Mike Matheny can make a fan feel manic with their feelings about him – at least this particular fan. This week of baseball has highlighted my love and hate when it comes to Matheny.
First, the “hate” (if you want to call it that). Thursday night was an utter disaster, and it is an example of why I have refused to believe that Matheny should be the long-term manager for the Cardinals (at least, until today…for now). Mitchell Boggs being brought in during a 2-1 situation in the 9th inning to build a player’s confidence is absolutely asinine. I understand that Matheny claims that he turns to “experience,” but our experience with Boggs (except for ONE year – last year) is that he is not to be trusted. Boggs might be a nice guy, and I can understand feeling sorry for him, but he should have never been placed in that situation. I don’t know what new age psychology Matheny decided to smoke in that particular situation, but I can only hope it is never inhaled in the future. Yes, Matheny’s faith in players is absolutely important, as evidenced by the rookies and the clubhouse atmosphere that is propelling the Cardinals to one of their best regular seasons (let’s hope it continues) in recent memory. However, I hope that Matheny’s faith is shakeable in future situations. It can strengthen one’s faith, you know, to question it. Keep that in mind next time, coach.
Now, to the “love.” Another incident this week makes me think Matheny is maturing into the kind of manager for the Cardinals in the long-run. Today (Sunday), Matheny finally showed the kind of passion that I believe must be within every manager – no matter how gracious, Christian, religious, etc… In fact, I have thought Matheny to be much too passive at times. When Yadier Molina was ejected from the game for clearly being frustrated with himself as he threw down his batting helmet (he thought his hit would not be caught, so when it was, you could clearly see him try to speed up as he wasn’t running that quickly half way down the baseline), Matheny raced out along with Molina’s brother, Bengie Molina, and Jose Oquendo, to argue with the umpire. Matheny clearly knew that Molina was showing frustration just like many players show when they strike out with a ball in the dirt or numerous other errors. For the first time in my memory, Matheny defended his player with a passion. It reminded me of Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, or Fredi Gonzalez. Don’t get me wrong – I don’t want Matheny to be a constant thorn in the side or throw away his graciousness. Sometimes, though, you have to set it aside. Good job defending your player, Matheny. It is vital to be there during those times.
Another thing that makes the love increase – the clearly amazing season the Cardinals have had up to this point. This is not by accident. Clearly, Matheny works well with our upper management and with the players.
That being said, Matheny makes me feel frustrated and manic – hopefully, as time goes by, my confidence will continue to increase. Right now, pardon me as the skepticism underneath brews. I’m still not over Thursday night. If I don’t see another Boggs situation, Matheny wins this fan over barring any other unseen management disasters.
