By
Nancy Kercheval
-

Fri Mar 02 05:01:00 GMT 2012

All-Star catcher Yadier Molina
signed a five-year contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, the
team said on its website.

The team declined to disclose terms. The accord is worth
$75 million with a mutual option for 2018 worth $15 million,
ranking the 29-year-old second among catchers behind Joe Mauer
of the Minnesota Twins, who signed an eight-year deal worth $184
million, ESPN reported.

Drafted by the Cardinals in 2000, four-time Gold Glove
winner Molina is also a three-time National League All-Star. He
had career highs with a .305 batting average, 14 home runs and
65 runs batted in last season.

“Yadier possesses game-changing ability both in the field
and at the plate,” said Cardinals’ General Manager John Mozeliak. “Yadier has proven to be a special talent when it
comes to the all-important challenges of the catcher position.”

Molina, drafted by the Cardinals in 2000, leads Major
League Baseball catchers in stolen-base percentage (39 percent)
and pick-offs (38) since 2005. In 944 career games, he has a.274
batting average, 55 home runs and 390 RBIs.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Nancy Kercheval in Washington at
nkercheval@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Michael Sillup at
msillup@bloomberg.net

Forget Albert Pujols. That’s what some fans in St. Louis are doing as hometown hero David Freese is becoming the new face of the St. Louis Cardinals.

ESPN reports Freese fever is everywhere. He and some friends were at a local bar in late November and the establishment was half full when they went in. By the time Freese left, the place was jammed. The great feature on the sports website delves thoroughly into the 29-year-old’s rise to fame after nearly giving up on the game of baseball altogether.

Freese is already a decent hitter with a career .298 average. The only reason he hasn’t gotten noticed much until the 2011 MLB postseason was that he doesn’t drive in many runs or hits home runs. Over 184 games he has just 15 dingers and 98 RBIs in three years.

Surely his two postseason MVP awards have changed that. It’s almost as if Pujols gave way to Freese as the future of the franchise. Prince Albert had the devastating performance in Game 3. But without Freese, there’s no World Series title in 2011 for sure. His clutch hits in Game 6 will be talked about for the next 10 years.

Give him a full season without injuries and Freese will be deadly. All he needs is more at-bats to find his swing and the third baseman will have Cardinals’ fans asking “Albert who?” after a second World Series title (prediction mine).

Sure, the Cardinals still have a hole a first base. But with great hitters such as Matt Holliday, Lance Berkman, Yadier Molina and now Freese in the lineup, murderer’s row may well be in St. Louis next season.

The only person missing from an early-season demolition derby is Allen Craig. He will miss the first two months of the season with leg surgery.

There aren’t many holes the Cardinals can’t plug. As long the current players stay healthy there should be no reason why St. Louis can’t make another run deep into the postseason. As much as Pujols led the team over the past 10 years in batting performance, the next decade will be marked by players who have the potential to be equally as consistent. The lineup of Craig, Freese and Holliday can be a solid one for the next 10 years if they can avoid hitting slumps, bad seasons and injuries.

Should one of them reach superstar status, the Los Angeles Angels or New York Yankees may snatch away more Cardinals in free agency. Until then, it’s time for fans to enjoy the players we have and not the ones that moved on to other teams.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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The St. Louis Cardinals will announce the hiring of Mike Matheny as their new manager at a press conference Nov. 14. Matheny played for St. Louis from 2000 to 2004 and was an instructor for the St. Louis Cardinals minor league system.

Other interviewees for the job included Iowa Cubs manager Ryne Sandberg, former Boston Red Sox manager Terry Francona and Memphis Redbirds manager Chris Maloney.

Matheny has no previous managerial experience.

I was hoping the Cardinals would hire Francona, a proven winner in the managerial ranks despite being fired from Boston for a late-season collapse. However, I can see why the Cardinals are making a risky move to hire Matheny.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Matheny’s predecessor, Tony LaRussa, said Matheny was the only ballplayer he’d let one of his daughters marry. Coming from a future hall of fame manager, that statement apparently says a lot about the man’s character.

Matheny is young and only 41 years old. He can still understand the needs of players in the dugout. Matheny only stopped playing after the 2006 season when he suited up 47 games for the San Francisco Giants. He spent five years in St. Louis and helped develop pitchers such as Chris Carpenter. Matheny also mentored current catcher Yadier Molina(notes). He won five Gold Gloves overall, four with the Cardinals.

