With a series-clinching win over the Giants tonight, the
Cardinals could assure themselves of spending the next eight days at
home.
So in a way, they play today for left fielder Matt Holliday,
who helped position the Cardinals for their 8-3 win in Game 4 of the
NLCS with two RBI singles.
A win today puts the Cardinals in the
World Series — which starts Wednesday and for which St. Louis would have
home-field advantage — and allows Holliday to remain in town close to
his mother, Kathy. She underwent surgery in a St. Louis hospital hours
before Thursday’s Game 4 for removal of colon cancer.
"It’s been
hard. This week’s been hard," Holliday said. "It’s part of life, part of
being a big boy. You’ve got to deal with what happens in your life. I
wish it wasn’t. But it’s part of it. She’s doing good and we’ve had
great support."
Aware of Holliday’s personal situation, the
Cardinals clubhouse said little publicly out of respect. It wasn’t until
the clubhouse thinned almost an hour after Thursday’s win that the left
fielder addressed it at any length.
"He’s a brother to us," offered third baseman David Freese. "We’re all here for him. He knows that."
The
family crisis happened quickly. Kathy Holliday was diagnosed with colon
cancer while the Cardinals played the final segment of the division
series in Washington.
The club’s medical staff helped arrange for
her surgery to take place in St. Louis. Holliday spent much of the day
with his family at a local hospital.
He was there when his mother came out of surgery and later when she awoke, still groggy.
"The doctor was very pleased with how it went," Holliday said.
Holliday
did not hit on the field before Thursday’s game. He said nothing of his
personal situation during a group postgame interview.
He had hoped to avoid addressing the matter publicly but became concerned when word began to leak via social media.
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