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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS VS CUBS

October 12, 2015

Mike Matheny

Chicago, Illinois - Postgame three

Cubs 8

Cardinals 6

Q. Will you go with John Lackey tomorrow night?
MIKE MATHENY: John Lackey is going to be our starting pitcher tomorrow.

Q. Can you expand on why you made that decision and why you think he's the best guy to get the baseball?
MIKE MATHENY: I think he's proven it all season long, guy we go to in big situations and tomorrow is a big situation and he's ready to go on short rest, and we were able to get him out a little bit earlier than what he's been accustomed to. He's had enough rest, and it's time to go.

Q. Just on tonight's game, did it seem likeÂ you guys score off Arrieta, made him look gettable and then don't get the win. In general how do you look at the night?
MIKE MATHENY: Well, we were fighting, fighting from a deficit there right from the start. We had an opportunity early to make something happen, couldn't get the run over and in, and that's the kind of thing you'd like to see happen early on to kind of set the tone. They jumped on Michael for a couple and I thought he got better as he went, but just had a little trouble early on and really did manage the damage overall. I thought his fastball as he was finishing up was probably at the best it's been all night. He gets behind in the count to Bryant and gets a lot of the plate and these guys will make you pay in this park for sure when that wind is doing what it's doing. We thought we put together some good atbats. We were grinding against Arrieta all night, and we did have opportunities. They just kept adding on.

Q. You saw pretty significant wince there from Yadier Molina and then he left the game. What's his condition and his status going forward?
MIKE MATHENY: Don't know yet. For him to come out, I think people that follow our team closely know that that's significant as far as what it must feel like. We could tell a little bit in how he was catching today, particularly when you saw the one particular swing. But watched him in all the warm ups and watched him in BP, he looked good. You just never know with that particular injury, if there's a ball that gets fouled off or a swing that doesn't quite feel right, could set him backwards. We're going to let the medical guys get their hands on him. Part of the messaging with him is let's try and get ahead of this until before it goes any further to where we had to rule Yad out all together. Let's see what they can do, see if they can once again support that thumb in a way that he can continue to play and just see if maybe getting him out a little early can help us as we move forward.

Q. Just kind of obviously one, two down is not what you want to be, but you've been there before. How do you assess the series and the fact you started swinging the bats the way you swung the bats today?
MIKE MATHENY: Yeah, I thought we made some loud outs at times. I thought we took some good approaches against their whole staff. Just felt that we were able to come back and we got within a couple there, once again, taking advantage of the conditions, but both sides were. I liked the way the guys are competing. I like our odds when our backs are against the wall. This is the kind of team that we've had all season long, regardless of what anybody else thinks, regardless of odds, regardless of who we're stacked up against. This team just continues to fight, and that's not something that you lose regardless of where you stand, and I'm excited to watch them come out and compete. That's what this team does well and what they've done all season is defined who they are and tomorrow is the kind of game where they'll come out with a lot of heart ready to do their thing.

Q. The home runs allowed by Siegrist and Waino, those seem somewhat deflating and then you guys come back and they hit another one 
MIKE MATHENY: Yeah, and we really liked those matchups. They've got a great lineup, and Rizzo has had success against a lot of pitchers, but to bring Siegrist in in that position, we liked the matchup, and we just let two guys go at it and see who ends up finishing up on top and they won that won. Same one with Waino and Soler. Got a fastball first pitch and jumped all over it. I thought Waino did a great job, I thought Kevin threw the ball pretty well also and Jonathan Broxton, but then adding on that last one, in a game like this when you know that you've just got to keep going, every one of them makes it a little more difficult, but once again, we had that tying run on deck and liked our odds of coming back, we just couldn't do enough late.

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