Most importantly is that the new manager might be able to help convince slugger Albert Pujols(notes) to stay in St. Louis. Major League Baseball’s most prolific free agent bonanza is centering around the man who has defined the Cardinals’ organization for the past decade. Matheny might be young enough to try to convince Pujols to stay in town despite the possibility of other offers from teams that might offer more money.

The one possible difficulty is that Matheny needs to be a leader from the get go. Some of his bench coaches will be older than he is, but the new manager needs to assert he is the boss in the dugout. Whereas LaRussa was a fatherly-type figure to many players, Matheny needs to be an older brother and not just “one of the guys.” Matheny has to foster a sense of camaraderie but also one of nurturing new players.

Without any previous managing experience, the new hiring will become a great experiment for the Cardinals. On paper it doesn’t look like this match will work. But I’m not the general manager. Hopefully what John Mozeliak sees in Matheny is just what the Cardinals need to continue winning traditions in St. Louis.

No one doubts Matheny’s attitude and class. Matheny was a great player in his years with the Cardinals in St. Louis. His ability as a leader is what has to develop very quickly for St. Louis to have a successful 2012 season.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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The St. Louis Cardinals and their remarkable comeback in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series will go down as one of the greatest ever. No team ever came back from a two-run deficit twice in one game in the World Series. St. Louis scored six runs in the final four innings to win 10-9 in epic fashion after 11 innings.

Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Wikimedia Commons

There were plenty of heroes for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 6 . Here they are in no particular order.

David Freese(notes)

The most obvious hero was David Freese. His two-out, two-strike triple in the bottom of the ninth tied the game at seven runs each. His hit was just out of reach of Nelson Cruz(notes) and his outstretched glove. It seemed as though Cruz was more worried about the wall instead of catching a World Series-clinching out. Freese would step up again in the bottom of the 11th to win it on a lead-off solo home run .

Lance Berkman(notes)

Lance Berkman got a single in the bottom of the 10th to score Jon Jay(notes). A run scored the play before on a ground out to third with runners on second and third with one out. Berkman, like Freese, was down to his last strike of the last out. The Rangers were one strike away twice from winning their first title.

Albert Pujols(notes)

Albert Pujols hadn’t gotten a hit since his incredible three-homer performance in Game 3 Oct. 22. Then in the bottom of the ninth of Game 6, Pujols got the rally started with a double to left center with one out. Berkman walked a batter later before Freese’s triple. Pujols was intentionally walked in the 10th which backfired since Berkman got a single anyway one batter later.

Yadier Molina(notes)

Yadier Molina walked in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at four runs each. The bases were loaded at the time and Molin could have just as easily tried to make something happen. Instead, he was patient and walked in a run.

Allen Craig(notes)

Allen Craig should be called Mr. Clutch for the 2011 World Series. He pinch hit twice in the World Series before and had RBIs both times in the first two games When he came into Game 6 in the eighth inning, Craig hit a solo shot to make the game 7-5, still in favor of Texas. His only hit on the night was the homer.

Who will be the hero in Game 7? I can’t wait to find out.

We are Cardinal Nation.

William Browning was born in St. Louis and is a lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. He currently resides in Branson, Mo.

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By Dan Moore

– Managing Editor

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Aug 31, 2011 – Tuesday night the St. Louis Cardinals finally got the Edwin Jackson they traded Colby Rasmus to acquire, and then some; the starter allowed just one run over seven innings, didn’t walk a batter, and drove in the team’s first run with a bases-loaded single to top the Milwaukee Brewers, putting the on-the-edge Cardinals to 9.5 games back in the National League Central. Jon Jay drove in the other run for the Cardinals, who improved to 71-64. Shaun Marcum, who didn’t allow a single earned run, was the hard-luck loser; he falls to 11-5 on the season.

The middle of the Cardinals’ order was 0-10, but the back of the order, including recently dropped shortstop Rafael Furcal, delivered in the fifth inning after taking advantage of two fifth-inning errors. Jackson, following up a Yadier Molina single, broke through with a single, and Jon Jay scored Furcal with a sacrifice fly to end the scoring for St. Louis. 

Jake Westbrook and Randy Wolf will meet Wednesday to continue the series, which ends with the Cardinals sending rookie Brandon Dickson—currently still a member of the Memphis Redbirds—up against Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo. Cardinals starter Jaime Garcia is being skipped in the rotation after a rough August that featured a 6.84 ERA. 

