In the event of Rapture all other teams will be Left Behind: the 2015 St. Louis Cardinals

This tweet is otm though:

Kyle Lobner ‏@BrewFrostyMug 1h1 hour ago
Today I learned: Taking five minutes to leave after an ejection is ok for Matt Holliday, but ~5 extra seconds on a home run trot is not.

http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/numlocation.php?pitchSel=572788&game=gid_2015_06_02_milmlb_slnmlb_1/&batterX=47&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=3&league=mlb&pnf=&zlpo=

doesn't seem *too* egregious, but as with the liriano at-bat, ppl get pissed when the zone is expanded on both sides, and holliday no doubt thought the second pitch was outside. also that was the only inside strike west called against right-handers the entire game

starting pitching + OBP = slow grind of wins

Jay proves this wrong every year but why MM starts our 5th best OF every day is weird.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CGwCFzvWwAAA8q5.jpg
@KyleMcClellan46
Bruce Sutter being a good sport while our team is beating his team #TeamWillieMcGee #CardsFantasyCamp @Cardinals

#TeamWillieMcGee

http://i.imgur.com/VrNmcMc.gif

http://i.imgur.com/lrtpfh0.gif

I might be more sour if Shelby Miller hadn't been pitching well for ATL, but naaaah, I'll always love that guy.

yeah, i'm trying to soak up his presence while i can. even though he's been slumping he's still really fun to watch

lol red sox just drafted matheny's kid as a fourth round pick

god, i hope he becomes the most boastful player ever in like 7 years or whenever (if ever) he makes it to the big leagues and plays the game the most bat-flippingly "wrong way" possible, plz baseball lords grant me this

You got a Tate!

lol from over the monster:

Father Mike requested that St. Louis not draft his son again, though...Matheny is "one of the best all-around outfielders in college baseball" according to MLB.com, and Baseball America rated him 107 on their pre-draft top-500. BA does not see him as an every day center fielder, though, believing that his future is at second base if he wants to start every day, or as a fourth outfielder who can fill in at any of three outfield spots with ease. There is some obvious downside there, but Matheny has some of that Cardinals' blood in him, so this will all look silly in five years when he's a perennial, scrappy all-star because that's just how it works for St. Louis baseball.

is his dad trying to tell us something or did he just not want to pull a doc rivers and coach his heir

Keri:

Opponents are batting just .205 against Cards pitchers with runners in scoring position. That’s 37 points lower than their RISP results a year ago, and 55 points lower than what they’ve allowed with the bases empty this season. With two outs and runners in scoring position, the results have been borderline illegal, with opponents batting just .159/.255/.226 in those spots. Returning to Cluster Luck, we see that the Cardinals have allowed a jaw-dropping 41 fewer runs than you’d expect from a team scattering hits at a league-average rate....

When you throw 65.4 percent of your pitches for strikes, as the Cardinals’ starters have this year, you’re bound to pitch deep into games. And that longevity has enabled the properly rested St. Louis bullpen to flourish. Of course, it has taken a group effort (plus good defense, plus those flashy high-leverage results), but Cards relievers are sporting a stellar 2.03 ERA on the year.

It might be true that it’s better to be lucky than good. But as the Cardinals could tell you, it’s definitely best to be both.

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/mlb-the-30-white-sox-tigers-twins-cardinals-future/

xpost
2/3/15:

"The answer to your question is no, the Cardinals are not allowed to draft him," the manager said. "It's not fair to him. It really isn't. There would be too much on him and there would always be that little bit of (wonder) that it wasn't all that he did, that it had something to do with me."

matheny ended up softening that a bit though in the last few days, saying he'd be open to the cardinals drafting him. i dunno. the mathenys are really weird.

xpost
i expect the cardinals to regress heavily, especially if matt holliday ends up out for the year. wacha and martinez have been fantastic, but neither one of them should be allowed to throw 180-200 IP this year, so something's bound to go wrong

it's pretty common for teams to draft their coaches'/GM's/ex-players' kids in the late rounds just as a courtesy (like piazza, back in the day). but yeah if the kid is actually good, it has to be awkward -- is he getting promotions/at-bats/chances just because of his dad? etc. and if he's a fourth-rounder i guess he's pretty good.

cuts both ways, i guess -- the braves traded kyle wren shortly after they canned his dad

St. Louis Cardinals ‏@Cardinals 17 minutes ago
#STLCards place OF Matt Holliday (right quad strain) on 15-day DL. RHP Miguel Socolovich recalled from Memphis (AAA) for tonight's game.

phew (?)

