Mike Matheny

2013 RFT Web Awards Winners

It's been said that employees engaging in social media while at work cost the U.S. economy $650 billion a year in lost productivity. That's $4,452 per company, and it doesn't even factor in the economic losses from plain, old Web surfing. Throw that into the mix, and good lordy: No wonder the econom ... More >>

Introducing the 2013 RFT Web Awards Finalists

The past twelve months was an outstanding time for hot digital action in St. Louis. Our citizens launched apps, pushed pixels, encouraged consumerism and conducted full-on comedy shows in 140 characters or less. If we learned anything, it's that you can't get a job -- or even a date -- without being ... More >>

The Cards Get Their (Left-Handed) Man

Baseball's Winter Meetings are over, and the various and sundry general managers, along with their entourages, are back on the respective roads to their respective homes. It was eventful to be sure this year, with plenty of incoming television money bolstering several teams' spending abilities. The ... More >>

Mark McGwire Gamble Paid Off For Cardinals; Will Successor Prove The Same?

So apparently it's become like a thing now for Cardinals sluggers to leave the team in the offseason and head for Southern California. Last year it was Albert Pujols, aka the Second Greatest Cardinal (and who will never, ever reach number one on that list), leaving the Redbirds and taking his talent ... More >>

Goodbye To the 2012 Cardinals

It felt like 1996 all over again, you know? I'm not sure how many of you out there really remember that year, the first of Tony La Russa's tenure as manager, but it was an interesting season. The Redbirds had spent the first half of the 1990's sucking quite badly, struggling under the weight of ... More >>

Lance Lynn Back In, At Least For Now

The Cardinals needed someone to start today in place of the injured Jake Westbrook, who is currently out with a bit of an oblique thing. (That's a technical term, by the way. I apologize for using complicated jargon, but there's really no other way of putting it, unfortunately.) So Mike Matheny and ... More >>

The Cardinals Run a Marathon -- And Come in Second

It took 19 innings, but the Cardinals managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the end. It was, in a very special way, the perfect version of a 2012 Cards game. Coming into this latest series against the Pittsburgh Pirates -- aka the team the Cards are chasing in the standings -- th ... More >>

Tyler Leaves Town

The Tyler Greene Era, circa 2009-2012, has officially come to an end in St. Louis. The enigmatic infielder was traded to the Houston Astros earlier today in exchange for a player to be named later, which in baseball parlance is code for, "We really couldn't give a shit less what we get for the ... More >>

The Cards Keep Running in Place

And just when things were looking so good, too. The first two games of the series against the Rockies, the Cardinals looked like a team ready to kick ass and chew bubblegum but forgot to bring any bubblegum. An offensive explosion good for 20 runs in two games had the Cards poised for a sweep i ... More >>

Midseason Reviews for Preseason Predictions -- Individual Awards Edition

You know, the All-Star break has come and gone. The second half (I should really put that in quotation marks, but screw it), of the baseball season is well and truly underway. I had a dozen different things I was planning on writing while the break was going on, all kinds of progress reports an ... More >>

The Cards Turn Back the Clock -- To 2003

Hey, who here remembers the year 2003? Yeah, I sure do too. It was a magical time for our great nation; Coldplay had yet to become the source of shame they would later, Mitsubishi commercials simultaneously aroused us, irritated us, and kind of made us want to buy our girlfriends pink Kangol hats. N ... More >>

The Allen Craig Show: It's Better than the Albert Pujols Hour of Power

Allen Craig is good at the baseball. We already knew that, of course; he's hitting home runs at a pace of roughly one every 13.5 plate appearances and owns an OPS of 1.046. For his career, that home run pace is one every 18.5 PAs; his wOBA last season was .399, and this year it's .431. Allen Cr ... More >>

The Pythagorean Blues

You know, it hasn't been the easiest season so far for the Cardinals. Don't get me wrong; it hasn't been a really miserable season of nothing but struggles, by any means. But when you looked at this team on paper before the season started, it looked like a team that should have comfortably taken the ... More >>

The Return of the Filthy Sanchez

The Cardinals made a roster move today, attempting to shore up a recently shaky bullpen by recalling Eduardo Sanchez, aka Dirty Sanchez, aka Filthy Sanchez, aka Fast Eddie, aka Fritz von Filthington, aka The Southern Dandy (note: none of these are real nicknames, but they all should be), from Triple ... More >>

Allen Craig to Return Tonight

The Cardinals have been one of the best offensive teams in all of baseball so far this season, ranking behind only three American League teams (who obviously have the benefit of the designated hitter), as far as OPS. In runs scored, the Atlanta Braves currently have an edge on the Cards for the top ... More >>

