What Nolan Arenado's follow-through reveals about bringing road surge home: Cardinals Extra

OAKLAND, Calif. — For his manager, it was what the swing let loose that signaled the potential for an oncoming surge, but for Nolan Arenado, it was what held on tight that did.

When the Cardinals cleanup hitter began this road trip with a three-run homer in Arizona, how his swing ended was classic, comfortable — that one-handed, high-finish follow-through that had been missing, replaced at times by a tight, two-fisted finish. He knows fans see it, too. Imagine how it feels.

“I don’t want to,” Arenado said of the two-handed follow-through Wednesday morning at Oakland Coliseum. “I know people don’t like seeing it. I don’t like feeling it and doing it. I think a lot of it has to do with posture. I was a little wide, so for me to load, I was loading (with the upper body). Lately, I’ve been a little narrower. It’s helping me get clear.”

It’s helping him take off.

Before finishing the road trip with strikeouts in his final two at-bats — including one on a wicked, 99 mph hornet of a fastball — Arenado was 10 for 22 (.454) on the road trip with a slugging percentage of .682. He walked and singled in his first two plate appearances Wednesday before the Cardinals slipped 6-3 to the Athletics. He crammed about as much production into the six-game road trip as he had in the first two weeks of the season, raising his average to .299, and Marmol traces it back to that three-run launch in Arizona.

“Once he hit the homer, every swing after that has been getting his swing off,” the manager said. “It’s been aggressive. It hasn’t been in between. He’s doing what he wants with the barrel. And rather than the pitcher getting him out, he was just missing pitches and getting himself out. It’s different. He’s doing what he wants in the box now, and you can see the difference.”

It’s right there in the follow-through.

Over the past year or so, Arenado has been working on increasing his hand speed and bat speed while also unlocking his ability to drive the ball to right field. He has the most pull-side homers in the majors since his debut. He once likened the drive for more hand speed to delivering a punch, and he referred back to that Wednesday to describe how he feels he got into a bind with the two-handed finish. What once was just a drill suddenly became part of his swing as a reaction to his upper half getting in the way of the swing. He felt like he was effectively blocking that punch he wanted to deliver.

“If your posture is tall and (you’re open), you’re going to be able to get a good punch in,” Arenado said. “When I’m going good, my posture is really good and my upper body is out of the way. When my upper body gets in the way, that’s when you get that two-handed finish. I think I created really bad habits in spring training, and I’m trying to slowly get away from them.”

One of those habits was twisting his torso to load instead of using his hands.

On his 33rd birthday Tuesday, Arenado had two singles and keyed a rally for the Cardinals with a leadoff bolt — with a one-handed follow-through. He noted Wednesday how Albert Pujols had to adjust his stance over time, going from the wider base that won three Most Valuable Player awards in St. Louis to the more compact stance he had when returning from the Angels. Arenado has adopted a similar change — moving his feet closer so that he feels more upright. Back discomfort late last season “didn’t help” that posture he’s now trying to get back in place.

“It’s harder to maintain, so it’s something in the cage I really focus on,” Arenado said. “I think, for me, if I’m finishing high and I’m finishing on my back side, that is when I’m in a pretty good place.”

An example came a few hours later. After a leadoff single by Lars Nootbaar, Arenado came up and on an 0-1 pitch from Paul Blackburn, Arenado missed with a two-handed follow-through. Two pitches later, at 1-2, Nootbaar got a jump from first. Blackburn came back in the zone. And Arenado drilled a single to right field — complete with one-handed follow-through. He went with the pitch. He had the punch. He had the follow through.

By the end of the inning, the Cardinals had the lead.

It didn’t last. But his manager feels what Arenado found on the road will.

“He can lock it in for a while and ride it,” Marmol said. “For the type of hitter Nolan is, it takes one swing. He clicks it in and goes from there. That swing (in Arizona) clicked it in, and we’re going from there.”

Quick chat with Rickey Henderson

Not too far from the logo for “Rickey Henderson Field,” the name of the playing surface at the Oakland Coliseum, Cardinals rookie Victor Scott II did what few could during Henderson’s career — caught up with him. Before Tuesday’s late game, Scott, who stole 94 bases last season and aspires to steal 100 in a season, introduced himself to the all-time stolen base king and then ...

“Took a couple of steps back and just listened,” Scott said.

The rookie stood with Henderson and Cardinals coach Willie McGee for several minutes ahead of batting practice.

“I just wanted to be in his presence,” Scott said. “I listened to his and Willie’s conversation about how the game was, how they played it, how they had fun with it, and some of the biggest takeaways was how he had fun with the game. How he approached it was, ultimately, to have fun. Every day to him was a game. If he was in a slump, OK, I’m going to get out of it.”

To catch a thief (or two)

The Cardinals halted a streak of 13 consecutive successful steals against them to open the season with a runner caught in the first inning Monday. Improving how they patrol thefts on the bases is an ongoing goal this season especially as first-year backup catcher Ivan Herrera works on that facet of his defensive responsibilities.

