ST. LOUIS — In the battle of Cy Young against Good and Young, the Cardinals aren’t conceding anything.
All it takes is a look at 22-year-old Michael Wacha’s last two outings to realize the Cardinals will have a shot of at least matching Clayton Kershaw’s performance for the Dodgers in Saturday’s Game 2 of the NL Championship Series.
The rookie Wacha took a no-hitter to the eighth inning in beating the Pirates 2-1 in Game 4 of the NL Division Series on Monday. It came after Wacha completed his regular season by losing a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning against the Nationals.
But unlike the 25-year-old Kershaw, who can walk down few streets in Southern California without getting noticed, Wacha is still relatively anonymous.
“I still go to Target, go to the grocery store,” Wacha said Friday before the Cardinals and Dodgers played Game 1 at Busch Stadium. “Nobody really notices me or anything like that. So it’s been pretty nice, but nothing has really changed.”
Kershaw, a near slam dunk to win his second NL Cy Young award after going 16-9 with a 1.83 ERA during the regular season, pitched on short rest Monday and received a no-decision in the Dodgers’ NLDS clincher against the Braves. The left-hander allowed two unearned runs over six innings.
But Kershaw considers the whole discussion about his performance on three days’ rest overblown.
“You guys make a big deal about three days’ rest,” Kershaw said, referring to the media. “I never made a big deal out of it. Donnie [Mattingly] never made a big deal out of it. I mean, no offense, but I’m just kind of tired of it.”
Wacha was within five outs of the third no-hitter in postseason history when Pedro Alvarez homered over the right-field fence at PNC Park. Now he will prepare for a Dodgers lineup he has never faced, one that includes Yasiel Puig, Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford.
There also is the pressure of knowing Kershaw is the opposing pitcher.
“It’s going to be unbelievable facing that guy,” Wacha said. “You just try not to pay too much attention to who is pitching on the other side.”
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny wasn’t buying the notion his team would have the edge against a lineup Wacha has never faced.
“There is not much advantage either way,” he said. “They have lots of film. They have lots of scouts. We have the same thing on our side, so we’re taking all the information in that we can. A lot of it is going to be adjust on the fly when they get in the box. There is no huge advantage one way or the other.”
Kershaw won’t face a lineup as explosive as the one awaiting Wacha, but said he realizes the Cardinals have big pieces in Carlos Beltran, Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina, among others.
“Everybody talks about the team approach that they have and kind of passing the baton just to the next guy,” Kershaw said. “They don’t hit a lot of homers, but they just get big hits and that’s kind of what they preach. I guess that’s the challenge they pose.”