NLCS comes to Busch Stadium as St. Louis Cardinals’ manager defends team’s performance – NLCS Update
St. Louis Cardinals' manager Mike Matheny on Tuesday, October 16, defended the team’s performance and dismissed suggestions about the possible slump. The Cardinals were defeated 7-1 in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series as the San Francisco Giants tied the best-of-seven game series 1-1.
However, as Game 3 is scheduled to be played on Thursday at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals' manager also commented that the offence has done well.
"We've got a team that's been playing pretty well," Matheny said. "And you can take stats and manipulate them however you want to. To me, for the most part, our offense has done well. And we've had some recent games here that would tell you you'd be crazy to do anything different.”
“I have a lot of faith in our guys and the way they're going about their at-bats, and I don't see any change in the near future,” said the team manager whose team is preparing itself for the tough competition ahead.
Rotation, which remains the one of the major departments for the Cardinals, has hardly done well in the post-season. For example, the relievers who have pitched 34 innings so far in the seven post-season games compared to 36 of the starters.
That has to reverse here as challenges deepen. While the manager attaches much hope to the starters, he does not dismiss the possibilities.
"I'd like for my starters to go nine every game. I mean, that would be great," Matheny said. "But until that happens, we're going to have to use whoever we can use."
The Cardinals will have Kyle Lohse as starter for Game 3 while Adam Wainwright is slated to start in Game 4. In both games, the Cardinals hope the starters will do their bid given the consistency they have maintained.
Lohse is the only Cardinals' player to pitch six innings in the post-season games. On the other hand, if the offence collapsed in Game 2, the Cardinals hope it will bounce back in Game 3 to help the club solidify its grip in the NLCS.
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