One win away from a trip back to the World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals hope to give themselves ample time to prepare for either the Boston Red Sox or Detroit Tigers with a win in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series over the Los Angeles Dodgers. After taking the first two games in St. Louis, the Cardinals dropped Game 3 in L.A. but fired back in a big way Tuesday night with a 4-2 win at Chavez Ravine to take a commanding 3-1 series lead. While it was enjoyable to celebrate another postseason victory following the Game 4 victory, Cards manager Mike Matheny knows his club still has a tall order in front of them, especially since the Dodgers will send Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw (if necessary) to the mound the next 2 games.
"Right now, we've got no problem celebrating this one," Matheny said following St. Louis's Game 4 win. "Every one of these in the postseason are so tough to come by. We really don't get too much beyond what we have tomorrow, and we realize that we have to go out and play a good game. We've got to have the solid pitching and play a clean defense. It was a great move forward in that department tonight, much more characteristic of our club."
Despite the fact that his club has their backs against the wall in a sense, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly has a plan of attack moving forward. Knowing he has two of the best pitchers in baseball coming up in the rotation next followed by rookie phenom Hyun-Jin Ryu if need be in Game 7, the former New York Yankees first baseman says his club just needs to take things one game at a time.
"Kind of the best thought I have is I've got one of the best pitchers in baseball pitching," Mattingly said. "If we come out here and we play well tomorrow and get a win, I've got probably the best pitcher in baseball pitching the next day. Ryu hasn't been too bad. So if there's any good thoughts, it's that I know we'll come ready to play. It's a quick turnaround. We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. That's all there is to it."
"I don't think we need to think about winning three," Mattingly continued. "We need to win one. That's all we need to do is win one game. We've got a pretty good guy on the hill Wednesday. You feel like you're going to have a pretty good chance of winning. So we'll see where it goes."
NLCS Game 5: Dodgers vs. Cardinals - DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Wednesday, October 16
TIME: 4:00pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: TBS
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
RELATED: Detroit Tigers Vs. Boston Red Sox Live Stream: When And Where To Watch Detroit Try To Even ALCS With Game 4 Win
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