And on the 29th consecutive fastball Barney drives one into the gap to tie it. Great work, Johnson. Awesome way to call a game in a tight spot. And WTF, Rosenthal?

****ing dipshit.

This team is in a death spiral and it doesn't have the leadership to correct course. No Berkman to loosen the team up or Chris Carpenter to keep shit together.

They are a dead stick.

Seriously. Thirty ****ing straight fastballs.

You mean you can't just keep pumping fastballs to major league hitters? Since when?

Is it really that ****ing hard to call for a relief pitcher who throws 100 and has two plus off-speed pitches.

That's about the only way you could **** that situation up.

You'd think someone that just made an ass out of himself falling while running the bases would understand the importance of keeping someone off balance.

1-28 trailing after 7 innings. This team used to have guts I dont know what the hell went wrong. Oh well Im not gonna let them effect my mood anymore.

Calling that many fastballs in a row is a get you demoted to the minors move. WTF was he thinking?

I don't blame Rosenthal for that. He has been trained to just throw whatever is called by Yadi.

If Yadi is playing, we win this game and a few more in this bad stretch.

Nice work running out Blazek there for the 9th, Mike. No reason to go to your best pitcher left in a one run game in the 9th.

Jesus ****ing Christ.

Team is cursed.

From the amount of times he was looking to the dugout, those pitches may have been called from the dugout from either Concussed or Fatass

Don't look now Frazod but Holliday batting lights out since Molina went out. The only one hitting consistently in this stretch.

Hey at least the Cards have their best pitcher throwing tomorrow.

Im on the Joe Kelly bandwagon at least he isnt playing scared

I will eat crow because I liked the MM hire when it happened. Now im wishing it was Francona with this amount of talent.

Come on man He got within one win of the WS. Had the best record in baseball most of the year.

How many times did Larussa make bonehead moves? You think Larussa could be managing this team better without Molina? No way. Matheny manages like Larussa.

Falling apart at the seams and Pittsburgh just keeps on winning ugh.

I really doubt LaRussa leaves Rosenthal in to give up the winning run especially after throwing 30 consecutive fastballs

LaRussa being a bonehead at times has no relevance to Matheny, who is a completely incompetent manager.

Expecting too much is just another way of setting yourself up for disappointment. :Poke:

It's just not realistic to win the WS every year. DJ nut says every season is a failure unless you win the WS. Do we all have to go down that path?

He doesn't actually even care about the WS, which I find exceedingly bizarre. He measures absolute success by pennants, but even then he doesn't expect it every year. He thought (and rightly so) that the Cardinals should have won the pennant last year once they got in a 3-1 situation, but he wasn't expecting a WS appearance from an 88 win team.

It's easy to say that you're asking too much, but are you really? The Cardinals have a really, really good roster and yet they are completely incapable of coming from behind to win and their strategic decisions are almost universally moronic.

I'm not upset when the team loses. I'm upset when the team loses because Rob Johnson calls 29 straight fastballs when his pitcher has an elite changeup, and then Matheny brings in our second worst reliever in a one run game in the top of the 9th.

Yeah, I'm pissed at Rosenthal too, but physical mistakes happen. Baseball is hard. I don't constantly rage on Kozma because he's not the dumbass running himself out there every day, and he plays hard.

Similarly, I rage on Matheny because he leaves Lynn in too long when he's gassed and then goes to Choate rather than Siegrist. Lineup decisions could be made intelligently by almost every poster on this board.

No one here can hit Michael Blazek, but almost everyone could understand that the Cubs batters can easier than Mujica.

I truly hope Matheny is fired at the end of this year. This hire is on Mo for hiring an individual who had ZERO experience. Baseball is like a game of chess and you need a damn chessmaster as a coach. Matheny is just like Herm- a player's coach that doesn't know how to play chess.

I disagree. I don't think the manager has that much of a direct impact on the game beyond pitching changes in the later innings. The manager's job is to sit the tone in the clubhouse, try to create some chemistry. Thats where they earn their money, make a difference.

You can't fire Matheny after this season. He was within one game of the World Series last year. Had the best record in baseball most of the year and will probably make the playoffs.

Do you really think that anyone worth a shit as a manager would take the job if the last one was fired with a W/L record like that? Come on man.......

We are not the Yankees in the 70's. Just who do you think we could get to manage next year?

I understand what you're saying, but the team is below .500 over the last 2.5 months despite being first in the NL in runs created and third in the ML in xFIP.

Perhaps, instead of worrying about who we could get (Ron Warner has earned a shot) you might focus on who could possibly be worse. Bobby Valentine, I guess, and Dusty Baker.

There is no need to worry about who we could get. This team could tank. Quit on the manager and he will still be back next year. This get rid of the manager after two years is a pipe dream.