With a steal in the sixth inning Wednesday, opponents improved to 11 for 11 against Herrera this season. That steal combined with a double play that wasn’t turned led to the A’s sixth run of the game.

“It’s something he’s going to continue to work on,” Marmol said.

The Cardinals were not the last team to throw out a runner this season — the second season with limited pickoff attempts and larger bases to grease the base paths for more steals. Entering play Wednesday, opponents were 25 for 25 in steal attempts against the Mets and 13 for 13 against the Pirates. Milwaukee catcher William Contreras, Willson’s younger brother, started the day without a runner caught in 10 attempts against him this season. The Phillies’ J.T. Realmuto had caught three of the 20 who have tried against him.

Opponents are 3 for 4 against Willson in steal attempts.

Extra bases

• Willson Contreras extended his on-base streak to 23 consecutive games dating back to last year. That is tied for the longest active streak with Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich, whose run is stalled by his move to the injured list ahead of visiting St. Louis.
• Ryan Helsley had his fifth three-up, three-down save of the season Tuesday night. That matches his total from all of last season — when he had 14 saves total and only five were perfect. Helsley entered Wednesday leading the majors with seven saves.

Matt Carpenter (oblique strain) made advancements in his swing program and will aim to take batting practice with the team this weekend as the Cardinals return home. Carpenter is eyeballing a rehab assignment with a minor league affiliate that would allow him to get a handful of plate appearances he wouldn’t be assured coming off the bench in the big leagues.

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OAKLAND, Calif. — The last of the big league starters with at least 16 innings pitched to allow his first run of this season could have done so three innings earlier if the Cardinals were the offense they must become.

Oakland’s Paul Blackburn skated into Wednesday’s series finale and, perhaps, final finale for the Cardinals at the Coliseum with a 0.00 ERA, and he promptly allowed three of the first four batters he faced to reach base. The Cardinals were a swing away from a statement rally against the right-hander who had yet to allow a run in three previous starts.

All they needed was that breakthrough hit.

They got two grounders.

Story of the season, thus far.

A lineup that cobbles together runs more than creates rallies stalled once again at three runs. All three came against Blackburn to bruise his ERA, but that wasn’t enough to complete a series sweep of the A’s as the Cardinals lost 6-3. Rather than finish the road trip 4-2, they soar home to St. Louis for the first division series of the season after a 3-3 trip where they scored just three runs in all three games in likely their last visit to Coliseum. The Cardinals have scored three or fewer runs in five consecutive games and 10 of their past 11.

“We’ve been able to scratch a couple of runs across the board just by finding ways to score runs, and that’s what’s allowed us to win some ballgames and be on the right side of it and be in every game,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s our ability to do that in the moment (that wins) because from a pure production standpoint, we’re not there yet.”

The loss in the final game of the three-game East Bay stop dropped the Cardinals’ overall record at the Coliseum to 5-6. They also slipped back below .500 for the season. They have yet to win the final game of any of the six series they’ve played this year, and in those games, they’re averaging 2½ runs. The Cardinals are two shy of tying the franchise record for losing the final game of series to start a season. In 1898, the St. Louis club opened the year 0-8 in series finales. That was the year before the club adopted the name the “Perfectos.”

They’ve only had to play that way this season due to a lack of offense.

The Cardinals return to Busch Stadium with a team batting average (.226), on-base percentage (.300) and slugging percentage (.353) that are all second-lowest in the National League. Four everyday players have more strikeouts thus far this season than hits. The second spot in the order, where former Most Valuable Player Paul Goldschmidt has struggled, has producing a .186 average and .229 slugging.

“It’s hard to continue to say it’s a matter of time, but when you’re talking to guys, they’re starting to feel closer and closer to where they want to get to,” Marmol said. “You trust them. You believe in them because over time they’ve been right. There are a decent amount of guys who are starting to feel closer to where they want to be swing-wise and approach-wise and how they feel in the box. My answer would be that: We’re getting there.”

With few exceptions — Willson Contreras’ daily double or Nolan Arenado’s strong road trip — the Cardinals have lacked the drive that turns opportunities into rallies, rallies into routs.

A microcosm of their season came in the sixth inning Wednesday as they chased Blackburn (2-0) from the start. Contreras led off with his second double of the game. A ground ball got him to third base, and a misstep on his part — he got “locked up,” said Marmol — kept him from scoring on another ground ball. The Cardinals should have cut the A’s lead in half, but the inning wasn’t over, their opportunity wasn’t lost. Oakland pitched around Masyn Winn to reach the No. 9 spot in the order and the matchup both sides wanted.

The A’s turned to left-hander and ground-ball guru T.J. McFarland.

The Cardinals countered with right-handed pinch hitter Jordan Walker, who, in his career, has had one of the higher ground-ball rates. But the second-year outfielder has made strides in recent weeks to lift more line drives, to dig out or ignore the low pitch he sees more than anyone else. With two outs, the Cardinals did not need to manufacture another run. They needed to erupt.

