Before long knives could be drawn in the clubhouse -- players against coaches, if not against fellow players -- the St. Louis Cardinals' front office deemed it time, in the current vernacular, to change the culture.
So far, so good. Dexter Fowler, a high-priced Cardinal whose effort had been questioned, smacked a home run in a 6-4 victory Sunday in previous bench coach Mike Shildt's first game as interim manager.
Not that they should start printing playoff tickets in St. Louis just yet.. The Cardinals enter the all-star break with a W1 streak after a 48-46 first half, third in the National League Central, that they appeared neither a serious playoff candidate nor hopelessly out of contention.
The situation appeared serious enough for the Cardinals to conduct a rare (for them) Saturday-night massacre. Team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. canned seventh-year manager Mike Matheny, hitting coach John Mabry and assistant batting coach Bill Muller.
Making the club's first in-season managerial switch in more than two decades, DeWitt said, "In some places a winning record, or even .500, is acceptable. Not with this city, not with this franchise, not with its history, and not with the fans."
DeWitt issued pink slips after the Cardinals' sixth-straight home loss and 19th in their last 30 games at Busch Stadium, where a World Series game was played as late as 2013. The last three of Matheny's final six games were especially grim: 4-0 to the White Sox (33-62 at the break) and 9-1 and 8-2 to the Reds (43-53, but 35-27 to the Cardinals' 28-34 since May 7).
While the firings of Mabry and Muller may indicate the Cardinals' problems were mainly offensive, Matheny's handling of pitchers had been criticized for years in the press and on social media. Like the man he replaced in the Cardinal dugout after the 2011 season, Hall of Famer Tony La Russa, Matheny proved himself a micro-manager in use of the bullpen and constantly changing lineup cards. La Russa won big, however, and Matheny, save for the 2013 NL championship, did not do so often enough.
Matheny's aloofness with players cost him dearly in the clubhouse. It has been reported that Fowler, signed as a free agent off the 2016 World Series champion Chicago Cubs' roster, and Matheny were barely speaking to each other. Then came an online report last week that called out first-year Cardinal reliever Bud Norris as a bullpen spy for Matheny and being especially harsh to promising youngster Jordan Hicks.
This is surely not the Cardinal Way, a phrase one doesn't hear much these days from a fan base that once gloated over the club's NL-record 11 World Series titles. St. Louis hasn't made the playoffs since losing a divisional series to Chicago in 2015. The Cubs plucked John Lackey, the last Cardinal pitcher with a postseason victory, and outfielder Jason Heyward off the St. Louis roster in the ensuing offseason and, in 2016, sipped World Series champagne for the first time in 108 years.
The Cardinals start the second half of the season 7 1/2 games behind Central leader Chicago and four games behind Atlanta in the battle for the NL's second wild-card spot. The Cubs are an NL-best 55-38 (.591) at the break despite less than stellar seasons from young stars Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo. Chicago and St. Louis will be closely watched during a five-game set at Wrigley Field immediately after the all-star break.
No one should revel in a coach or manager at any level getting the ax, but with the Cardinals closer to last place in the NL Central than to first place, the club's patience with Matheny ran out. The American League's two best teams in 2018 exercised similar options last offseason, World Series-winning managers John Farrell getting canned in Boston and Joe Girardi likewise by the New York Yankees. The Red Sox are 68-30 under Alex Cora, 4 1/2 games ahead of Aaron Boone's Yankees (62-33), both positioning themselves for an AL Championship Series showdown that might outclass the World Series.
At least the Red Sox and Yankees can feel secure about playing October baseball. Even Cubs fans, for whom the term "long suffering" seems antiquated, need no longer dread the fall. In St. Louis, where Arch Madness once was an autumn ritual, they're not sure any longer.
Sports on 07/17/2018