Unbelievable.It was a wonderful
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ST. LOUIS — They are one win from their second straight trip to the World Series and could be the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76.
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ST. LOUIS — They are one win from their second straight trip to the World Series and could be the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975-76.
“I don’t think we’ve really thought about that,” said ace Chris
Carpenter following an 8-3 win over the Giants Thursday night that gave
the Cardinals a commanding 3-1 lead in the National League Championship
Series. “We have to take care of business. The Giants are capable of
winning three straight games. They did it against Cincinnati [in the
Division Series] to get here, so we can’t let our guard down.”
The Cardinals defeated two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, and
Adam Wainwright allowed just one run and four hits over seven innings,
handing it over to the bullpen to finish it off. The Cardinals scored
two runs in the first, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings to complete the
shellacking of the Giants, who turn to lefthander Barry Zito in Game 5
Friday to save their season.
Matt Holliday, Jon Jay, and Yadier Molina drove in two runs apiece to
pace the Cardinals’ attack.
This was a series many thought would go seven games, pitting the last
two World Series champions (the Giants won in 2010). The winner will
face the Detroit Tigers, who swept the Yankees in four games in the
ALCS.
The Cardinals are made up of players developed from the farm system, a
smattering of veterans, and a notable leader in Carpenter. Even with
the departure of manager Tony La Russa, the free agent fleeing of Albert
Pujols, and the loss of Carpenter for most of the season and Lance
Berkman for a good chunk of it, the Cardinals seem to find a way.
The Cardinals started Game 4 without Carlos Beltran, who has a
strained left knee. Manager Mike Matheny shifted personnel, inserting
rookie Matt Carpenter, who won Game 3 with a two-run homer in place of
Beltran, at first base. Carpenter reached base three times Thursday
night, while Allen Craig took Beltran’s spot in right field.
“We don’t look past the Giants tomorrow at all,” Matheny said. ”I’ve
been commending these guys for the fight they have. They just don’t go
away. They have character. It’s in their nature.”
Lincecum is a shadow of his once prominent self. He used to throw 96
miles per hour and is now at 92. If he makes a mistake, he’s not so
extraordinary. He had the highest ERA (5.18) of qualified starters in
the National League.
By the time the fifth inning rolled around, Giants manager Bruce
Bochy came out to take the ball from his hand after the Cardinals seized
a 4-1 lead.
Lincecum had pitched well this postseason in relief, unable to crack
the starting rotation until Game 4. He was 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA in three
outings and earned his start.
But he had difficulty with this pesky Cardinals’ lineup from the
start.
Lincecum, who led the major leagues by allowing 28 first-inning runs,
gave up a 2-0 lead in the first when the first three Cardinals batters
reached. Jay singled, Carpenter walked, and Holliday singled home the
first run. Craig’s sacrifice fly got the second run across.
The Giants cut the gap when Hunter Pence crushed a 451-foot homer to
left field against Wainwright in the second.
Lincecum settled down, got out of a jam in the second, got the next
six outs, but the fifth was his undoing.
With one out, the pesky Carpenter doubled to center and scored on
Holliday’s single up the middle. Then Molina knocked in a run with a
single and that was the end of Lincecum’s night, at 91 pitches.
Wainwright, who missed all of 2011 and the Cardinals’ World Series
run because of Tommy John surgery, has rebounded. in a big way.
He had a great curveball and wasn’t going to be denied.
Wainwright helped himself with the bat in the sixth. He put down a
sacrifice bunt to advance runners into scoring position after Daniel
Descalso and Pete Kozma had singled.
Jay delivered a two-run double off lefty reliever Jose Mijares to
open the game up, 6-1. The Cardinals added two runs in the seventh and
Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the Giants, but it
was far too late.
The Cardinals are on the brink of something special, but the Giants
have responded from this position before.
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2012 Globe Newspaper Company.