“You’ve got to take your shot of him (doing) what we need him to do and drive the baseball, which the last couple of games he’s done more of,” Marmol said. “You have got to give him the opportunity to do it. Our best chance to get back in that game would be the drive the baseball.”

The inning ended as McFarland innings often do — with a ground-out.

The Cardinals yanked the lead away from the Athletics in the fourth inning with three consecutive hits to great Blackburn. Credit the catchers. Contreras, who started at DH due to a sore left hand from catching late Tuesday, drove in the first run with his first double of the game. Two batters later, catcher Ivan Herrera skipped a single up the middle to score two runs, tying the game and taking the lead. The Cardinals turned five base runners in that inning and 11 base runners total against Blackburn into just three runs. The only extra-base hits were Contreras’.

The game turned on the damage the Athletics delivered — even when it was briefly taken away from them. Cardinals lefty Steven Matz allowed two runs on Esteury Ruiz’s homer in the third inning and then took the mound with the lead in fifth. Three consecutive hits later and the A’s had tied the game 3-3. It could have been worse. Matz left a change-up over the plate that Shea Langeliers drilled into the left-center gap. Instead of caroming off the wall and allowing two runs to score, the ball got stuck between the base of the wall and the track. A ground-rule double put a runner back at third.

“That was a big at-bat,” Matz said. “He got me there.”

But unlike the ball, Matz had a way to get loose of the jam.

A strikeout and Matz would have capitalized on ground rules.

Instead, the A’s did unto the Cardinals as the Cardinals did unto them.

A day after the Cardinals turned productive outs into a victory, the Athletics scored a run on a ground-out and another on a sacrifice fly to take and secure the lead.

It is a brand of baseball that does thrive at the Coliseum. With its large outfield and an enormous foul territory — where Goldschmidt alone made two catches impossible at other venues — there are outs to be had and offense to create in the seams of the game, not over the wall. That’s the market’s efficiency. Given modern trends toward seats closer to the field and walls closer to the hitter, it’s unlikely the game will see a ballpark layout like Oakland’s Coliseum any time soon after the A’s uproot their franchise and intend to leave for Sacramento after this season.

Like the Coliseum, the Cardinals’ current style of offense is not sustainable.

“It’s a frustrating one,” Marmol said of the loss. “You want to win that one and sweep and go home and feel good about it in to an off-day. Overall, just didn’t produce enough offense to give ourselves a shot.”

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ST. LOUIS — Diamond Sports Group believes it can rapidly grow its streaming business in the next few years and offset the sagging cable viewership that pushed the broadcast company into bankruptcy last year.

Court records filed this week show that Diamond — the parent of Cardinals and Blues broadcaster Bally Sports Midwest — expects a deal with Amazon to launch in October, ahead of the NBA and NHL seasons. As part of that agreement, Amazon Prime Video would become Diamond’s main streaming partner.

In the new filings, the company forecasts that while linear cable subscribers will continue to decline — to 24.9 million in 2026, from 29.8 million this year — direct-to-consumer streaming subscribers will grow to 3.4 million, from 1.1 million this year.

But the sports leagues that rely on Diamond to broadcast their games are raising concerns about the company’s timeline. Diamond’s networks broadcast games for 11 MLB, 15 NBA and 11 NHL teams.

The Cardinals’ current deal with Bally Sports could continue into 2025 and beyond, depending on decisions made in the bankruptcy proceedings. But Cardinals officials have said they want to give fans more ways to access games and would study various options, regardless of what happens with Bally.

Diamond filed for Chapter 11 protection last March, following years of mounting financial pressure and declining cable subscriptions. The case set off a period of uncertainty for the dozens of professional teams that Diamond pays for the right to broadcast games.

After nearly a year in bankruptcy, the company in January announced that it had secured a lifeline: a series of deals to inject hundreds of millions of dollars into the business. A settlement agreement with parent company Sinclair promised $495 million in cash. And a deal with Amazon promised to bring the cable-reliant company further into the streaming business.

If executed properly, the proposal would allow Diamond to emerge from Chapter 11 proceedings and continue airing professional sports.

Over the past few weeks, the plan hit a hurdle when the NBA, MLB and NHL pushed back on Diamond’s request to take more time to work out those deals.

“These entities are beginning to get concerned,” said Abigail Willie, a visiting assistant professor at St. Louis University School of Law who reviewed the leagues’ responses. “They’re sitting there biting their nails, waiting to see if the debtor can pull this off.”

The bankruptcy court judge approved an extension for Diamond this week, and the company offered assurances to the leagues at a hearing Wednesday. But the filings show that Diamond is under pressure to pull off several key negotiations in coming months.

In the court documents, attorneys for the NHL and NBA raised concerns that the bankruptcy case could stretch into another season. The NBA wrote that if Diamond fails to reach deals quickly and is forced to wind down its business, the league won’t have enough time to arrange another method of broadcasting its games and monetizing its rights for the 2024-25 season.

“These things do not happen overnight,” the NBA lawyers wrote. “They require time-consuming and costly preparation and sometimes challenging negotiations with third parties. After having had two NBA seasons adversely affected by (Diamond’s) financial distress and bankruptcy, the NBA and its fans should not be subjected to a third season of disruption and uncertainty.”