Especially when the performance of the team doesn't warrant his firing. He makes boneheaded moves. WTF were you thinking moves? But Larussa is going into the HOF and he did those bonehead moves all the time.

I was no fan of La Russa, but he also had Dave Duncan walking through that door. That made a huge difference.

I will also say this: with the exception of the unconscionable and unforgivable stupidity of Game 5 of the 2011 WS La Russa was pretty damned masterful in those playoffs. He yanked Carpenter early in Game 2 against Philly when he had nothing, and did the same thing repeatedly in the NLCS when buffoons like Garcia and Jackson couldn't get out of the third inning without running into trouble. You could accuse him of overmanaging, but he didn't leave an ineffective starter out their to get his ass kicked, no matter who it was.

Matheny tries to chase wins for his starters and is always about eight steps too slow in making a pitching change.

Matt Holliday:

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God bitch. We should have scored four runs in that inning and scored one.

The ways this team finds to **** up or find awful luck is just astounding.

All you can do is shake your head at this point. This is unreal.

Our relievers cannot throw strikes.

Damn who is gonna pitch the 8th. There really isnt a good option. Hope the offense can get some runs here.

Well, at least they didn't get swept.

Hell, they actually gained on the Pirates.

That was one of the few positives. Can only hope we string some wins together and the butt Pirates start their collapse.

We have 6 games at home and 3 games at Pitt left. Plenty of time, if we get out act together.

They have went 5-5 lately. Not exactly on fire.

They've lost 3 in a row now, its a start. But yeah plenty of games left against them.

Bucco's off to a great start!

Heading to the 'Burgh at the end of the month to watch the Cards come into town and get beat.

Whaddya, know? Three straight starts where the Cardinals need Wainwright to act like an ace and three straight starts where he's pissed down his leg.

****ing pathetic.

Gutless mother****ers.

Waino is a gamer. He is not scared of the big game. Something is going on. Lost his release point. Injury we don't know about, something.

He was 0-2 and he hit someone. Thats not Waino.

Oquendo holds up Beltran on a slow roller through the hole. If he goes they likely throw home and he should make it. Don't know why he'd be so goddamned conservative there when he's reckless every other time.

Beltran is day to day with his knees. I'm assuming one good reason would be risking Beltran getting injured with no outs :hmmm:

If he can't run home in that situation he shouldn't be in the lineup. If Jay didn't get that two out hit that decision costs the Cardinals a run.

Beltran has 1 HR and a .769 OPS since the Break.

I've never seen a ball hit on that trajectory to that place get caught.

Just un****ingbelievable. The Cardinals are cursed.

Freese hit one in the corner by the outfield wall and they caught it.

Adams hammered it. looked like a softball defense.

Walker was 10 yards into the ****ing outfield and jumped straight up to snowcone that mother****er. That's just ridiculous.

I just don't have the words anymore. Sickening. Might this be the biggest collapse in the history of this franchise?

Finally some break.

Can you make them pay?

Beltran, you stupid ****ing ****.

Ugh, had a chance to finish it.

Get the lead out, you fat ****.

Allen Craig: badass.

What game are you watching? Seems to me this game that they are the Cardinals that we saw in the first of the year. They are playing hard and with passion.

Too bad he didn't knock McCutcheon on his ass.

He did.

Rob Johnson is a stupid, worthless one who sucks the penis. Hopefully he can get a goddamned bunt down without popping it 20 feet in the air.

But he lived. :grr:

You wouldn't use Chambers here, you'd use Kelly.

You can see it in their body language and actions. They want this game. Craig gave himself up. That was a receiver going over the middle for the first down knowing they are going to get taken out. But they take it for the team.

Mazzaro is such a dipshit. The Cardinals are gifting you an out. Toss it underhand up there and then walk the next guy to keep the DP in order. This isn't exactly rocket surgery.

Oquendo wouldn't send him home.:harumph:

Great at bat, and lovely error!

Nice throw.

We are in bizziness gentlemen

Thanks, dumb ****s. Going to second is just idiotic there. Take the out, walk the next guy, and keep the DP in order.

Almost did it again.

Adron, can you hit a 300 foot flyball?

outfield fly Chambers comeon you got it in ya

With Kozma on deck and Chambers being a shitty hitter, I think I might try a suicide squeeze here.

Koma will DP us out of inning.:cuss:

**** YOU KOSMA

All-Time Cardinal Hate Index, Pantheon Level:

Pete Kozma, Mark Mulder, Donovan Osborne

Pinch running for Holliday is going to cost them the game That and Pete Kozma's infinite worthlessness.

:facepalm:

Should have let Jay bat, He was hot tonight.

Nah, actually played that part right. Pinch running fr Holliday when your going to bunt was the dumb thing

Matheny lives to give up outs.

Bunting is never the right choice in those situations, because they'll just walk the bases full to keep the DP in order. It also allows you to move further down the order, facing more inept hitters.