Skip to main content

On...Mike

I remember walking from the Megabus to the eL in Chicago after going back to St. Louis to celebrate the Cardinals World Series title in 2011 talking to my dad.  There was an announcement.  Tony LaRussa had an announcement.  Our beloved manager.  My dad called it:  he's retiring.  And he did.

I remember feeling scared.  No one can be like Tony.  And that's probably true, but I must say Mike Matheny, the Cardinals catcher of the past who was working in the front office, made some people nervous.  Boy has he proved them wrong.  

I love this article by Joe Strauss: Matheny overdue for some credit.  

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

“I don’t want to get in the way of what’s going on,” Matheny said hours before the Cardinals produced their ninth win in 10 games, improving to a preposterous 86-46 despite missing their opening day starter, No. 3 bat and cleanup hitter for most of the season. “This is a group of extremely talented people. I believe the clubhouse guys have a role. The medical team has a role. We all have roles. I don’t think it comes together unless everyone is doing their part. I don’t take credit for me doing my job.”


It says here Matheny is overdue to receive such credit.

This year’s team is apace for a fifth straight postseason appearance. Unless the earth opens beneath the Cardinals in September, Matheny will become the first manager in a storied franchise history to take the club to four consecutive postseasons.

The Cardinals haven’t suffered a losing month since June 2012. They have become relentless stretch runners under Matheny and been noticeably free of clubhouse intrigue. It’s possible this team will win 100 games while scoring fewer than 675 runs.




I just like the guy.

P.S. I wish all Cardinals haters had to read this article.  No, it was not in the Post Dispatch.  It was in USA Today.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Fall Photos

After admiring the leaves on our runs and my bike to work, we recruited my parents to take some photos of us there this weekend.   After these photos (and tackling some IT issues for my parents) we went to a birthday gathering at the jazz festival on Cherokee Street.  I liked it more than I thought I would. As the night wore on, I started chatting with one of the friend of a friend's there.  I started going in to what a crazy year and some change it's been and, whew, it really started to overwhelm me.   This morning, Mike woke up overwhelmed by our world/specifically our country.  I woke up with that conversation still in my head and also felt overwhelmed.  We treated ourselves to Sump Coffee and had a chat.  It's not always we sit down and talk about what we want and steps to get there. Fall feels like the perfect time to reset.  As we went through the day I also thought, it's okay to miss things in the past, but it woul...

Kitchen Safety

We moved!  We're in our new place and we just got wifi.  Wahoo! I definitely broke in the kitchen quickly.  I was making a panini type sandwich for a potluck get together so I preheated the oven.  The next thing I knew the fire alarm was going off.  Let me tell you they did not skimp on a very loud fire alarm.  Ahhhhhhhh I opened the oven, which I know you're not supposed to do.  In the moment, I think I needed to see what I was dealing with.  There were definite flames.  Ahhhhhhhh So I called Mike while trying to google what to do.  He was super calm the entire call while I freaked out (it probably helped that he couldn't see the smoke billowing out of the oven).   He said to throw baking soda on it.  I did.  It seemed to fizzle but came back. I searched the apartment for a fire extinguisher (maybe I should have looked for one before this moment). This is while I kept trying to silence the fire ...

Concerts = ♡

Last week was an exceptional concert week for me.  I was lucky enough to catch San Fermin, The Mowgli's, & American Authors.  In one week! My sister, Karen, and I found out San Fermin would be in Chicago at LouFest when we went through the artist signing line.  (Correction: Karen participated in the artist signing line, while I hid behind her shoulder and Ellis, the composer/writer, reached out to me to introduce himself.  This band is full of quality people.  Just sayin'.  I get awkward around bands.)   So we followed through.  Found their show at the Metro (which could not be more convenient for us) and met up with Rubina, my friend, to enjoy their show.  So good.  We were not disappointed.  I was only minutely disappointed because for some reason I assumed they were headlining so when they didn't come out for an encore I was confused.  But then I realized they were the middle act and it made sense. ...