@b_hoffman11: Siegrist and Rosenthal combined: 2 2/3 IP 0 R 0 H 0 BB 6 K. Fastballs averaged 97 #STLCards

@DanHirsch
#Cardinals fewest runs allowed through first 61 games:
1944: 167 (WS)
2015: 177
1968: 183 (WS)
1943: 188 (NL)
1942: 190 (WS)

(so fucked up that the tag is actually #STLCards because of fuckin football tho)

St. Louis Cardinals Investigated by F.B.I. for Hacking Astros

stepping up their heel game along w/ the Royals

Wow. I feel even more Pats like.

"Agents soon found that the Astros’ network had been entered from a computer at a home that some Cardinals officials had lived in. "

Durrrr.

ummm more like hand game because y'know they had to type and click, jeez

(xp)

just trying to get a good grip on the baseball, everyone does it

http://i.imgur.com/AuPoM1O.png

@bestfansstlouis is having a field day rn

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHoiowQUMAMfRj5.png

it's all coming together

Best Fans in Benghazi

Omar Infante beheading at 7th-inning stretch

(best context for this is Pete Rose's pregame participation)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHohbguUsAAKL3h.jpg

uh that last post of mine was All-Star

ha, HACKING MASS more like HACKING AST, get it?

heh. high five? c'mon somebody high five

*rimshot*

Investigators believe Cardinals officials, concerned that Mr. Luhnow had taken their idea and proprietary baseball information to the Astros, examined a master list of passwords used by Mr. Luhnow and the other officials who had joined the Astros when they worked for the Cardinals. The Cardinals officials are believed to have used those passwords to gain access to the Astros’ network, law enforcement officials said.

That tactic is often used by cybercriminals, who sell passwords from one breach on the underground market, where others buy them and test them on other websites, including banking and brokerage services. The breach on the Astros would be one of the first known instances of a corporate competitor using the tactic against a rival. It is also, security experts say, just one more reason people are advised not to use the same passwords across different sites and services.

facepalm

i just got home and i'm catching up on all of this. holy shit. i wonder who the executives are? bleeeeegh, this SUCKS.

lawgraphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-legal-implications-of-the-cardinals-alleged-hacking

"Where we are right now is we don't know any more than anybody else," said Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, speaking on behalf of his coaching staff and players. "Right now, we just go about our business and realize this is something that is being dealt with."

Matheny said he was unaware the Cardinals were being investigated until a front-office member pulled him out of the workout room on Tuesday morning to alert him of the coming Times report. Matheny, speaking about 90 minutes after the story was published, had still not read the article.

"You guys are more informed than I am, and once again, I'm fine with that," Matheny said. "I'll get the pertinent information when that time comes and when it's appropriate. Right now, we have to prepare for a baseball game. We don't know how to react at all until we have more information, so we don't. The way to react is to prepare for a baseball game."

just read the goddamn article matheny, it only takes like 3 minutes

I don't know, at least they did it in a classy way.

@keithlaw
The Phillies just offered their passwords to the Red Sox for Mookie Betts

change your password Jeff

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHtlmP_WwAAV5rd.jpg

This whole thing is hilarious and delightful.

http://www.sbnation.com/2015/6/16/8790755/cardinals-fans-reaction-hacking-charges-st-louis-mlb-fbi

Glen Perkins triumphs for Truth and Justice

noooooooooooo

that's just my general reaction to all of this

noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i just hope the assistant to the assistant of the back-up assistant to the scouting director is held accountable

obv i'm a total homer but none of the reporting so far suggests that mozeliak or kantrovitz or correa knew anything about it. i'm probably wrong i guess but the whole operation is so amateurish i just can't believe it. "ok underling, go to your traceable home address, steal some shit, and leak it to deadspin!" evidently very serious baseball people can be completely stupid about the internet (see luhnow, jeff), but i think it's probably a little early to hold the entire organization accountable. and yeah, big shocker, some cardinal fans said stupid shit, but i'm pretty sure you can infiltrate any group of 5 or more people and one of them will be a complete fucking idiot