An attorney for Diamond said during the hearing that the company is moving quickly and could get a plan finalized by mid-June, ahead of the basketball and hockey seasons.

Attorneys for MLB and seven of its teams (the St. Louis Cardinals were not among them) wrote in filings last week that they had “serious concerns” about the assumptions underpinning the bankruptcy plan. The league noted that Diamond depends on three distributors for the majority of its revenue — DirecTV, Charter and Comcast — but so far had only announced a renewal agreement with Charter. And the company hadn’t given evidence to support projections for its streaming business. Without those details, the attorneys wrote, the MLB couldn’t determine whether Diamond’s bankruptcy plan is viable.

Brian Hermann, an attorney for the company, said during Wednesday’s hearing that Diamond is confident it can reach agreements with DirecTV and Comcast.

Diamond filed a more detailed set of disclosures this week about its plan to emerge from bankruptcy, including its forecasts for streaming growth. On Wednesday, the judge said he planned to approve the disclosures, which a Diamond spokesperson called an “important step” in the company’s restructuring.

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OAKLAND, Calif. — With a chance to close out their limited history at the Oakland Coliseum with a winning record and something they’ve been chasing in the present, the Cardinals let a lead slip from them in the middle of the game.

The Athletics bullpen assured they did little about it late in the game.

In what is likely the Cardinals’ final game ever at the Coliseum before the Athletics uproot and head ... somewhere ... the Cardinals misplaced a lead during the fifth inning and lost 6-3 on Wednesday afternoon. For the Cardinals, it was another missed chance to sweep a series, and they fell to 0-6 this season in the final game of a series. They are now two shy of the team record for losing the final game of a series to open a season, a record that was set in 1898, a few years before they became the Cardinals.

With a win Wednesday, the Cardinals would have also left the spacious Coliseum with an all-time winning record of 6-5. It was on the precipice of .500 Wednesday.

The A’s can leave Oakland with a winning record against St. Louis.

Oakland closer Mason Miller hit 102 mph with the final pitch of the game to conclude his fourth save of the season with a strikeout. Oakland flipped the game in the decisive fifth inning against Cardinals starter Steven Matz. The Cardinals finished 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position, but it was Oakland using productive outs for a three-run rally and a bullpen fiercely holding that lead that decided the game.

Lefty Matz (1-1) allowed a two-run homer in third inning to Esteury Ruiz but had the lead going into the fifth inning. Three consecutive hits and a three-run burst in the fifth flipped the game on him. He allowed five runs on seven hits and three walks. In the inning he needed a strikeout to take advantage of a fortuitous ground-rule double — if there is such a thing — he did not get one of his four whiffs. 

Cardinals 1st to crack Blackburn

Oakland right-hander Paul Blackburn (2-0) brought a spotless 0.00 ERA into his fourth start of the season, and it appeared the Cardinals had a clear shot at bruising it before he got an out Wednesday. The first two batters in the top of the first inning reached base. Blackburn regained control of the inning when he got Lars Nootbaar to ground into a double play — one that was challenged by the Cardinals and confirmed by officials in New York.

That left the Cardinals without two runners on base and without their challenge coming out of the first inning.

Blackburn’s ERA escaped unchanged.

That was not the case in the fourth inning. More than 22 innings into his season, Blackburn allowed his first runs of the season when three consecutive Cardinals connected for base hits. Nootbaar stung a single to right. He took off for second as Arenado did the same. The first two doubles from Willson Contreras scored Nootbaar, and then Ivan Herrera claimed a lead for the Cardinals with his two-run single up the middle. Contreras scored the run on his fellow catcher’s hit for a 3-2 lead.

McFarland keeps Cardinals grounded

In the sixth inning, Contreras led off with his second double of the game for his second two-double game of the series. That gave the Cardinals a quick chance to respond with a rally. It faltered on two ground balls before the A’s ever went to their ground-ball specialist.

Contreras took third on a ground-out, and when Herrera followed with another ground ball to shortstop, his fellow catcher did not break for home on contact.

He didn’t go when the shortstop flung the ball to first.

A run that would have cut the Athletics’ lead in half instead remained at third base. That helped Oakland make the call to pitch around Masyn Winn and get lefty and ground-ball-getter T.J. McFarland into the game. The Cardinals had a counter for their former lefty reliever — though the trends lined up for the A’s. The Cardinals pinch-hit Jordan Walker for Michael Siani. That gave them the right-handed bat against McFarland’s left-handed delivery, but Oakland benefited from getting one of the best ground-ball relievers against one of the hitters with the highest ground-ball rate.

Walker drilled a ground ball to third to end the inning.

Missteps widen A’s lead

Contreras’ choice not to break from third and see where the inning went was the first of two missteps in the same inning that helped Oakland widen its lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Nolan Gorman lost control of a ball at second base and was unable to attempt a double play that would have ended the inning. That allowed A’s leadoff hitter Ruiz to reach first on the force-out.

