Cardinals Beat Giants 8-3 to Take 3-1 Lead in NLCS The St. Louis Cardinals are oh so close. They know better than to start celebrating yet. To a man, the defending World Series champions kept their latest victory in perspective Thursday night. Before cashing in another wild-card run to a second straight pennant, they've still got to beat the San Francisco Giants one more time. "We're not taking the last game to get into the World Series for granted," Matt Holliday said after an 8-3 win put St. Louis up 3-1 in the best-of-seven NL championship series with a chance to wrap it up at home. The Giants have proven they're a great team and they had their backs to the wall against the Reds. Seated next to Holliday on the podium, Adam Wainwright chimed in: "Well said." The Giants won three straight to eliminate Cincinnati in the division series. Now they have to do it again against a team that appears to have everything working. "They do have something, there's no getting around that," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. It's not over. We've been in this position. We know it's an uphill battle, but we've been here before. The Giants are in a hole after Wainwright threw seven innings of four-hit ball and St. Louis' offense roughed up Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco bullpen. "This is where we are and what we've got to deal with," Hunter Pence said. The last series we were down in a similar situation, but this is a new series. St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright throws during the first inning of Game 4 of baseball's National League championship series against the San Francisco Giants Thursday, Oct. 18, 2012, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Dilip Vishwanat, Pool) Close The Cardinals can close it out at home Friday night in Game 5. Lance Lynn faces Giants lefty Barry Zito, and a St. Louis win would set up a 2006 World Series rematch with Detroit. Plus, the Cardinals could have Carlos Beltran back in the lineup. Beltran missed virtually all of Games 3 and 4 with a left knee strain but is optimistic about playing in Game 5 after doing some jogging and hitting indoors Thursday. "Right now, the plan is to come in tomorrow and do what I have to do in order to be in the lineup," said Beltran, who is batting .375 in the postseason with three homers and six RBIs. Today was a better day for me, better than yesterday. Tomorrow is the day I need to go for it. Holliday, Jon Jay and Yadier Molina had two RBIs apiece to lead a 12-hit outburst by a team that batted just .198 through the first three games of the series. Lincecum was a bust in his first postseason start since the 2010 World Series clincher over Texas, giving up four runs in 4 2-3 innings. "That second inning was a little bit laborious, but the third and fourth were a little bit better and I thought I was going to carry it further in the game," Lincecum said. I ran into some bumps in that fifth. The two-time Cy Young Award winner with the quirky delivery earned a shot based on nearly spotless relief work earlier in the postseason but reverted to regular-season form, when he was 10-15 with a 5.18 ERA, worst among qualifying starters in the National League. Wainwright was a glorified cheerleader while rehabbing from reconstructive elbow surgery during the Cardinals' improbable title drive last fall. They earned the wild card on the final day of the season and then upset the favored Phillies, Brewers and Rangers to give manager Tony La Russa a chance to retire on top. Under rookie manager Mike Matheny, the 88-win Cardinals were the final team to qualify this year, too. Once again, they've stepped up their game.