Can the Cards sweep in Colorado? Hard to see it. The Cards are better than the Rockies, but they’ve never swept there under Matheny. The good news is, Carlos Martinez goes Monday. Martinez didn’t have his best stuff in his last start, but he’s had his best stuff for most of his starts. And last season in Colorado, the Cards lost their first two games, until Martinez salvaged the series. He pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed just two runs and striking out four Rockies for the win.

And with Alex Reyes gobbling innings on Sunday, and St. Louis thus using just two relievers, the bullpen should have a little extra juice heading into this series.

Incidentally, Reyes — oh my word. During Sunday’s game the kid was insane. One wonders if he even deserves to be called a “kid” anymore? He’s gutsy and gritty and at the watercooler Monday you’ll talk about the fastball, but that change-up, man, that’s a weapon. And how interesting is it that the Cards have three rookies who traveled three totally different paths and ended up being the difference-makers in the biggest game of the year? Sunday’s stars were Reyes (the prodigy), Aledmys Diaz (the DFA’d Cuban defector who rejuvenated his game) and Seung Hwan Oh (officially a rookie, but a star from the leagues in Korea and Japan).