He did not stay there.

Ruiz added a stolen base to his earlier homer, and by getting to second, he was in position to score on Tyler Nevin’s RBI single instead of Nevin never coming up at all in that inning.

When a lucky bounce isn’t so lucky

Matz held the A’s scoring to a two-run homer through four innings and his teammates had claimed a lead for him going into the bottom of the fifth. Three consecutive base hits put all of that in jeopardy and, momentarily, gave the A’s the lead.

A bounce — or rather a lack of one — changed that.

Shea Langeliers' clear double to the left-center gap got caught between the base of the wall and the warning track. Wedged into that tight spot, the ball did not ricochet out to a Cardinals outfielder. Instead of Langeliers driving in two teammates to tie the game and immediately untie it, the hit was ruled a ground-rule double and Zack Gelof was called out of the dugout to get back at third base.

He did not stay there, either.

Matz got outs from the next two batters, but each of those balls in play brought home a runner to push the A’s from a 3-3 tie into a two-run lead. Gelof scored on a ground-out, and Langeliers followed him with a run on a sacrifice fly. The ground-rule double gave Matz a brief reprieve, but — like the ball — he was wedged in and unable to get free.

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When he stepped to the microphone that stands at the peak of a career spent in baseball, Whitey Herzog first mentioned how “everybody said I was going to cry,” and he almost made it all the way through, too, without so much as a crack in his voice. Almost.

On that eventually sunny day in July 2010, a long way from where he grew up in New Athens but a short walk from where he’ll reside forever at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Herzog had a keen feel for the crowd. He always did. He sensed fans were restless after some lengthy speeches and edited his down on the fly. The Cardinals great told a tale that involved beer and getting four hits, praised the play of a rival, chided an umpire and, as if the tears were opponents, remained two steps ahead. He always was.

He didn’t waver as, from the podium, he spoke to his wife, Mary Lou Herzog, and highlighted their family seated all around her. It was only then, at the end of his speech, that he started to describe what it felt like to be inducted, to be a Hall of Famer, and the emotions started to seep between the words.

“Being elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York,” Herzog said, “is like going to heaven before you die.”

An innovative and charismatic manager who had a style of baseball, “Whiteyball,” named for him, Herzog was as deft with a story as he was with a pitching change and as quick-witted as his signature teams were quick-footed.

Herzog spent this past weekend embraced by family during the final moments of an illness. He died Monday in the St. Louis area less than two weeks after he attended the Cardinals’ home opener at Busch Stadium.

He was 92.

“Whitey spent his last few days surrounded by his family,” the Herzog family said in a statement released by the club. “We have appreciated all of the prayers and support from friends who knew he was very ill. Although it is hard for us to say goodbye, his peaceful passing was a blessing for him.”

Heralded throughout his life by his peers as one of the all-time great baseball strategists, Herzog created a legacy in St. Louis that went beyond the 1982 World Series championship and three National League pennants to shape the way the Cardinals are expected to play even today. It was a style so fast, so fun to watch and so successful that the club and its fans are always chasing it. The team’s Hall of Fame is chocked with players from his teams, the club’s defensive identity and grip on earning the league’s most Gold Glove Awards began with him, and those 3 million fans expected each season — yeah, that local kid did good as Herzog helped sell all those seats and throughout the 1980s got fans leaping from them.

The style’s architect and namesake, Herzog became the crew-cut, crack-up and sometimes combative face of the franchise whose eagerness to discuss baseball strategy — sometimes with a can of Budweiser in front of him — became the model expected by Cardinals Nation of the managers who followed. His personality and availability set the table for how baseball is discussed in St. Louis to this day.

Herzog arrived here in June 1980, after a lost decade for the organization, and as longtime Post-Dispatch baseball writer Rick Hummel once said, “Cardinals baseball was changed forever.”

“I look back at Whitey Herzog as the guy who revived baseball in St. Louis,” said major league player, longtime league executive and St. Louis native Lee Thomas in 1990. “To appreciate that, you have to look back at how bad things were before he came in. He made new life in St. Louis to the tune of 3 million (fans) a year. Whitey probably had more to do with that anybody.”

“To be somewhat, if not underrated, then undercelebrated outside of Missouri,” broadcaster Bob Costas said Tuesday on MLB Network, “I think Whitey Herzog fits that description.”

Dorrel Norman Elvert Herzog was born in New Athens on Nov. 9, 1931. He joked during his Hall of Fame induction speech that if not for baseball he would have stayed in his working-class hometown, about 45 minutes from Busch Stadium, “digging ditches” or something. He starred in basketball and baseball and out of high school signed a contract with the New York Yankees. In 1949, he debuted with the Yankees’ Class D affiliate in McAlester, Oklahoma, where he picked up the nickname “Whitey.” He hit .279 that summer with a .361 on-base percentage and 15 stolen bases to launch a career that would include six seasons in the minors and nearly nine in the majors.

During his minor league career, Herzog would compete for attention within the Yankees organization against a young outfielder named Mickey Mantle, and in the late 1950s, Herzog would call Satchel Paige a teammate.

