The Boss

Well then. The Cards lost today. Again. The whole game felt a little...uninspired.

I've spent an inordinate amount of time being frustrated with Matheny and his lack of appropriate decision making. I detailed why he and I are done in another post. Tonight, I'm going to tell you how I'd like to take custody of the kids.

I won't pretend to have enough knowledge to be a professional major league baseball manager. However, if I were to take over at this moment, I'd have you all to help me! Ha. I'm not taking over. Here's what I would do if I did though...

The team is missing a hungry heart. In the words of The Boss (not our Final Boss we all know and love, but The Boss):

"Like a river that don't
know where it's flowing
I took a wrong turn and I
just kept going

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Lay down your money and
you play your part,

Everybody's got a hungry heart

Everybody needs a place to rest
Everybody wants to have a home
Don't make no difference what nobody says,
Ain't nobody like to be alone"

Listened to this one today after the game and it spoke to me about our Cards. We're taking a lot of wrong turns, we don't seem to know where we're going or what we're doing. The guys want to have a set spot to play in daily (home) and they want to have the right time to rest. They want to be a team, playing, working and competing together. They don't want to be alone, with one guy hitting or one guy pitching well. What we need is to find that hungry heart...the passion for the game they love. We need to find it and keep it firing for the whole season. Right now, the players look lost, beaten and exhausted. It's April 15th. Far too early for looking this way.

I'd like to stand up on a chair in the clubhouse or on the bench in the dugout and say this:

"It's time to stop sitting around, watching the baseball season pass you all by. We are going to practice every single fundamental part of baseball until we are a well oiled machine out there on the field. I'm not afraid to have 3 inning practice games every day till we get this sinking ship all patched up and sailing again. At this point, we'd all just love to be floating at .500 level ball as a first step. You don't like the sounds of that, don't make me do it. Make the plays, run the bases right, take more than 1 pitch per at bat and show me you want to be here. I want life, energy, focus, smiles. Dance in the dugout. Be cheerleaders for each other. Be at the top of the dugout cheering for the next big play or big hit. Be in the game. We've been lacking moxie and gumption around here and it's time to change.

Carp, you're at 1B. Kolten 2B. Diaz SS. Gyorko and Garcia, you're sharing 3B. Yadi, do what you do. Piscotty RF. Dex CF. Grich LF. Everybody else is on our bench. You'll sub in when these guys need a day off. That's how baseball teams work. Jose, I'll get you every sub opportunity in the outfield. That's your thing. And for what it's worth, you're a beautiful soul. I digress...Adams you'll sub in at 1B. Left field talk is over. Do not bring it up to me. I've already blocked it from my mind. You will be a great pinch hitter too. Glorious, if I do say so myself. Peralta, enjoy the $10M. Thanks for 2014-2015 All Star Break. Truly, thank you. We'll take the financial loss. If you are still here for the entire season, I'll try to get you in a game before the end. For a goodbye ovation. If we're winning by at least 5 runs and I don't need you to be any kind of defensive replacement.

Now, let's go out there and play the way Stan did. Lou, Gibby, Stan, Chris Carpenter, Edmonds...we have lots of players who wore the Birds on The Bat well throughout the years to model ourselves after. You fight and compete all 9 innings, every game with a hungry heart for the love of the game. Let's do this right.

We've had Glory Days, but we have plenty still ahead. Let's start playing like we know this is true."

That's me as the boss of the team. The new manager. If I got custody of the kids after Mike and I split. It was only 2 days ago that we ended things, but if there was ever a time for a change, now is that time. I've been a relatively patient Cards fan during the Matheny experience. I love the Cardinals and I always will. Once Matheny put Wacha in against the Giants in the playoffs after not pitching for so long, I started my tendency to yell at him during games. The wheels have been falling off ever since. I don't know how much patience I have left for decisions such as putting starters back out for wins even though there is almost a  100% chance things will not go well. Or decisions like never playing Greg Garcia or Jose Martinez. Or putting Adams in left field. Success eludes players with these decisions, and the team is suffering for it.

It's time for the players to remember they love to play this game and get out there every day putting 150% effort in every inning. After all, you can't start a fire without a spark. Find the spark guys. Can't wait to see the fire.