St. Louis Cardinals’ Pete Kozma (38) and Jon Jay (19) celebrate after Game 4 of baseball’s National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, in St. Louis. The Cardinals won 8-3 to take a 3-1 lead in the series.ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Cardinals are oh so close. They know better than to start celebrating yet.
To a man, the defending World Series champions kept their latest victory in perspective Thursday night. Before cashing in another wild-card run to a second straight pennant, they’ve still got to beat the San Francisco Giants one more time.
“We’re not taking the last game to get into the World Series for granted,” Matt Holliday said after an 8-3 win put St. Louis up 3-1 in the best-of-seven National League championship series with a chance to wrap it up at home. “The Giants have proven they’re a great team and they had their backs to the wall against the Reds.”
Seated next to Holliday on the podium, Adam Wainwright chimed in: “Well said.”
The Giants won three straight to eliminate Cincinnati in the division series. Now they have to do it again against a team that appears to have everything working.