Woot!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Update on Matt Carpenter: X-rays were negative <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/stlcards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#stlcards</a></p>&mdash; Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/LangoschMLB/status/1029925446601850882?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

thats a Molina thing not a Shildt thing. Yadi is having his best year since he was in his prime. Because of that and his past contributions, he should get to decide when he takes a break.

he’s welcome to come back next year and start in RF.

Goddamn, I ****in hate relievers.

Good win, but Norris is a timebomb at this point. Hasn't been able to throw his breaker for strikes in several appearances, and every fastball in the zone is piped.

8 in a row!

It will be interesting to see how Martinez responds back in the pen.

you can slot him to take Norris’s spot. I’m with Hamas, he looks like he’s getting ready to blow up like Holland.

thats a good thing. Last year 87 wins got you into the WC game. I think it’s going to take 90 wins this year.

He plays defense like this and can hit .275 consistently, he's a All-Star. I knew he was fast. But, not this fast.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Harrison Bader will make your jaw drop on a nightly basis! 👏 <a href="https://t.co/npSkp0gIC2">pic.twitter.com/npSkp0gIC2</a></p>&mdash; St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) <a href="https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1029899683257147392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">True story. Matt Carpenter just told us in the clubhouse that after X-Rays were negative on his hand, he proved to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/STLCards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#STLCards</a> trainer that his hand was OK by ... opening a jar of salsa.</p>&mdash; Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) <a href="https://twitter.com/hochman/status/1029937606094725125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I will feel better if he is still playing and producing a week from now. I have had two fractures, one in each hand/wrist area at different times in my life. Both times the initial results were negative, but fractures were found later with additional testing. Hands and wrists are so tricky, but hopefully it is a good sign and not bravado. Hopefully he was lucky, but it is too soon to think it is good to go.

Man that would that suck...he wasn't going to continue at the torrid pace he was on, but because he was so hot he was beginning to affect how other teams pitched everybody as they had an eye on when he was getting ready to hit again. That is an intangible effect that you can't really quantify fully, you just know it is there.

From Viva EL Birdos

Shildt has taken an aggressive, youth-first approach with the bullpen and it’s completely paid off, as the team’s 2.09 ERA since July 27 is the best in the majors in that span.

The bullpen isn’t the only source of young talent contributing to the team; far from it. Overall, the St. Louis active roster has an average age of 27.2, tied for the third-youngest in the majors and sandwiched between five rebuilding teams: the Rays, Padres, Marlins, Orioles, and White Sox.

The Cardinals are the youngest team in the NL Central, ahead of both the rebuilding Reds and the hybrid Pirates. For what it’s worth, this Cardinals team is roughly two years younger than both the Brewers (29.1) and the Cubs (29.2). The age alone should speak to the potential of this team in the future, given that they’re in the thick of a postseason race at this moment.

The young players have responded to the trust put in them with some very solid performances. The Cardinals have both a position player and pitcher who are close to leading the fWAR leaderboards for rookies on the season.

Jack Flaherty is in a three-way tie for fWAR among rookie pitchers with 1.6, just 0.2 shy of the Giants’ Dereck Rodríguez (though Flaherty has pitched about 23 more innings than Rodríguez). Harrison Bader has been perhaps the most impressive, as his 2.5 fWAR has him in sole possession of second place on the rookie position player boards, 0.2 behind teenage phenom Juan Soto—and Bader has done so in 44 fewer plate appearances than Soto. He sits ahead of Ronald Acuña Jr., Miguel Andújar, and Brian Anderson, all having accumulated more PA than Bader. Though his total isn’t outstanding, Yairo Muñoz’s 0.3 fWAR has him 24th on the rookie list

Jordan Hicks - 21
Paul DeJong - 25
Luke Weaver - 24
Harrison Bader - 24
Tyler O'Neill - 23
Jack Flaherty - 22
Dakota Hudson - 23
Austin Gomber - 24
Mike Mayers - 26
Daniel Poncedeleon - 26
John Gant - 26
Alex Reyes - 23

It's one thing to have young players but a whole other animal to have young players that produce. That list excludes Martinez, Wong and Ozuna who are 26, 27 and 27 respectively.

If we had been 7-8 games over .500, Matheny doesn't get fired and a lot of these players don't even see the field or would not have the same playing time as now under Schildt,

We are now moving forward instead of stuck in the damn "meh" brand of baseball.