Willie McGee is part of the 2018 St Louis Cardinals

mgr of the year!

https://i.imgur.com/GOL2Sjj.gif

posting this here again because it's still making me lol this morning

seven-game winning streak, only 4 games back

though five of those seven were against the marlins and the royals

Yeah, story of the last few years - beating up on bad teams, mediocre against the good ones. Still, if they were going to bust into a 7-game winning streak, now is the time to do it! A big part of the streak has been carpenter and the bullpen (who have gone from closing game after game to being unstoppable since the all-star break).

this is about as wild as the cardinals get

After being hit, the trainers wanted to see if @MattCarp13's hand was ok. He tested his strength by trying to open a jar of salsa. He opened it!

"If I can open it, I can play!" - Matt Carpenter #ItsGottaBeTheSalsa 🔥 pic.twitter.com/fx3wgmdxum

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) August 16, 2018

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2018/8/19/17755916/system-sundays-the-cards-emerging-star-crop

cautiously optimistic

optimistically optimistic

i knew things would be better after matheny, but jesus

, but jesus

unintentional irony there

shildt, man

The #Stlcards will announce that Mike Shildt is now their manager, stripping away the interim title

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) August 28, 2018

✓

shildt likes to keep his eyes in the shade and i respect that

https://i.imgur.com/bT7ImBL.jpg

there aren't too many big-league managers who never played in at least the minors (although schildt did play college ball). last one i can remember for sure is dave trembley, but there might have been others since

the two true outcomes player

John Gant is the only player in Major League history to hit 2 HR and never reach base safely in any other way. #STLCards

— Joe Trezza (@JoeTrezz) August 31, 2018

greg holland's revenge

it was a stupid game. baseball is a stupid game

part of me thinks carpenter embraces this hashtag because it could eventually lead to a lucrative new salsa company

well, that didn't take long

Hey @MattCarp13! We get it! Bueno Mojo Salsa available 9/13 at our St. Louis stores. #ItsGottaBeTheSalsa #SchnucksMojo #Schnucks @Cardinals 🍅🌶🔥🛒 pic.twitter.com/BwXAohu9lT

— Schnucks (@SchnuckMarkets) September 10, 2018

4 losses in a row = drop out of WC2 slot

the rest of the season features 7 more games against the dodgers, cubs, and brewers, so for better or worse they'll have a decent opportunity to earn it.

news broke earlier today that they offered flaherty and another player for donaldson, last off-season. glad that didn't work out!

i hope i eat my words later tonight, but my stomach is already in a knot about this wainwright situation. he's starting tonight in a crucial game against the dodgers, still in the rotation, after an awful comeback start last week. watching that game was excruciating.

it started with an inning of the best velocity and movement i've seen from him since early 2017, which of course got me really excited about the possibility that his rehab actually worked and he was going to be useful down the stretch. a wonderful capstone to a great career. this was quickly followed by a nightmarish beatdown that should have been much worse, coupled with a 6-mph drop in velocity on his fastball, hanging many curves in the middle of the zone, and an ill-advised decision to send him back out for one more inning, which featured the same worrisome velocity and hanging curves. but no one scored in that last inning, somehow, and then the offense saved the day so that he didn't get the all-important Loss. immediately afterward they announced he would remain in the rotation. a very matheny-esque decision imo. it could get ugly out there.

especially frustrating because he could be legitimately useful in the bullpen right now.

Game score 75!

i am a genius

*eats words*

that was ~vintage wainwright~, it really was. if nothing else i'm really happy i was able to sit down and see it tonight, even if i'm not sure it'll ever happen again

Gomber has missed several possible called strikes tonight because he and Molina are not entirely on the same page and YM has to lunge around a bit.

yeah, on the Sunday Night Baseball game the announcers were raving about his pitchframing abilities, but to my eye they haven't been particularly outstanding of late (not sure what the metrics are (or how reliable said metrics are))

tyler o'neill, the guy at the party with his shirt off

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/yS_J_NuRsesXtVmyiTeiRoarLU8=/0x0:953x529/1720x0/filters:focal(0x0:953x529):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/13137033/tyler2.jpg

if y'all can sweep the Cubs I will proudly wear a "best fans in baseball" t-shirt

it's remarkable how much more i like the cardinals when they're not managed by TLR or matheny. and even more so if they don't bring bud norris back next year

i'd like 'em more without Molina but that's probably just sour grapes because he has an OPS of like 2.500 against Milwaukee

fact check: false

molina has hit .263/.324/.409 against milwaukee, and in fact has a higher OPS against all the other NL central teams

but yeah, i don't like him either

oh then I was just talking about the games I watch

can you check that

(actually he has hit pretty well at miller park)

Let me check my files...

Looks like his OPS is 1.836 when I truly, truly believe in him as I cheer him on

RIP cardinals, btw. I just saw the score of today’s game with the cubs.

how about this miles mikolas kid

cinderella story out of japan, throws 200 innings, goes 18-4 . . . and all without striking out a single batter

https://awfulannouncing.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/94/2018/08/stl18.jpg

viva el clemente bridge

according to some admittedly dubious math and a lot of assumptions, the guy who threw the baseball back after stanton's HR throws harder than marcell ozuna

https://www.vivaelbirdos.com/2018/10/6/17939400/who-you-got-marcell-ozuna-or-stanton-home-run-guy

Oquendo will remain in the organization, working out of Jupiter. https://t.co/Op4JYzxbr8

— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) October 16, 2018

noooooooooooooo

Yadier Molina has been named the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Roberto Clemente Award in recognition of his exemplary humanitarian efforts, including relief work in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria in 2017. #STLCards pic.twitter.com/vOo6SWUxBT

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 24, 2018

good, bcz the Mets' nominee was Jose Reyes

willie turned 60 on friday and i am ashamed to have forgotten until now

Karl Malone has to get a Joe Posnanski subscription so he can read this and have several meltdowns.

http://theathletic.com/1352678/2019/11/05/posnanski-on-mike-matheny-and-the-challenges-of-being-a-21st-century-baseball-manager/

:D

i am very curious!i do think matheny might have been an excellent 20th century baseball manager

When Posnanski moved to The Athletic, I remember him saying he didn't mind if subscribers occasionally re-posted something, so here's the Matheny piece on a Google Doc:

http://docs.google.com/document/d/1jGg1VPWGE24006Lgt56qTu4I1DFTS1sREuXNOV0F7iM/edit

Just read it...Good bookend to Hinch/Cole.

Thanks for posting that. I can see matheny sticking around KC for a while, but he seems to be particularly ill-suited to an up and coming team of prospects. In STL he was known for favoring poor-performing veterans for years at a time while providing inconsistent playing time to the prospects underneath. Maybe that won’t be such an issue in KC.