Herzog reached the majors in 1956 and played parts of three seasons for the Washington Senators before moving to the Kansas City Athletics, Baltimore and Detroit. He played 634 games in the majors and hit .257 with a .354 on-base percentage.

“Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it,” Herzog once said.

While he never made the majors with the Yankees, he did meet his mentor there: Casey Stengel. An all-time great manager, Stengel remained an influence in Herzog’s career. He has scouted, coached and served as director of player development for the New York Mets. He was part of the group that built World Series teams in Queens for 1969 and 1973. Herzog got his first manager position in the majors with Texas in 1973. He managed the Angels in 1974 before moving to his run, from 1975 to 1979, with Kansas City. It was there, on the Royals’ home turf, that the seeds of Whiteyball began.

In 1980, the Cardinals hired Herzog as general manager and manager — the first in decades to hold both positions. He inherited a club that had not finished higher than third in the division since 1974, hadn’t finished first since 1968. He later told Hummel, a Hall of Famer himself who was a favorite chronicler and trusted confidant for Herzog, that the team “had a lot of holes, and we had a high payroll.” In December 1980, Herzog dramatically changed that.

On the eve of the winter meetings, Herzog greeted Hummel at the event’s hotel in Dallas and said: “Hey, where you been? I’ve got trades to make.”

In a flurry of 23 players on the move, 14 went out, nine came in.

A year later, Herzog made his defining trade — sending a shortstop with whom he had feuded, Garry Templeton, to San Diego for the best defensive player arguably ever at the position, Ozzie Smith.

Whiteyball was full speed ahead.

The Cardinals had the best overall record in 1981, but the split-season meant no playoffs. They won the World Series in 1982 and would return there as NL champions in 1985 and 1987. In 1985, Herzog’s Cardinals, paced by Vince Coleman, stole a St. Louis-fitting 314 bases. He said he “changed the whole concept of the way to play baseball because we couldn’t hit a home run and we could neutralize the power of the other team in our ballpark.” While the steals seize the attention, Herzog’s teams ran multiple blitzes — a heavy emphasis on athletic defense, strong pitching and matchup bullpens that underscored run prevention before run prevention was cool.

Forget turf, he once told Post-Dispatch baseball writer Neal Russo that the style of play “could even win on the moon.”

In his 11 seasons with the Cardinals, Herzog’s teams won 822 games and won seven games in each of three postseason appearances. A famously missed call at first base during the 1985 World Series helped keep the Whiteyball Cardinals from a second World Series title.

“Whitey and his teams played a big part in changing the direction of the Cardinals franchise in the early 1980s with an exciting style of play,” Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said in a statement.

“Whitey Herzog was one of the most accomplished managers of his generation and a consistent winner with both (Interstate 70) franchises,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “He made a significant impact on the St. Louis Cardinals as both a manager and general manager, with the Kansas City Royals as a manager. Whitey’s Cardinals teams reached the World Series ... by leaning on an identity of speed and defense that resonated with baseball fans across the world.”

In July 1990, Herzog abruptly resigned after a win against the Padres.

He would not return to a dugout as manager.

“You don’t replace somebody like that,” said longtime baseball executive Dave Dombrowski the day Herzog resigned. “He had a background in everything — the perfect baseball resume.”

As a manager, Herzog had two 100-win seasons, won the 1982 Major League Manager of the Year award and the 1985 NL Manager of the Year award, and ranks 39th all-time with 1,281 wins. His Hall of Fame plaque reads that he “maximized player contributions with a stern yet good-natured style, emphasizing speed, pitching and defense.”

After his career as a manager and executive, Herzog remained a presence around the Cardinals. He would annually visit spring training. He particularly liked to review the young players and offer opinions on prospects. In recent years, after a couple of falls, he had a cane handy — one made from a baseball bat engraved with his other nickname: “The White Rat.” With his fellow red jacket Cardinals Hall of Famers, he had an infectious laugh, often because he had told the story that started the laughing to begin with. During the Cardinals’ home opener earlier this month, he appeared to great ovation on the scoreboard and, during the game, talked with friends about Stan Musial.

Herzog was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the veterans committee in December 2009 and inducted that next July. Two days before he delivered that speech, before he avoided crying, he was brought to tears when, in Cooperstown, DeWitt told him of the honor that awaited him back in St. Louis.

The Cardinals would retire his No. 24.

“The fans loved it,” Herzog once told Hummel about the Cardinals’ play. “I still have fans every day that want to shake my hand for giving them exciting baseball for 10 years.”

Herzog is survived by his wife, Mary Lou, of 71 years; their three children, Debra, David and Jim and their spouses; nine grandchildren; and 10 great grandchildren.

The Herzog family intends to hold a private celebration of life at a later time.

The family asks any donations made as a memorial in Whitey Herzog’s name go to Shriners Hospitals for Children.

The Cardinals are planning tributes for Herzog with more details to come.

