It goes back long before Wednesday night, when the 22-year-old St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Marco Gonzales was charged with three runs and the loss in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the San Francisco Giants.

It goes back long before his stirring postseason run, when he won two games in the division series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and did not allow a run in his first five appearances.

For some of us, it goes back to junior high, with his mother, long before Gonzales was born.

“I’m sure he’s bummed they lost,” his mother, Gina, wrote in an email late Wednesday night. “But there’s a game tomorrow. I’m sure he’ll say that’s what they have to focus on!”

When Gonzales made his major league debut in June, Section 136 at Coors Field in Denver was filled with friends and relatives. There were supporters from Fort Collins, about an hour’s drive to the north, where Gonzales was born and reared. There were coaches and teammates from Gonzaga University, where Gonzales starred for three seasons. There was his father, Frank, a former professional pitcher and now a minor league coach.