SAN FRANCISCO — They wouldn’t be the Cardinals if winning a postseason series came easily.
David Freese, Matt Holliday, Yadier Molina and the other members of last year’s championship team understand this better than anybody. So while at first glance Friday’s 5-0 loss to the Giants that extended this NLCS might seem like a momentum changer, the Cardinals know better.
“I’m not big on overnight momentum,” said Freese, whose Cardinals lead the NLCS 3-2 heading into tonight’s Game 6 at AT&T Park. “In-game momentum, sure, I think it can sway in the middle of nine innings. But it doesn’t matter what park you’re in, you’ve just got to turn the page and get back at it.”
The Cardinals whiffed in their first attempt to lock up this series, as Barry Zito frustrated them for 7 2/3 shutout innings in Game 5. The challenge won’t be any easier tonight, with Ryan Vogelsong taking the ball for the Giants against Chris Carpenter. Should a Game 7 be needed tomorrow, Matt Cain would face the Cardinals’ Kyle Lohse in a battle of aces.
“The NLCS, going to Game 6 with those four guys [scheduled] on the mound, that’s great baseball,” Freese said. “Just let’s ride it out and see what happens.”
The Cardinals needed seven games to defeat the Rangers in last year’s World Series and had to beat the Braves in a wild-card game this season before taking the NLDS in five games against the Nationals.
So there is little chance pressure will be the deciding factor if the Cardinals do not win this series.
And underestimating the Giants, who rallied from an 0-2 deficit in the NLDS to beat the Reds, isn’t an option either for manager Mike Matheny’s crew.
“We were never thinking for a second that these guys are going to go away,” Matheny said. “They’re a good team and they’re going to keep fighting, we know that. It just comes down to execution. They executed better than we did [Friday].”
Maybe the only positive Cardinals development in Game 5 was Carlos Beltran’s re-emergence after missing most of the previous two games with a left knee strain. Beltran returned to the lineup Friday and went 1-for-4 — he later said he still had pain in the knee, but not enough to further sideline him.
Beltran also had no use for talk the series momentum had shifted in the Giants’ favor.
“We’re leading — right now it’s 3-2 — so we’re going to go there, play hard and try to win one out of two,” Beltran said.
Vogelsong was trouble for the Cardinals in Game 2, allowing one run on four hits over seven innings. The right-hander is cognizant of the fact he’s facing a war horse in Carpenter, who is 5-1 over the past two postseasons. That one defeat came Monday, when the Giants scored five runs, three of which were unearned, against him in four innings.
“It’s going to be an interesting game,” Vogelsong said. “I’m going to have to be sharp, because with him on the mound one run can lose a game for you. I’m going to have to be ready.”
Matheny is more concerned with his hitters than his starting pitcher.
“We have to put a better game plan together than the last time [against Vogelsong] and execute it,” Matheny said. “The Giants are excited about going home and rightfully so. We’ve got our hands full.”