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MLB World Series 2018: Eh. Dodgers/Boston. Eh.

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The Cards went into Wrigley and laid an egg. Back to the type of baseball that would even lead Mike Shannon (of all people) to occasionally be critical of them on the radio during the season. Errors. Bad base running. Walking the pitcher, who later scored. Hendricks faced 26 right-handed Cards hitters who hit a combined seven grounders to third. This was not a team up to playing for its life against a rival that has been getting back at them a bit over the last few seasons.

Here's what Shildt said after the loss (from the StL Post-Dispatch):

“We talk about execution and we talk about consistency, right? And that’s what got us in this position,” said manager Mike Shildt, whose Cards are 40-27 since he became interim manager and 14-15 since the interim part was dropped on August 28. “That’s what we’ve done for a period of time, and we played as good of baseball as anybody in this league. It comes down to that: execution. And making the routine play, throwing strikes, throwing quality strikes and being able to execute on offense. We just haven’t been able to do that today and the last couple of days. Uncharacteristic. But it’s what we dealt with today.”

Well, Mike, "the last couple of days" were especially when you needed to be able to do it. Losing after making a good accounting of yourself is one thing. Losing like they did is another. "...[W]hat we dealt with today" happened far too often all season. And it's what got Matheny fired.

Their "run to the playoffs" included being swept at home by Milwaukee and a loss to Chicago that means even winning the next two requires a lot of help to make the playoffs. They are realistically the third best team in the division. And I hope as a fan that they don't get used to it.
 
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Franklin said:
But that's as maybe. In my opinion giving the job to Shildt permanently as quickly as it was done was an impulsive move based on the team having a 26 and 12 record after Matheny was fired. That's a small n and anyone would know a record like that is unsustainable. He may have to respond to adversity sometime (injuries, slumps, whatever -- things hardly unique to the Cards that any other manager must adapt to and get around). While Shildt can't help injuries or slumps leading to losses, he also got a ride from Matt Carpenter, who carried the team during that 26 and 12 run as much as anything.

To be fair, even the games after August 28 where the Cards are below 0.500 aren't really enough to make a judgment, either. It is kind of regression to the mean. The Cards are now 37 and 25 since August 28. That's still not bad despite how it's distributed.

However, there should've been no rush to wrap up Shildt. I doubt his phone was going to ring off the hook from other teams wanting him. Prudence dictated waiting until the end of the season to look at the bigger picture of where the franchise was and what needed to be done. Barely sneaking into the playoffs if they make it at all was not what was expected of this club in April. It's not what puts over 40,000 in the stands almost every night despite some of the highest ticket prices in MLB.

As big a fan of this franchise as I am, the front office is a little too self-satisfied with their own and caught up too much in the notion of Cardinal Nation and the Cardinal Way. Sometimes, teams lose their way. It happened during a rather bleak 1970s that ended with outsider Whitey Herzog remaking the team as one of the best of the 1980s. It happened again in the mid-1990s when Tony LaRussa was brought in and reshaped things (Albert Pujols sure helped, too, of course).

Shildt is a Cardinals lifer. I just wish they would've waited until the end of the season to conclude if he was the solution or part of the problem. In the off season, Showalter and Girardi would've been available. Even Mark McGwire or Carlos Beltran or newer managerial hopefuls like them. Talk to them. Talk to all of them. Get outside perspectives. Hear fresh voices. Bring someone in to shake it up and reinvigorate things.

Remember, this is the club that hired Matheny from within over Terry Francona, who said he would've taken the job if they had asked him. At least they had talked to Francona, though.
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I agree here. Seems odd they made the decision to lift the interim tag so quickly. I wonder if it was done to shift the Cardinals shortcomings completely to Matheny, and it not being an issue of poor personnel decisions by the front office.

Whoops.
 
Two tie-breaker games tomorrow, for the first time in Major League Baseball history. I bet ESPN is loving it.
 
Lots of drama today with scores like 15-0, 11-0, 12-0 and 10-5, almost like 4 teams tanked today to set up Monday drama. :whistle:
 
All I can say about the Cubs, if they had won a handful more games against crap teams they should have beaten, they would have today off.

I'm not confident of their chances.
 
I expect them to get walloped today. The bullpen is utterly and completely gassed, and I expect Maddon to have a short leash on today's starter (Lester?).
 
Yeah, that was pretty bad for the Cubs. Only three hits and only one that wasn't a solo shot or in the 9th inning. Quintana pitched pretty well and I don't think Maddon should've pulled him so early. And less said about his pitching choices in the 8th the better.
 
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