Read More: Jake Westbrook (P – STL), Edwin Jackson (P – STL), Rafael Furcal (SS – STL), Randy Wolf (P – MIL), Yadier Molina (C – STL), Shaun Marcum (P – MIL), Yovani Gallardo (P – MIL), Jaime Garcia (P – STL), Colby Rasmus (CF – TOR), Jon Jay (RF – STL), Brandon Dickson (P – STL), St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers

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MILWAUKEE, Aug. 31 (UPI) — Edwin Jackson tossed seven solid innings and provided a run-scoring single Tuesday in the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2-1 win over Milwaukee.

Jackson (4-2) surrendered only one run on six hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned three for the Cardinals, who opened a three-game set in Milwaukee with a victory.

The right-hander helped himself at the plate as well. After the Cards had loaded the bases in the fifth inning on a pair of Brewers errors and Yadier Molina’s single, Jackson lined an 0-2 pitch to right for a 1-0 lead.

John Jay followed with a sacrifice fly to double the advantage.

Milwaukee’s Shawn Marcum (11-5) took the hard-luck loss, yielding just two unearned runs on four hits over seven frames as the National League Central-leading Brewers lost for only the sixth time in 33 games.

Nyjer Morgan went 3-for-4 with an RBI double for Milwaukee.

St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) – Lance Berkman’s two-run homer in the eighth
inning lifted the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4, in the
second test of a four-game series.

Yadier Molina hit a three-run homer for the Cardinals, who have won two in a
row since a three-game skid.

St. Louis starter Jake Westbrook gave up four runs on seven hits over six-plus
innings. He walked five and struck out three. Kyle McClellan (10-6) tossed a
scoreless eighth and ninth to pick up the win.

Jose Tabata, Josh Harrison, Ryan Doumit and Andrew McCutchen each drove in a
run for the Pirates.

James McDonald allowed three runs on five hits over six-plus innings for
Pittsburgh. Jose Veras (2-4) gave up the homer to Berkman to suffer the loss.

The Sports Network

Clayton Kershaw won his National League-leading 16th game and Rod Barajas homered twice in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 13-2 victory over the fast-fading St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Kyle Lohse (11-8) was rocked for a season-worst eight runs in three innings, an impossible deficit against the 23-year-old Kershaw, who struck out eight in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals have lost six of eight and dropped a season-high 10 games behind the NL Central-leading Brewers.

Matt Kemp hit a three-run homer in the first and Barajas had a solo homer in the third and three-run shot in the fifth for his 11th multihomer game, also giving him four in five games. The Dodgers hit a season-high four homers while winning consecutive games in St. Louis for the first time since July 9-10, 2003, and will go for a three-game sweep on Wednesday behind Hiroki Kuroda.

Kershaw (16-6) is 8-1 with a 1.21 ERA in his last nine starts and hiked his NL-leading strikeout total to 207. The Cardinals threatened twice, but Kershaw struck out Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman with two on to end the first and struck out the side in the fourth to negate a double, infield hit and walk.

Kemp also doubled and scored in the second and needs one homer to become the second player in franchise history with 30 homers and 30 steals. Barajas is batting .381 (16-for-42) in August with five homers, three doubles and 16 RBIs in 13 games.

Yadier Molina and Rafael grounded into double plays to give the Cardinals 139 on the year, by far the most in the majors. Second baseman Skip Schumaker pitched the ninth and surrendered a solo homer to Aaron Miles, who had been the last Cardinals position player to pitch, twice last season.

Lohse had been 5-1 with a 2.98 ERA against NL West opponents before coming up empty, with half of the Dodgers’ eight hits for extra bases. The right-hander had won his previous three decisions.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa passed on a chance to cut into Kershaw’s cushion when he allowed reliever Mitchell Boggs to bat with two outs and the bases loaded in the fourth. Boggs struck out on three pitches.

Notes: Kuroda (9-14, 2.88) has won his last two decisions heading into Wednesday’s matchup against Jaime Garcia (10-6, 3.45), who’s struggled this month with a 5.48 ERA. … Cardinals RHP Jason Motte has made 27 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run. … St. Louis SS made an outstanding play in the hole, going into the hole and making a strong throw that just beat Juan Rivera. … Kershaw reached 200 strikeouts the seventh earliest date in franchise history. Sandy Koufax has the five fastest, three of them in July.