Cardinals third baseman Abraham Nunez is expected to be back in the starting lineup for Game 6 of the NL Championship Series tonight after missing two games with a deep left thigh bruise.
"He worked out, I watched some of it," St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said Tuesday. "Unless I go in there and find out something that wasn't obvious, I expect him to start."
Nunez was injured during Game 3 on Saturday in a jarring collision while playing in the field. Houston's Jason Lane slid into third and his knee crushed the leg of Nunez, who was coming off the bag to field Larry Walker's throw from right field. Nunez was spun to the ground and had to be helped off the field.
"I think my first understanding of the significance of Gibson's home run is the drama of what he did that day, as hurt as he was, that being his only at-bat. And if you saw him foul those pitches off and how gimpy he was, it was an incredibly heroic kind of at-bat, if you can use hero in sports," La Russa said.
Rodriguez agreed it was an impressive play, "but just the way they were jumping around, it was like they were going to the World Series. Don't count your chickens because all of them might not be hatched."
Digits
0 -- Houston's number of wins in potential NLCS-clinching games.
