ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½

WASHINGTON — The Cardinals spent the past week with an answer for almost everything during their soar to eight consecutive wins, so it seemed fitting as they packed Sunday following a series sweep at Nationals Park that someone, anyone could address the most pressing question.

Can it be a “happy flight� if there is no flight?

The term popularized 2011 during a sensational September that became a memorable October has hung around all these years in the Cardinals clubhouse, passed on and picked up by new players as a way to describe a trip after a win. On Sunday afternoon, the Cardinals headed to Philadelphia — a short jaunt for a big test — and the team chartered a bus. Some players opted to get train tickets.

Happy, but no flight.

“Happy bus,� said coach Jon Jay, an original happy flyer on the ’11 team.

And what about the train?

“Those are happy trains,� Jay nodded.

Happy has universal application around the Cardinals these days as a 6-1 victory Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park completed a three-sweep of Washington and kept the Cardinals’ winning streak on track (or on the highway). Using a pink bat for Mother’s Day, Lars Nootbaar socked a leadoff homer — with his mother, Kumi, in attendance. Miles Mikolas pitched a sturdy 5 1/3 innings, and Steven Matz held fast through a defining moment of relief.

Willson Contreras and Nolan Arenado added home runs as punctuation to a stretch when the Cardinals have fused superb pitching with an opportunistic offense to go a week without losing.

Five games under water a week ago, the Cardinals (22-19) reached the first-quarter point of the season and pulled into Philly one game out of first place in the National League Central.

Happy clubhouse.

“We’re excited to come to the ballpark,� Arenado said. “I think that’s the first time in a couple of years, it feels like. We’re coming to the ballpark ready to win a ballgame instead of coming to the ballpark hoping for something good to happen. It’s a different vibe for sure coming to the ballpark. It seems like the energy is different right now.�

Which invites perhaps a more revealing question:

Are expectations rising with those vibes?

There’s an adage used by scouts when they see a player have the game of his life and then struggle or a pitcher touch 101 mph amid a flurry of 91 mph fastballs. It’s in there. The Cardinals swept a doubleheader from the mightier Mets and then back-to-back series against pedestrian opponents Pittsburgh and Washington. They followed a string of superb starts highlighted by Erick Fedde’s complete game shutout Friday night, and they scored in different ways all while playing vacuum-tight defense. (“I don’t believe there’s a better defense out there than ours,� Arenado said.)

They didn’t stoop the competition — they overwhelmed it, surgically outpaced it, especially in Washington, and spent a week performing like a contender.

So it’s in there.

“You want them to taste that and then strive for that consistency with that,� manager Oliver Marmol said. “All they’re trying to do — even in this stretch — is get better, and in that process, you end up winning more. Their focus right now is improving on what they did yesterday. It’s individually raising the bar. Collectively, that will take care of itself.�

Marmol suggested the team was about to take “a happy bus ride.�

The engine behind the winning streak has been pitching, and Mikolas kept that rolling with his 5 1/3 innings. He allowed one run on a solo homer and mixed five strikeouts with six groundouts. He was so efficient that he threw only 69 pitches to get 16 outs. The Cardinals led by a run when the Nationals had the potential tying run at second base and the lineup had reached two left-handed batters, James Wood and Nathaniel Lowe.

A bigger lead would have allowed Mikolas (2-2) to continue on, see if he could reach seven innings like his peers did in the previous four starts. But the Cardinals had Matz stationed for this specific spot, and the tight score to go with Lowe’s homer made the decision.

Matz entered and stranded the runner with two quick outs to shepherd the one-run lead and Mikolas’ win out of the sixth.

“I’ve been around the game long enough, and I’m not naive enough — anymore — to be so bullish on my own stuff all the time,� Mikolas said. “I’m definitely living in the real world. I see everything that goes into a win. You’ve got a really good bullpen right now, and it’s a smart play. I’m at the age now where all I want to do is win.�

Matz retired all five batters he faced, and in the eighth, the Cardinals got a defensive gem from Brendan Donovan with wide-ranging impact.

Donovan snared a line drive and then doubled up a runner at second to end the inning and get Phil Maton out of the eighth without allowing a run. The timing of Donovan’s play also kept JoJo Romero from leaving the bullpen. Matz’s work in the sixth and Romero not having to come into the eighth to finish it leaves him fresh and ready for the Phillies and their left-handed sluggers Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber.

It was a moment indicative of the week.

A strength (defense) had downstream benefits elsewhere (bullpen matchups in the next series). Quality play in one game sets up a better-case scenario for the next one.

“We know what we have,� Arenado said. “We’re getting some guys who are playing really good baseball. We needed them to do it.�

The Nationals had one of the game’s top strikeout pitchers going in the finale with lefty MacKenzie Gore. The shift in approach from one game to the next was obvious for the Cardinals. They grinded through other Nationals starters and welcomed walks to fuel the offense in the previous two games but against Gore sought to pounce.

“We talked about wanting to establish that early,� Marmol said. “Obviously, leadoff hitter is very early.�

Nootbaar worked Gore for a 3-1 count and then got a 96 mph fastball over the plate. Nootbaar drilled it into the second-deck seats above the home bullpen at Nationals Park for his seventh career leadoff homer. Contreras led off the second inning with a homer.

After Mikolas left his start, the Cardinals added on when Gore started the seventh and Arenado led off with a double. Some timely singles followed, and Arenado’s two-run homer in the eighth set the final score and kept the winning streak rolling, regardless of vehicle.

He and a few others had trains to catch.

Mikolas thought about the bus.

A past participant of many “happy flights,� he knew exactly what to call it.

Said the veteran: “A boppin’ bus ride.