Cards-Giants NLCS a rematch of 2012 — but it’s only history
ST. LOUIS — Since the 2010 postseason, the National League’s representative at the World Series has been either the San Francisco Giants or the St. Louis Cardinals. The winner of the NL Championship Series this October will be either the Giants or Cardinals — and it’s the second time in three years it’s come down to those teams.
So they share some important recent history, along with other traits. But one does not get the sense that the Cardinals are going to be out for revenge starting in Game 1 on Saturday night at Busch Stadium because they feel the Giants swiped something that belonged to them two years ago.
Cards manager Mike Matheny remembers the Giants taking the 2012 NLCS fairly and squarely, pivoting on a memorable start by Barry Zito in Game 5, rather than his team losing control.
“It wasn’t from a lack of effort, concentration of intensity — we just got outplayed,” Matheny said Thursday after a team workout. “We’re excited about another opportunity to have a different outcome.”
It’s going to be different no matter what, Giants outfielder Hunter Pence says. It already is.
“That’s history. That’s ancient history,” Pence said this week after the Giants beat the Nationals in NLDS round. “It’s a completely new day, new year, new group.”
Cards outfielder Jon Jay went 6 for 29 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the 2012 NLCS, including a strikeout looking in the ninth inning — around the same time series MVP Marco Scutaro was looking to the heavens and drinking up some of the rain showering AT&T Park. It was the iconic image of the series.
Jay remembers.
“That’s in the past — two years ago,” Jay said Thursday after a team workout. “They beat us and went to the World Series.”
Scutaro is injured and not playing this season. Jay has lost and won back his starting job a couple of times since the 2012 playoffs. Further, about 20 new players combine to help form the current rosters of both teams. Roughly a 40 percent difference, give or take, depending on how Matheny and Giants skipper Bruce Bochy adjust for this round.
Matheny remembers losing in 2012, and how much it hurt after the Cards took a 3-1 series lead.
“It’s one of those things you never forget, especially when you’re in such good position early in that series, to look like we might have a chance to put it away,” Matheny said.
Zito, who frequently struggled to make the $126 million contract the Giants gave him worth the money, seemed doomed to wear goat horns in Game 5. Instead, he dominated over 7 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and a walk with six strikeouts in a 5-0 victory that pushed the series back to San Francisco.
“The Zito game sticks out in everybody’s mind,” Matheny said. “He really threw an exceptional game. It seemed like things turned around at that point. Big-time players show up on the big-time stage. He was really good that day and we couldn’t get him. Without question, things made a turn that day.”
But it’s all just history, because Zito retired (or seemed to retire) after the 2013 season, when the Giants declined his $18 million option. (Instead, they bought him out for $7 million, which was thanks enough.) Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson are Giants starters now. Shelby Miller and John Lackey do the same for the Cardinals. They played elsewhere two years ago.
The Giants and Cardinals are teams with similarities, in style and substance. But they’re also too different for what happened in 2012 to have a lot of meaning in 2014.
“We both remember what happened,” Cards infielder Pete Kozma said.
And that’s about where it ends.
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David Brown is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter!
