Game 6 is a must-win for St. Louis Cardinals

Tonight’s Game 6 against the San Francisco Giants is a must-win for the St. Louis Cardinals. With a 3-2 advantage, a loss by the Cardinals would not only even up the series at 3 wins a piece but it would take the momentum away from the Cardinals.
Oct 11, 2012; Washington, DC, USA; St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter (29) in the dugout during game four of the 2012 NLDS against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Image Credit: Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE
Chris Carpenter has the start for the Cardinals. Should Carpenter get the win, he will hold sole possession of the Cardinals’ LCS record for wins with 3. Not only that but 3 strikeouts tonight will place him in first place in the Cardinals’ LCS record books.

In his 5th postseason, Carpenter brings a 10-2 record over 16 postseason starts. Last year, he was 4-0 in the World Series run. This year, it’s much different given how little he pitched during the season but Carp needs to be more like his Game 3 performance against the Nationals (5.2 shutout innings) rather than a repeat of Game 2 of the NLCS (4 innings, 2 earned runs).

Last time out, Chris Carpenter admitted following the game that he didn’t have command of his fastball. Carpenter spoke to reporters on Saturday’s workout day in San Francisco.

“Yeah, I mean, there’s no question,” Chris Carpenter said when asked about where he is compared to vintage Carp and what the mind wants to do while the body isn’t there. “But I feel, like I said before, I feel like my stuff is getting better each time out and I was able to go out and compete.

“The last time out my stuff went backwards a little bit. And then my command wasn’t very good, and I was trying everything I could to get outs, but just unfortunately didn’t work.

“So I had some nice work in between that start and this start and I feel good and I’m looking forward to going back out there.”

Do the Cardinals feel any sense of urgency with winning tonight’s Game 6?

“No question, we want to win it as soon as we can. We wanted to do it last night,” said Chris Carpenter. “But, again, we have to get one win before they get two. We’ll do whatever we can. If it’s not tomorrow night we’ll come in and do it again.”

Today in Cardinals history, if it’s an omen, the Cardinals beat the Astros in Game 7 in 2004 to advance to the World Series.