Rosenthal is toast here ....

Bader's very good 9th inning .

artie_fufkin wrote:

Gonzalez was stunned Bader got sent there.

 
Speed kills ....

don.rob11 wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

Gonzalez was stunned Bader got sent there.

 
Speed kills ....

 
It also papers over questionable management, like having Garcia bunt. It worked out, but in theory I like the idea of having three cracks at moving a guy 180 feet rather than two cracks at moving him 90 feet. Matheny's explanation will undoubtedly involve the notion two of the three hitters who were coming up were lefties facing a lefty. The Rockies obviously expected a bunt there, so I'm probably way out on a limb when I say I would have let Garcia swing away and trusted him to put the ball in play.

APIAD wrote:

I think it is less then certain lynn gets traded.  A team is going to have to offer more then the cardinals would recieve in a comp pick.

Keep in mind, with the new CBA, the comp pick is only a 3rd rounder

forsberg_us wrote:

APIAD wrote:

I think it is less then certain lynn gets traded.  A team is going to have to offer more then the cardinals would recieve in a comp pick.

Keep in mind, with the new CBA, the comp pick is only a 3rd rounder

Good point

Mags wrote:

artie_fufkin wrote:

don.rob11 wrote:

 
Speed kills ....

 
It also papers over questionable management, like having Garcia bunt. It worked out, but in theory I like the idea of having three cracks at moving a guy 180 feet rather than two cracks at moving him 90 feet. Matheny's explanation will undoubtedly involve the notion two of the three hitters who were coming up were lefties facing a lefty. The Rockies obviously expected a bunt there, so I'm probably way out on a limb when I say I would have let Garcia swing away and trusted him to put the ball in play.

Your insincts were the same as mine.  I've thought that many times in games I've been watching the past couple of years that a team was sacrifing a guy to third when they could make much better use of the out.  I'm not sure if it's only been the Cardinals but since I don't really watch other games it probably is.  The one time I would favor the sacrifice is when there is a possible double play situation, and not always then.  It depnds on the hitter.

I'm reluctant to sayi anything good about Matheny since I know the inevitable attacks on him it will produce but, to hell with it.  That situation is typical of what I've seen over and over since 2011.  I see Matheny make a move that I think is patently wrong.  Yet it turns out to be exactly the right move and goes against everything I'm thinking.  What it tells me is that he has much greater insight into the capabilities of his players.  You don't compile the soncistent success record that he has in a team that has lost players like Pujols and Carpenter and tired to cover for them with cripples like Berkman & Beltran unless you have some special insight into intangibles.  And yoiu dodn't set a record for pinch hit home runs playing in Busch III unellss yoiu know a lot about your players that the rest of us don't.

Incidentaly, Arte, I think Mejia may have played a couple of games at third this season but Wisdom has gotten the largest portion of the innings at 3d this season.  And he's been playing much better than he has in the past.  I don't think he's a long term solution at 3d but he seems like he might give some team 1 or 2 good seasons there.
 

Funny, because I think the point you make in the first paragraph contradicts the point in the second paragraph.

The example that leaps to mind was Jon Jay. Jay couldn't bunt to save his life, and it was obvious to anyone who watched the games--except Matheny who kept asking Jay to bunt. At times Matheny even used Jay as a pinch hitter to bunt when there were probably a half dozen pitchers on the bench who had a better chance of getting down a bunt.

Matheny manages "by the book."  Never mind that "the book" sometimes increases the likelihood of failure. A couple of weeks ago the Cardinals lost a game on a walk-off HR by Josh Bell after Matheny ordered an intentional walk to Andrew McCutcheon. Bell, a switch hitter, batted LH against Oh. For the season, LH hitters are batting .356 with a 1.059 OPS against Oh. 7 of the 8 HRs Oh has allowed this year were to LH hitters. Plus Bell is a better hitter and has a higher OPS batting left-handed. But "the book" says don't let McCutcheon beat you, even though the stats say Bell was much more likely to do so. Which is exactly what he did.