Home BaseballSt. Louis Cardinals Questionable Managing, And Why Is Michael Wacha On The Roster?

Questionable Managing, And Why Is Michael Wacha On The Roster?

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The setting: Game 4 of the NLCS

Location: San Francisco AT&T Park

Shelby Miller vs Ryan Vogelsong

What…the hell…is going…on?

Game 5 tonight is of course a do or die MUST WIN. But, to me, last night’s Game 4 was a must win. What should be at least a tied 2-2 series going in tonight’s game, it is now a dreadful 3-1 deficit. So, here are my two questions:

1. What is Mike Matheny doing?

2. Where is Michael Wacha?

As much as a like Mike Matheny as a person, his managerial moves are questionable and frustrating. You could see Shelby Miller laboring in his outing last night even with a 4-1 lead. Matheny lets him bat for himself, and start the 4th inning. The Giants are crushing him at the plate. Yet, he tries to stick with him. Finally, he replaces him with Randy Choate. Yes, THAT Randy Choate who’s error in Game 3 gave the giants a walk off win in 10 innings. And Matheny’s response for leaving Miller in until he exited with a 4-3 lead? “Well, he left with a lead.” Now I understand that Jon Jay and Matt Adams didn’t help the game yesterday with their defensive plays, but the Cardinals did what they had to do yesterday by getting on Ryan Vogelsong early for a 4-1 lead.

Miller threw 65 pitches while laboring through 3.2 innings. Now, let’s backtrack to Game 3. After a rough first inning, Lackey made some adjustments and shut down the Giants through 6 innings. Only 79 pitches, then removed.  Why? He was in a groove, and although the relief pitching (Gonzales, Neshek, Maness) did great, they could have been saved from those innings. Why do I point this out? Because it seems that Matheny is managing in preparation for extra innings, not for a nine inning game.

On to Michael Wacha. Where is he? Why hasn’t he been used? He seems to be this year’s version of Shelby Miller from last year’s playoffs. Yesterday was a perfect opportunity to get Wacha in the game in the 4th inning. He is apparently here for “long inning relief.” So why wasn’t he put in yesterday instead of Choate? Matheny had this to say after last night’s game:

“We haven’t had a situation to really get him in there that he’s going to get stretched out like we need him to. We are also in that spot that if we get a chance to get somebody on and hit a homerun, and we don’t have anybody in the back end of this game to throw multiple innings, we’re in a bad place and it’s the exact same situation that I told you before the first series that this is his role right now. Now, it could change tomorrow if guys don’t feel well since we’ve used the bullpen pretty hard. So, it could be different, but we keep kind of talking about this, but it’s the same answer. This is what he’s going to have to be prepared for and he will. And when he gets his chance, I know he’ll be sharp.”

So, wasn’t yesterday the prefect time to use him after removing Miller? Isn’t that a situation that Matheny could have used Wacha to “throw multiple innings” like he said? And the bullpen has in fact been used hard, throwing just over 10 innings in relief through Game 3. That was the perfect situation, right? Instead, an already overused bullpen gave up 3 runs over 4 1/3 relief innings. It’s absolutely baffling to me. It’s already Game 5 of the NLCS and Wacha has not been used. Once. At all. Why is Wacha even on this postseason roster?

So now, a questionable Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals face an elimination game against Madison Bumgarner, who is 2-1 with a 0.76 ERA in the postseason this year.  So the only question left to answer is which Adam Wainwright will show up tonight? We will have to find out tonight at 7:07PM.

@RLeopando

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7 comments

Levi Smith October 16, 2014 - 13:55

Totally agree.. Where is Wacha? Almost all of Waino’s outings have been a good time to throw in Wacha. If he is on the roster why not use him? He is telling us in 8 games. (4 dodger 4 giants) that there is NO WHERE for wacha to even throw 1 pitch?? Wacha isnt the same as last years post season but that doesnt mean there isnt a place for him… Miller wasnt 100% on but i didnt see him laboring. But maybe i just wasnt looking. BUT he wasnt terrible either. I think he has pitched better than Waino.. I love Waino as a cards fan but he is hurt or just not in it.. Either one he is not the Carpenter Ace Protege that he normally is.. For all fans sake and Mathenys head I hope he makes some good calls tonight and they get the W!

dennis ballweg October 16, 2014 - 14:12

Yes, even Joe Buck made the statement that Wacha is on the roster and this would be a good place for him. Matheny may have had some good fortune getting the Cards to the postseason but the playoffs need to be managed with a different mindset.

quietmilk October 16, 2014 - 14:01

I wouldn’t put Wacha in any of these games. This isn’t the Wacha of 2013. His last pitching appearances were far from sharp, and that’s the last thing we need. In that case, I completely agree with wondering why he’s on the roster. Should’ve taken him off and left Freeman on.

Brent Riley October 16, 2014 - 14:11

To me jot’s simply amazing that they’re (the Cardinals) are even in the post season. Every aspect of their game has been sub par this year. Matheny couldn’t manage a little league game. I questioned the decision to hire a skipper with no coaching experience whatsoever and he’s been proving me right for 3 years now. He has to go. He’s a great guy (I guess) but he needs to go to the minors and be a pitching coach or something for a while. He needs to learn to be a manager. You have to learn to crawl before you learn to walk.

crm63 October 16, 2014 - 14:52

when yadier isn’t behind the plate, the pitching stinks. send lillequist back to bullpen coach and a hire a REAL pitching coach!

Cole Young October 16, 2014 - 16:03

Matheny’s decision to use Choate last night was questionable, I did think it was a perfect time to use Wacha, but Matheny has more information than us armchair managers(the fans and media). He may know something we don’t but of course is not going to show his cards to the Giants by putting it out to the media. Lets not make Mike Matheny the scapegoat for starting pitching that can’t get through 6 innings, a bullpen that is walking a ton of batters and defensive miscues. Those are the real stories behind the game 4 loss, not Matheny’s managing.

Christopher Barlow October 16, 2014 - 21:38

Yeah well matheny did put him in and look what happened.after walking a guy on 4 straight balls he ops to leave wacha in versus a left hander. Just so after 2 more balls he can throw one right into his wheelhouse and we have a walk off homer from a bum ass bench player.the fans should boycott the cardinals until the owners get rid of his ass.i say this not because I think matheny is the worst coach in baseball but because am I the only one who see’s he is just bad luck.i mean any reliever you bring in could blow the game.but every reliever he chooses does blow the game.they need to move matheny to towel boy because if I ever walk into a bar in saint louis and see his punk ass in there I will break my his face.

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