(Busch Stadium) Though the mood was tempered by the St. Louis Cardinals loss on the night, there was still a sense of pride from Carlos Martinez and Yadier Molina, who were announced as National League All-Stars prior to the game.
“I’m really thankful and really happy,” said Martinez, through a team translator. “Especially the fans and everyone who voted for me and the Cardinals that are giving me the chance right now to be able to play everyday. Another one of us was chosen, that was Yadi, and we’re going to do our best to represent the Cardinals.”
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Across the clubhouse, his catcher had a different reaction to the news.
“Surprised,” said Molina. “Surprised–I was happy, too. Every time you get selected by the players, it’s a great honor. I’m happy. Just happy for it.”
“To represent your team and your city, to be part of that. To be part of the All-Star group is a great honor, it means a lot.”
Both players were chosen in the vote by players, which is a compliment in itself.
“Carlos obviously has the respect of his peers in this league because they understand just how good he is and believe that he’s worthy of representing this National League,” said Mike Matheny. “He’s taken those steps forward to look like a very elite pitcher.”
“He’s getting more mature,” agreed Molina. “He’s preparing himself better…he’s locating the pitches better than he used to back in the day. Right now, he’s a pitcher. Back in the day, he was a thrower.”
Entering tonight, Martinez ranked in amongst the top NL pitchers in several categories including: ERA (4th, 2.88), strikeouts (7th, 121)opponents batting average (2nd, .199).
Molina had a 16-game hitting streak end tonight and leads the NL with 589.0 innings caught.
“And Yadi is continuing to be one of the benchmarks of the catching position, of what it should look like,” said Matheny. “He’s dangerous at the plate and there’s teams that don’t like facing him in big situations because they know the kind of competitor he is and it’s been well-documented what he does behind the plate for our club.”
Like Martinez, playing the All-Star game was a goal this season for Molina–who still has a couple other ones left for 2017.
“Hopefully, we win the World Series and I can get the Gold Glove. Those are my other goals.”
photo credit: Bill Greenblatt/UPI
