The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Washington Nationals 12-4 in Monday's game, leveling the 5-game playoff series 1-1. The brilliant performance by the Cardinals made this game a one-sided affair; the Nationals were completely devastated by their opponent's aggressive play.
In fact, the game results were decided within the first four innings itself, where St. Louis had already taken a massive 7-1 lead. They further improved it with 9-1 in game 2 of a National League Division Series.
Carlos Beltran demonstrated outstanding hitting skills and smashed two homers. His Carlos runs proved instrumental in the victory of the Cardinals.
"Today for us was a must-win game. We wanted to leave this city with an even series. Right now we're going to Washington and we know they're playing good in their ballpark," the Associated Press quoted Beltran as saying.
Zimmerman and LaRoche made some vital contributions for the Nationals by hitting consecutive homers in the fifth inning. The remaining games will be played in Washington, the first time in the capital city since 1933. The Nationals, however, will miss Stephen Strasburg, their All-Star ace who is recuperating from his arm surgery.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson said, "I miss him not experiencing this with us and he misses not experiencing it with us. But we did the right thing, there's no question. He'd have been the guy that opened the series."
The Nationals have looked pretty impressive on their home territory. The Cardinals would have to do something extraordinary to contain the Nationals if they expect to win the playoffs. Conceding a lead to the Nationals in their very first game at home might prove costly for them.
The Cardinals were trailing 1-0 after their 3-2 loss to the Nationals in the opening game of the playoffs. St. Louis is now 24-11 in the National League Division Series games. They have won seven of their previous nine division series.
Cardinals' rookie manager Mike Matheny said, "We know this offense has the potential to do this. It was nice to see this, and hopefully it becomes contagious and the guys just keep going."
Daniel Descalso and Allen Craig also contributed, with one hit each, helping the Cardinals build a huge lead. For Craig, it was his fifth career homer in the postseason.
Craig said, "If we get things going, we feel like we can carry the team. As you saw tonight, we put a lot of good swings on the ball and really drove the ball. It was a lot of fun."
The Cardinals' opener Garcia is probably out of the postseason roster due to an injury to his shoulder. He has already missed two months of play this season and has been sent for an MRI exam.
He said, "It just wasn't right the whole time. I had to come out of the game. I don't know how it happened; I don't know when it happened. I'm just hoping it's not too bad, but at the same time you've just got to wait and see how it goes."
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