"Harrison Bader suffered a mild left knee hyperextension and thus left the game." I hope this isn't an understatement.

The new guy's lineup has the worst baserunner on the team at the top and the slowest baserunner in the league batting second. Brilliant.

Well, the managerial change seems to have worked. The Cardinals are playing much crisper baseball today.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (7/15/2018 2:36 pm)

artie_fufkin wrote:

The new guy's lineup has the worst baserunner on the team at the top and the slowest baserunner in the league batting second. Brilliant.

Molina is the perfect 2 slot hitter, if you could use a substitute runner.

Mags wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

Well, the managerial change seems to have worked. The Cardinals are playing much crisper baseball today.

According to Whiskey Dan, Schildt will be just the man to get Pham ready for the HOF.
 

 
As long as neither one of them drives to Pham's induction ceremony.

forsberg_us wrote:

APIAD wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

The new guy's lineup has the worst baserunner on the team at the top and the slowest baserunner in the league batting second. Brilliant.

Molina is the perfect 2 slot hitter, if you could use a substitute runner.

If only it was girls softball where you get a courtesy runner for the catcher.

It all reminds me a lot more of donkey baseball.
 

APIAD wrote:

Why was bud norris unavailable today. Injury or punishment under new management.

He threw almost 30 pitches on Saturaday with the team losing 7-2.

Listening to Bernie on my drive into work, he said that there were reports that Dewitt and Moz were furious over the use of Norris and Hicks (who kept pitching after taking a ground ball off his pitching hand) on Saturday, and that may be why Matheny was fired Saturday night rather than after Sunday's game.

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

APIAD wrote:

Why was bud norris unavailable today. Injury or punishment under new management.

He threw almost 30 pitches on Saturaday with the team losing 7-2.

Listening to Bernie on my drive into work, he said that there were reports that Dewitt and Moz were furious over the use of Norris and Hicks (who kept pitching after taking a ground ball off his pitching hand) on Saturday, and that may be why Matheny was fired Saturday night rather than after Sunday's game.

I believe Moz said during the press conference the decision to fire Matheny was made "before Saturday." Which begets the question that if upper management truly feels this is a playoff team, why wait until the AS break to drop the guillotine on the manager?
By "before Saturday," does he mean Friday? Or earlier in the week, when the report of Norris hazing Hicks was published? Or the week prior, when the report was published that Matheny and Fowler have been barely speaking for months? Or maybe a month ago?
I'm not sure you saw Eric Byrnes' reaction to the press conference, but as overheated as he was, he was correct about a couple of things - the 2018 Cardinals were never going to be more are a .500 team, and they're not catching the Cubs. 
DeWitt is either delusional or he's trying to sell more tickets. Based on the way he pandered to the fans later in the press conference, I'm 99 percent certain it's the latter.


 

Two things I hope come from this decision: 1) it shines more of a spotlight on the flawed roster construction, and 2) that it provides a chance to figure out whether any of the player performance issues can be tied to unhappiness with Matheny (which I realize is sort of a BS excuse, but we've all probably worked for miserable bosses who make it very hard to come to work).

Matheny wasn't a very good manager.  He didn't understand baseball strategy, had no idea how to manage a bullpen and was stubborn to a major fault.  With that said, this isn't a "either/or" proposition.  The roster is poorly constructed and that wasn't Matheny's fault.  That's on the front office.  Dewitt can try to sell the notion that this is a playoff-caliber roster, but as I heard one national sportscaster say today, "It's not a real playoff roster, in the sense that it might contend for a division title."  At best, it's a roster that might sneak into the wild card game, and it probably isn't that good.  With Matheny gone, if the team continues to under-perform, I suspect the fans' ire will shift upstairs.

I suspect, the next 2 months will be a bit of an audition for Fowler.  The feud with Matheny, whoever was at fault, is now behind him.  Was he hitting .170 because he hated coming to the ballpark, or is he just a 32 year old who can't hit anymore.  If it's the latter, then they need to move on from the contract.  Same with Ozuna, although he has next year to audition as well (unless the Cardinals decide to try to flip him for something better in the off-season).  Maybe we'll see Maddux actually be allowed to take control of the pitchers.  

