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Yeah Bling, those post-game pressers are beyond odd and what you’ve termed, “reality disconnect” is a better description that I’ve been able to come up with. And I’ve never really thought about the creepy aspect, but yeah, it’s an eerie sort of atmosphere and I’ve often found myself slack-jawed and lost in state of bewilderment as I listened to what the guy says and wonder to myself, Did he really say that?” It really is out there, but I don’t know where…
If you want obvious proof how bad this offense is check Bernie’s article on just how pathetic this team is on offense. Astounding the condition of this roster.
The lack of effort is disgusting! They don’t even try! Ya know the Nationals are bad but I have been watching the. This week play Miami and they compete every game! It has to be the manager! Martinez is very respected and gets his team ready to play! This is so pitiful and I don’t look for any real change until Olli and Mo are gone! Next year is gonna look a lot like this with those 2 still around imo!
I don’t think Ollie has developed a feel for striking a balance between standing up for his players and respecting the paying customers and fan base that has years or decades invested in the team. If a person has made being a fan a part of his or her life for years or decades, investing time, money, emotional energy, and contributing to making Cardinals Nation what it is, it can be argued that nobody has more skin in the game. Those fans deserve to be shown some consideration. That includes not insulting their intelligence. It means not playing the elephant in the corner with a lampshade on its head schtick. And pretending like if you don’t talk about it, no one will know or care. Coming off like he was just at a different game than the one we just saw, and watching a different team thatn the one we just watched, is just wrong. He needs to mature and he needs to do better. If he thinks his players aren’t man enough to take their medicine after a dreadful performance, then there is another issue. What that is depends on whether he is right or wrong about that.
This lineup is a hollow shell of what it used to be. Missing this game were Arenado, Nootbaar and Donovan; with a return to the lineup of Gorman, who looks lost at the plate.
We are consistently starting part time bench players in O’Neill, Burleson, Mott, Palacios, Baker, Winn, Fermin and Walker.
It looks like a AAA lineup with 3 regulars sprinkled in. It’s not indicative of what the 2024 lineup can be IF BillyMo doesn’t rape the lineup for pitching in trades.
This team has never decided on a lineup and stuck with it. The entire season has been spent fiddling.
I’m in total agreement with the striking a balance. No one demonstrated more loyalty and allegiance towards his players than LaRussa, while at the same time acknowledging poor performance with clear and simple statements such as “Maybe we’re just not good enough,” and “Your W/L record defines who you are.” You can’t read anything into those types of statements other than genuine reality and I believe those types of statements challenged and motivated his players to ramp up their desire to win. I also think that the loyalty he demonstrated towards the players he led was rewarded tenfold in the form of utter respect for him as the leader of teams he managed. Like him or not, TLR never talked out of both sides of his mouth and I think anyone whoever played for him knew that to be the case.
I have not watched any of Ollie’s post game pressers, but from what you guys say it sounds as if he is in an alternate reality. And he has that look about him during the games – he always looks sort of spaced out and non-expressive, like he has no clue about how to deal with the chaos that is ensuing.
As bad as this club is and as banged up as the roster has gotten, the lack of leadership has been obvious all year long. There is no passion, no strength. There are probably clubs we could look at in history that can get along with a quiet, emotionaless manager as the talent was just too good to keep them down. But when you have a younger team with a lot of moving parts, you need a take charge man running the show. We don’t have it.
I don’t fully blame the executive level for hiring Ollie – it looked like they had a talented club that just needed someone to make the decisions based on their analytics, and not provide any true leadership input. But the talent was not what they thought, and thus we have a disconnect between field leadership and cumulative player ability.
I think we need to bring in someone with experience at winning to help this group figure out what it can do. Although some, maybe most on here would disagree, Joe Maddon could be a good fit – a Cardinal fan as a kid, great leadership ability, proven winner, outgoing personality. He might be the guy, despite his lousy track record with the Los Angeles American League club. That team has not exactly blossomed since he left.
I’d take Maddon or just about anyone else who possessed some practical experience. Most of this disaster isn’t the current Cardinal manager’s fault in the sense that he was thrown into the fire. If someone placed me into the pilot’s seat of a commercial jet aircraft, I’m reasonablt certain that the passengers would be in serious trouble. I’d do my best, but I’d probably crash the thing onto the deck.
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