re: St. Louis Cardinals are 9.0 games back from first

Cya man.

At the end of the day it doesn't matter due to the injury anyways. What would have been a great race is essentially now over with Story done for the year and Diaz done for a month. Some shitty luck 2 days apart for those guys.

Maybe they will settle it in the Wildcard game against each other.

Yeah Story is done for the year, and Diaz for a month, so none of it matters now.

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And Mike Matheny can't get away with Winning, despite his coaching.

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LINK

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The Cardinals are carrying 13 pitchers, so Matheny is at a tactical disadvantage to start with, carrying only four bench players in a NL game. Let's review his moves:

1. Zach Duke relieves Adam Wainwright, bottom of the sixth with score tied 2-2, Duke batting ninth in Wainwright's spot.

2. Duke gave up a single and two walks around two outs, so Matheny brings in Kevin Siegrist to pitch to Billy Hamilton. That's a lefty in for a lefty to face a weak hitter.

3. The pitcher's spot was due up third, so Matheny double-switched: Greg Garcia in the nine-hole and playing shortstop, Siegrist in Jhonny Peralta's spot, batting fifth.

4. The Cardinals take a 3-2 lead, but Siegrist gives up a single and then a two-run homer to Adam Duvall in the bottom of the seventh. Matt Bowman comes in for Siegrist, batting fifth and due up fourth in the eighth.

5. Brandon Moss homers in the eighth to tie it, so Bowman's spot comes up. Tommy Pham pinch hits and drills a home run to give the Cardinals a 5-4 lead. The inning ends two batters later, so No. 8 hitter Kolten Wong would be leading off the ninth.

6. Pham remains in the game in center field. Jonathan Broxton comes in for Matt Holliday, in the No. 3 spot in the order. You see what happened there? Matheny wanted Pham in there over Holliday for defense, but that moved the pitcher's spot up sooner in the order.

7. In the bottom of the eighth, the Reds loaded the bases with one out on two walks and an error. Matheny now wants to bring in his closer, Seung Hwan Oh. Matheny realizes the pitcher's spot is due up fifth in the next inning, so there's a chance that spot will come up -- and considering the bases are loaded, there's a good chance the Reds will tie the score or even take the lead. The two players left on his bench are outfielder Jeremy Hazelbaker and backup catcher Alberto Rosario. Matheny double-switches ... but only saves one spot in the order, with Hazelbaker now batting in the Holliday/Broxton spot, and Oh batting right behind him in Matt Adams' cleanup spot (Moss moved to first base).

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The problem, of course, begins with a four-man bench, which is really a three-man bench because you can't really use the backup catcher. The other problem is the four bench players: Garcia is the only backup infielder, as Pham and Hazelbaker are strictly outfielders. Once Garcia entered, Matheny couldn't double-switch with him, Wong or Jedd Gyorko because he didn't have another non-first-base infielder. If you're dumb enough to carry only four bench players, you need two who can play the infield.

If Matheny had that player, he would have double-switched Broxton in Gyorko's spot in the lineup, because Gyorko had the made the final out of the top of the eighth. But Garcia was already in the game, so he couldn't do that. Or, he should have put Broxton in Pham's spot, two spots lower than Holliday's spot. With a short bench, it's almost impossible to use defensive replacements. Just too much of a chance you run out of players.

The other thing Matheny probably should have done was let Duke pitch to Hamilton. Bringing in Garcia so early, in the sixth inning, set all this in motion. Or, if he felt he had to use Siegrist to escape the inning, just let him bat or have Hazelbaker or Pham pinch hit and keep the pitcher in the ninth spot. After all, YOU HAVE EIGHT RELIEVERS. If you don't like using them, they shouldn't be on the roster.

Instead, Matheny ended up double-switching out his third, fourth and fifth hitters.

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The Cardinals will basically be back to the team they were last season as Peralta and Moss returned last night and Carpenter returns on Friday. I don't think my Cubs will ever get too comfortable no matter how many games up they are in the standings.

except the GOAT, J Hey

Matheny is everything Joe Maddon isn't. And that's a good thing, Cubs fans.

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Matheny is everything Joe Maddon isn't. And that's a good thing, Cubs fans.

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Sadly you're right

But Matheny is very young and still on training wheels when it comes to coaching, soooo....

Fingers crossed for the future.

I view Maddon as a Tony Larussa-type coach. That's a high compliment. He a magician on the baseball diamond. Very good at baseball sleight of hand.

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Kevin Durant

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Who?

Never heard of her.