SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – St. Louis manager Mike Matheny will watch the game again, once things slow down, so he can truly appreciate just what his Cardinals pulled off in Washington to return to the NL championship series.  San Francisco skipper Bruce Bochy doesn’t need another look to know how impressive the reigning World Series champions’ ninth-inning comeback was.

The Cardinals erased a six-run deficit and rallied to win 9-7 in the nation’s capital on Friday night.  Bochy’s team had its own remarkable rally: Three road wins at Cincinnati to advance after dropping the first two games of the division series at home to the Reds.

The last two World Series winners sure are showing their championship mettle in mid-October. They face off in Game 1 of the NLCS on Sunday night at San Francisco’s AT&T Park.