the Cardinals on Monday, which tied the series at 1-1, when Matt Holliday made a late slide attempting to break up a double play in the first inning and clobbered Scutaro.

But Scutaro didn’t leave the game until the sixth, after he had delivered an important hit — a single with the bases loaded in the fourth against Chris Carpenter that allowed all three runners to score, with help from a Holliday misplay in left field, giving the Giants a 4-1 lead.

Theriot did his own damage after replacing Scutaro, delivering a two-run single in the eighth against Shelby Miller that accounted for the Giants’ final runs.

Holliday’s slide remained a topic of conversation yesterday.

“It was a player just trying to make a hard play for his team and ended up getting another player in a tough spot,” Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said. “You hate to see anybody get hurt right now. We don’t want to see anybody lost or anybody have to leave the game.”

Scutaro solidified the No. 2 spot in the Giants lineup after arriving in a July trade with the Rockies. But the Giants are also happy to have the 32-year-old veteran Theriot, who hit .270 with no homers and 28 RBIs in 104 games for the team this season.

Theriot appeared in 132 games for the Cardinals last year and was a key factor in the team’s NLDS upset of the Phillies because of his .600 (6-for-10) batting average.

“Playing the Cardinals, it’s like déjà vu seeing this again,” Theriot said. “It happened last year, we were fortunate enough to win the World Series. I play for the Giants, now and I love San Francisco, and let’s go.”

Theriot said he was hoping Scutaro could play today.

“First and foremost you want to win the ballgame,” he said. “And so put the best team out there you can. It’s tough to sit and watch, but when the team is winning you want to stay ready and any opportunity you get to go in there, help the team win.”