The St. Louis Cardinals' Managerial Mount Rushmore

The Cards Open the Season in Style

The Cardinals opened the 2012 season last night, playing -- and winning -- the first official game in the Miami Marlins' brand new ballpark. It was a night of firsts, really. It was the first win for manager Mike Matheny. The first hit for Carlos Beltran in a Cardinal uniform. The first time a ... More >>

Cy Young, MVP Predictions for 2012 MLB

You know, as a semi-professional sportswriter there are a few things toward which I am genetically predisposed. (Why semi-professional? Because I do get paid, but my talent and behavior are both, well, somewhat short of what is usually termed professionalism.) I love to hear myself talk, for one thi ... More >>

Of Adam Wainwright & Backup Catchers: Spring Training Notes 03/13/12

​Thanks to the magic of modern technology, I got to watch Adam Wainwright make his second start of the spring this afternoon; it was extremely comforting to see him back on the mound. You can forget about an injured pitcher surprisingly easily, thanks to the occasional nature of their appearances ... More >>

Five Fringe Players to Watch in Spring Training

​Spring Training is finally underway, promising an end to winter and a return of sunny days and the smell of stadium hot dogs. The St. Louis Cardinals enter the 2012 iteration of spring training looking to defend an unlikely championship, the result of a magical late-season run and one of the ... More >>

Ozzie Smith Returns to the Cardinals

​Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith is finally going to spring training with the Cardinals. The perennial Gold Glover never saw eye to eye with Tony La Russa when he took over the reins in 1996 -- it had something to do with Ozzie beating out incoming young short stop Royce Clayton in spring training, and ... More >>

Dave Duncan Steps Down

​According to multiple reports from, one would assume, multiple sources, it appears Dave Duncan is stepping down from his post as the Cardinals pitching coach. When the team makes the official announcement it will mark the end of what is the longest current tenure in all of baseball, one which beg ... More >>

Cardinals Finalize Coaching Staff for 2012

commons.wikimedia.orgMark McGwire is one of five coaches from Tony La Russa's 2011 staff who will return next season under new manager Mike Matheny.​The Cardinals announced their full coaching staff for next season yesterday, putting to paper the group who will support Mike Matheny as he takes ove ... More >>

Did Jose Oquendo Get Screwed?

You could say Jose got hosed.​The Cardinals have their man -- or, at least, John Mozeliak has his man -- as they named Mike Matheny to the vacant managerial spot yesterday. Matheny has plenty of admirable qualities, to be sure; he's well-respected by the players, has intimate knowledge of the Card ... More >>

Breaking Down the Hiring of Mike Matheny as Cardinals' Manager

Matheny as a rookie back in 1994. ​The Cardinals are going to make it official today, and name Mike Matheny the new manager. All the scuttlebutt of late (including my own pick last week) had suggested Matheny was the frontrunner, as he gained a huge amount of momentum coming out of his interv ... More >>

Handicapping the Cardinals' Managerial Search

The Cardinals appear to be entering the home stretch of their managerial race. ​The Cardinals have been conducting interviews and tossing around names in their search for a new manager, and it looks now as if they're likely entering the endgame portion of the process. I have to admit, while I ... More >>

The Most Momentous Moments of the Aughts: The Cardinals

So on this last day of the decade, I had myself a thought. "Aaron," I thought, "You should really try to do some sort of decade-long wrap for St. Louis sports." ​"You know what, Aaron? That's an excellent idea!" I paused for a moment, considering the notion further. "Now why didn't I think of ... More >>

Minor Leagues: Cardinals Youngsters Show Promise

Dawn of the Diaz

Bill Haas trumps other Blog o' the Week possibilities, a white supremacy group loses its power (literally), and we wonder if Hotel Rwanda is OK for kids; plus, everybody loves Einar!

October Surprise

Now we know just how far candidates will go -- and just how much Pimp Juice they'll drink -- for an endorsement

Who's the Daddy?

Unreal dials a naughty number (hey, we were duped!), cheers on a local strongman and borrows a page from the Post-Dispatch; plus, Bill Haas signs on as Unreal Advice Columnist

Reefer Badness

There's a lot of misinformation out there: Here's more

Pro Ball, Pro-Life

Two Redbirds and a bunch of other big-leaguers throw the sports-activism debate a curveball

Safe at Home?

At the end of a star-crossed season, Cardinal Nation still doesn't know where the Redbirds will roost after they leave Busch