St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Mike Matheny ecstatic as team makes it to NLCS – MLB News
As the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the National League Division Series title on Friday, October 12, rookie manager Mike Matheny expressed his tremendous excitement and satisfaction. Playing one of the most edgy and competitive games of the season, the Cardinals scored an unlikely 9-7 victory over the Washington Nationals just when the former were 6-0 until the third inning.
However, as the ouster seemed more likely for the Cardinals with the Washington Nationals being the increasingly dominant, it was the batters who rose to the expectation of the team and the fans alike.
Facing elimination for six times in the most important of playoffs in last two years, the Cardinals have always staged a comeback almost from the brink: Evidence being Game 5 of this year’s NLDS and the last two games of the World Series the previous season when the Cardinals won the title.
"It's just the kind of people they are. They believe in themselves. They believe in each other," Matheny said. "It's been this style of team all season long. They just don't quit, and I think that just says a lot about their character."
Of all, it was Daniel Descalso who actually changed the map of the game. It was his scoring in the fifth inning and then at the most crucial ninth inning to level the score that reversed the tide for the Cardinals before he smashed a solo homer in the fifth.
"We knew we had a lot of game left after they scored six. Nobody went up there trying to hit a six-run homer," said Descalso. "We needed to scratch and claw and get ourselves back in the game."
Descalso’s runs came at a time when Adam Wainwright’s 2.1 innings had virtually thrown the Cardinals out of the NLDS. Wainwright gave up six runs that seemed to be irreversible.
But as the Cardinals made their way back with the batters being dominant in the last innings, it was indeed teamwork that eventually paid off. They took the Cardinals to the NLCS and are making it all the more likely to successfully defend their NLCS and subsequent World Series titles.
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