“He had a very distinctive style,” fellow Hall of Famer and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa once told Hummel. “He was involved in the game with the way he handled the bullpen and the way his offense played. Whitey’s club, both in St. Louis and Kansas City, always had those guys trying to go for doubles and triples, and that put a lot of pressure on the defense. Those guys who played for him all raved about him.

“What more do you want?”

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OAKLAND, Calif. — It is becoming increasingly clear that any discussion about the range Cardinals rookie Masyn Winn has to influence the outcome of a game must be expanded.

His reach goes beyond what he does at shortstop.

In a win late Tuesday night that became an ode to Whitey Herzog and the resourceful baseball that was part of his brand, the Cardinals’ rookie shortstop contributed in ways that show how his skills fit that style. Winn made small ball do big things on the way to a 3-2 victory against the Oakland Athletics that featured all three runs scored by the Cardinals on productive outs. Winn scored one after a steal and a race home on a grounder, and he drove home another with a textbook sacrifice fly that turned into a decisive moment. He didn’t have a hit but didn’t need one to shape the game with his burgeoning feel at the plate.

“I like everything I see,” said starter Lance Lynn, who allowed one earned run in his seven innings. “He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing. He’s very talented and he wants to be, and he likes it. You see it. It’s the stuff that’s not in a scoresheet. But it’s there. He does everything he can every night to be the best he can.”

Winn entered Tuesday with three consecutive two-hit games and a team-best .370 average. He already has more multihit games in the past 10 days (four) than he had in 37 games last season (three). But it wasn’t a hit at all that revealed how much and how swiftly Winn has advanced so far early this season.

It was how he approached two significantly different situations.

He wasn’t up there trying to survive with a hit.

He was there to provide without needing one.

When leading off the third inning, trailing by a run his error at shortstop helped produce, Winn adopted the scrutiny of a leadoff hitter. He ignored a fastball on the upper edge of the strike zone, too high to do any damage with. He accepted a change-up in the zone and then waited out a walk to start the inning. He stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and he scored on Brendan Donovan’s groundout. The Cardinals did not have a hit in the inning but had a tie game, 1-1.

Three innings later, Winn came up with no outs, another one-run deficit and the bases loaded. He did look to spark a rally — he looked to assure one. When he thought he got a breaking ball he could lift, he did, 302 feet to center field. Winn’s fly out was deep enough to score Nolan Arenado to tie the game and allowed the other two runners to advance 90 feet and be in position to break the 2-2 tie on another sacrifice fly, this one from Jordan Walker.

“That’s how you play good baseball right there,” Winn raved after the game.

“He’s not trying to do too much,” manager Oliver Marmol said. “It’s a really mature at-bat (there). ... Even his walks today kind of speak to that. You have a guy who in spring: He needs to be more patient; he needs to control the stroke zone a little better. And we’re seeing all of it right now. He’s taking his base hits. He’s taking his shots when he needs to be. He’s taking his walks. And then running the bases, out of the blocks, he’s quick. Good stolen base there. He’s playing the game the right way. He’s bringing a lot of energy to this club right now.

“He’s playing the game the right way, and it’s impressive.”

Throughout spring training, Winn did not leave that impression. A year after a strong spring led to his late promotion to the majors and his early pronouncement this offseason as the team’s starter at shortstop, Winn struggled. Through exhibition play this spring, Winn had only 10 hits and felt like he did not walk enough with five. He had more strikeouts (17) than total bases (14) in 50 plate appearances and a higher on-base percentage (.320) than slugging (.318).

“I went through about three different swing changes in spring training this year, so I was trying to just figure it out,” Winn said late Tuesday night. “I ended up going back to my Triple-A swing, which got me here. I felt a lot more comfortable. I struck out a whole bunch in spring training, so the biggest thing for me was just trying to get the ball in play and use my speed.”

The results came quickly.

Winn had two multihit games in the Cardinals’ first five games, and after the Cardinals’ home opener and a 2-for-4 day with a triple, Winn had a .350 average. During this road trip, he’s started adding in walks with three already. Through the first five games of the six-game, two-city swing, Winn has reached base nine times in 16 plate appearances. It did not take confidence to get the production, his manager said. Rather it was Winn’s confidence even coming out of spring that led to the production.

“Sometimes you get some knocks and feel good about it, and you gain confidence,” Marmol said. “He’s come into the year knowing that spring didn’t go well. He said, ‘I’m a good player.’ And he played with confidence, and he started to get some results. It’s harder to do.”

The Cardinals came Tuesday to Oakland Coliseum many hours after learning Hall of Fame manager and franchise great Herzog had died Monday. He was 92. A grandmaster of baseball strategy, Herzog reignited the Cardinals and their fans with his team’s captivating and charismatic play in the 1980s. He made pitching a priority. He made speed an edge. He made defense awesome, man. He played the turf at the Cardinals’ home ballpark in the same way Lynn pitched to the fly-ball-friendly dimensions of the Coliseum on Tuesday.

Before the game, Marmol told starting center fielder Michael Siani that the Cardinals “may squeeze today,” as in call for a squeeze-play bunt. After the win, Marmol smiled at how the Cardinals scored three runs in rallies that featured only one hit and added how he “would be lying if I said I didn’t think about (“Whiteyball”) going into the game.”