I'm not sure the team is any better than it was on Saturday, nor am I convinced it will be any more entertaining to watch.  But it's tough to imagine it can be any worse, and maybe these guys will actually worry about playing baseball and stop having arguments over who decides what music to play in the clubhouse after games.

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

APIAD wrote:

Why was bud norris unavailable today. Injury or punishment under new management.

He threw almost 30 pitches on Saturaday with the team losing 7-2.

Listening to Bernie on my drive into work, he said that there were reports that Dewitt and Moz were furious over the use of Norris and Hicks (who kept pitching after taking a ground ball off his pitching hand) on Saturday, and that may be why Matheny was fired Saturday night rather than after Sunday's game.

I believe Moz said during the press conference the decision to fire Matheny was made "before Saturday." Which begets the question that if upper management truly feels this is a playoff team, why wait until the AS break to drop the guillotine on the manager?
By "before Saturday," does he mean Friday? Or earlier in the week, when the report of Norris hazing Hicks was published? Or the week prior, when the report was published that Matheny and Fowler have been barely speaking for months? Or maybe a month ago?
I'm not sure you saw Eric Byrnes' reaction to the press conference, but as overheated as he was, he was correct about a couple of things - the 2018 Cardinals were never going to be more are a .500 team, and they're not catching the Cubs. 
DeWitt is either delusional or he's trying to sell more tickets. Based on the way he pandered to the fans later in the press conference, I'm 99 percent certain it's the latter.


 

I skipped Byrne, as I usually do anything on MLB or ESPN.  Couldyou  share what the general thrust of it was?  The source of his heat?
 

Mags wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

forsberg_us wrote:

He threw almost 30 pitches on Saturaday with the team losing 7-2.

Listening to Bernie on my drive into work, he said that there were reports that Dewitt and Moz were furious over the use of Norris and Hicks (who kept pitching after taking a ground ball off his pitching hand) on Saturday, and that may be why Matheny was fired Saturday night rather than after Sunday's game.

I believe Moz said during the press conference the decision to fire Matheny was made "before Saturday." Which begets the question that if upper management truly feels this is a playoff team, why wait until the AS break to drop the guillotine on the manager?
By "before Saturday," does he mean Friday? Or earlier in the week, when the report of Norris hazing Hicks was published? Or the week prior, when the report was published that Matheny and Fowler have been barely speaking for months? Or maybe a month ago?
I'm not sure you saw Eric Byrnes' reaction to the press conference, but as overheated as he was, he was correct about a couple of things - the 2018 Cardinals were never going to be more are a .500 team, and they're not catching the Cubs. 
DeWitt is either delusional or he's trying to sell more tickets. Based on the way he pandered to the fans later in the press conference, I'm 99 percent certain it's the latter.


 

I skipped Byrne, as I usually do anything on MLB or ESPN.  Couldyou  share what the general thrust of it was?  The source of his heat?
 

I didn't watch a lot before Byrnes exhausted me and I went back to watching video of Pussy Riot invading the pitch in Moscow. (And good luck to those gals after they embarrassed Putin during the most-watched event in the history of the world. They're probably luncheon meat for a family of Siberian polar bears as we speak.)
Anyway, Byrnes started pounding the table and screeching that the Cardinals' primary problem is a lack of talent (with which I agree) and dismissed pretty much everything that was uttered during the press conference except for the part Moz said at the end about the Cardinals needing a manager who will implement analytics. Byrnes' interpretation was the front office thought Matheny is too stupid to understand or too stubborn to accept the information that was being supplied to him by the army of bow-tied sabrenerds the Cardinals now apparently employ. The host of the show, whoever it was, tried to do the Devil's advocate thing by pointing out the Cardinals are only 7.5 games in back of the Cubs (which brought forth the "They're not catching the Cubs!" response from Byrnes), four games out of the Wild Card and over .500. As (another) aside, I wasn't aware it's bad form to fire a manager if a team is over .500. I'm wondering what Joe Girardi would think about that.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (7/16/2018 1:51 pm)

Seems the cardinals have had issues with this boys club stuff dating back to the tlr days.  Rasmus of course comes to mind.

I dont follow other teams but i dont recall these types of headlines wirh other teams.