#Cardinals still have an occasional idiot as manager

After having had Tyler Lyons, on call-up for Joe Kelly, lose his second straight game last week, the Cardinals had Adam Wainwright on the mound and totally in control against the Pirates on Sunday.

Per the linked box, Waino had just three hits and two walks given up through an eight-inning shutout performance, with a 7-0 lead. And, he had thrown fewer than 100 pitches.

So our brilliant manager, Mike Matheny, who has already illustrated misuse and overuse of the bullpen this year, has learned from this lesson, plus the easy opportunity to rest everybody, right?

Uhh, wrong!

Carlos Martinez unnecessarily pitches the ninth. 

These little things can add up after a while.

And, they continue to undermine confidence that people like me have in Matheny. No, he's not quite Ron Washington, but he's far short of brilliance.

And, by the end of this year, with him having three years in the hopper, per what I have blogged (and others) about WAR for managers or similar, we can make some more definite statements about just how far short of brilliance he is.

And, it's more than his relative lack of brilliance at times.

I'm going to introduce Bernie Miklasz, as he talks about Matheny and his "my guys" syndrome. Bernie does this in context of the spate of call-ups and send-downs Sunday night, which I blogged about here. Anyway, here's Bernie:

Given the situation in CF, ... there should be plenty of chances for (Randal) Grichuk to get into the lineup. 

Unless, of course, Matheny is caught up on on his “I'm going to stick by my guys” thing, which is occasionally a problem. I don't think Mozeliak wants Grichuk up here just to have a good seat in the dugout.

And, there you have it.

Also, if Matheny knew Mo was going to be making all these moves, and that he might have a thin batting order today, that was more reason yet for Waino to finish out the game from where I stand.