Heading into Spring Training his spot on the roster, let alone the rotation, wasn’t assured. But today, Jaime Garcia is not only starting for the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Divisional Series, fans are excited about what he might be able to do.
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“I’m extremely excited to be here,” began Garcia in his press conference on Friday. “Grateful and so thankful, first of all, to God for giving me an opportunity and the health to be here, to still be doing what I love to do, and especially for playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and to be in the postseason again. It’s something I don’t take for granted, and like I said, grateful and excited to be here, and I’m going to enjoy every moment and try to do my best.”
Jaime Garcia’s best has been just that this season. In 20 starts, Garcia put together a 10-6 record with a 2.43 ERA allowing just 35 earned runs in 129.2 innings pitched. In five of his losses, the Cardinals were shutout.
Though the Cardinals and Chicago played 19 times in the regular season, Garcia has yet to face the Cubs this year.
“I’ve watched all the games,” said Garcia of putting together a strategy. “I’ve been in the dugout and watched their lineup. They are a very talented lineup, have done a really great job the whole year, but again, we are going to go about it the same way as we were to face anybody else. I’m going to do my homework, watch some video, watch the game tonight, watch what they are doing, sit down with Yadi and my pitching coach and figure out a plan of how we are going to do this and always be willing to make adjustments during the game. That’s the one thing that makes him good and that I try to do as well, just make adjustments as the game goes on, but I’m going to just prepare myself the same way I would against anybody else at a different stage.”
Due to injury, this will be the first postseason appearance for Garcia since 2012.
photo credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
