With the urgency of Game 4 still yet to be fully realized, St. Louis Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny isn’t ready to put his cards on the table just yet in terms of who will start what could be a win or go home game.
“We’re just going to look at everybody,” said Matheny in Sunday’s media session. “We don’t have to make that decision right now, and always have all of our options open without hemming ourselves in right now.”
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Lance Lynn had originally been announced to make the start, but pitched in early relief of Jamie Garcia in Game 2. The inning of work replaced what would have been a normal side session, so Lynn is still in play for Game 4. So is Tyler Lyons–and Matheny did not rule out bringing back John Lackey on three days rest.
“We’re just going to kind of wait on that right now,” answered the manager when asked if Lackey had thrown a side session today in Chicago.
And after throwing only 45 pitches yesterday, even Jaime Garcia could be used again this series.
“It’s always possible to bring a guy back if he hasn’t had too much work,” said Matheny. “Physically he looked fine. Even yesterday, part of that communication was I think he had something feeling wrong, but more so than physical sickness was just the fatigue where he said he hadn’t slept very well. It all kind of came together at the wrong time. He looks like he’s fine today.”
As for Chicago, Joe Maddon had previously indicated Jason Hammel would likely get the nod in Game 4, but wasn’t ready to make it official.
“We haven’t announced it yet,” said the Cubs manager. “I have an idea what we’re going to do, but I haven’t spoken to the person yet, so I don’t want to say it in advance of talking to the player.”
photo credit: Bill Greenblatt/UPI
