Adam Wainwright was a spectator last fall, cheering on the St. Louis Cardinals from the bench as they rose from wild card to World Series champions.
It's a lot more fun being part of the action.
"This game I get to play is very special to me, and missing that time last year, I really learned how much I love the game."
Fans in Washington, D.C., anticipating the first baseball post-season appearance for the nation's capital since 1933, have to feel that way, too.
Wainwright, a 14-game winner in his first year back from elbow reconstruction surgery, successfully fought against restricting his innings and starts today in the NL division series opener. The Nationals, who led the league with 97 wins, will go with 21-game winner Gio Gonzalez after sitting down Stephen Strasburg in early September with 159 13 innings pitched.
"There's so many things that factor into this that you take it with a smile," Gonzalez said.
The Nationals have one of the youngest rosters in the majors and won 98 games as they overcame injuries to Jayson Werth, Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse and Ian Desmond. Davey Johnson is a seasoned hand, though, joining Billy Martin as the lone managers to win division titles with four franchises.
During spring training, Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said there would be serious consideration to ending Wainwright's season after perhaps 180 innings. About a month into the season, the former 20-game winner convinced the team such restrictions would be unnecessary, and he finished second on the Cardinals with 198 2-3 innings.
Strasburg, who had elbow surgery in September 2010, was unsuccessful in persuading the Nationals to allow him to finish out the season, the first for the franchise to reach the playoffs since the 1981 Montreal Expos.
St. Louis rookie manager Mike Matheny has appeared pressure-proof.
"We've been pretty consistent in our approach, and the approach is we've each got to do our part, and nothing more," Matheny said.
Johnson wants to keep things calm, too.
"You really don't do anything different. I don't want to act any different," Johnson said. "It's going to be business as usual."