Winn played it.

He took the walk to lead off the third and stole second to create a run, just as the Cardinals would have done in 1980s. He had to produce a run with the bases loaded and no outs in the sixth, so he hunted for a pitch to put in the air and drive somewhere. The chain of events that followed produced the tying run and a faulty play by the A’s that allowed runners to advance and be in range then to score the go-ahead run. And then, in the eighth, for his final act of the evening, Winn spied the third baseman playing back and even hinted at a bunt. Classic small ball.

Next up: He won’t hint. He’ll do.

“Even bunting,” Winn said. “I probably should start doing that a little bit more as well because if they’re going to give it to me, might as well.”

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Photos: Cardinals hold off Athletics in second game of series at Oakland

With a 13-9 road loss on Tuesday night, Class AA Springfield was dealt its first defeat of 2024 and had its franchise-record winning streak halted at nine consecutive games.

Springfield, which entered Tuesday as the only undefeated team in affiliated professional baseball, trailed Amarillo 8-2 in the second inning after right-hander Max Rajcic allowed eight runs on eight hits that included two home runs. Rajcic, the Cardinals minor league pitcher of the year in 2023, lasted just 1 2/3 innings in his start and threw 57 pitches in the outing. The start was the 22-year-old Cardinals prospect’s shortest since debuting in professional baseball last season.

While righty Brandon Komar held Amarillo to two runs over five innings in relief of Rajcic, the S-Cards offense pulled within one run of the Sod Poodles after pushing across two runs in the second inning, three in the fifth, and another one in the seventh. But the one-run deficit Springfield found itself in to begin the eighth inning became four after Matt Svanson gave up three runs on four hits to the Sod Poodles. The potential for back-to-back comeback wins to push the winning streak to double digits ended when Springfield went scoreless in the ninth inning.

Here are other notable performances from around the Cardinals minor league system:

Infielder Thomas Saggese, Class AAA Memphis: The Cardinals’ top infield prospect continued his productive April with a two-for-four night that included a double and two RBIs in Memphis’s 6-5 loss to Gwinnett. Saggese’s two-hit night included a single that jumped off his bat with a 104.1 mph exit velocity and a double that registered at 104.1 mph, per Statcast. The two-hit night improved Saggese to a .279 average through 43 at-bats on the year. The 22-year-old’s double was his first extra-base hit since April 7 and third overall since the start of the month. Since the beginning of April, Saggese is 12-for-36 (.333 average) with a .390 on-base percentage and seven RBIs.

Right-handed pitcher Michael McGreevy, Class AAA Memphis: Coming off a start that included 6 2/3 scoreless innings, McGreevy allowed five runs on eight hits across 5 1/3 frames. The righty matched a career-high in walks with four allowed to Gwinnett hitters. Four of the five runs McGreevy allowed came in the first inning as he surrendered three singles and a walk to the first four batters he faced before allowing a bases-clearing double to Sandy Leon with one out in the frame. Through four starts, McGreevy has a 5.14 ERA and has collected 13 strikeouts in 21 innings.

Infielder Cesar Prieto, Class AAA Memphis: A three-for-four showing at the plate matched a season-high for hits for Prieto and gave the utility infielder his fifth multi-hit game of the young season. Prieto’s latest multi-hit effort included a double, a pair of singles, and an RBI. Through 15 games, Prieto has a .351 average, a .362 on-base percentage, and a .560 slugging percentage. He has reached base safely with a hit in 12 of 15 games he’s appeared in with Memphis.

Catcher Jimmy Crooks, Class AA Springfield: The catching prospect slugged his first home run of 2024 and collected three RBIs as part of a two-for-four night that also included a pair of walks in Springfield’s loss to Amarillo. Crooks opened the scoring for Springfield with an RBI single in the first inning, followed that with a solo home run in the third, and pushed across a run in the fourth inning when he drew a bases-loaded walk. The two-hit night improved Crooks to a .423 average and 1.061 OPS across his first 31 plate appearances of the season.

OAKLAND, Calif. — When they spoke over the past few years as only a few people can — Cardinals manager to Cardinals manager — Whitey Herzog would talk with Oliver Marmol about something the Hall of Famer felt was vital to the role, something he did arguably as well as any of his peers during those peak seasons in the 1980s.

“In the conversations I’ve had with him, it was always about setting the tone,” Marmol said Tuesday in his office at Oakland Coliseum. “When you think about that era of baseball, he did exactly that. That is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of him. As far as how it plays into how I think about the game — setting the tone and what that looks like.”

On Monday in St. Louis, Herzog died after a weekend spent “surrounded by family,” according to his loved ones. He was 92. The Athletics had a moment of silence to honor Herzog before Tuesday night’s game.

His influence on the Cardinals of his era is as obvious as the three National League pennants won during the 1980s, but what he brought to the organization — from the style of play to the size of crowds — continues today, and can be felt in the expectations within the clubhouse and manager’s office, as Marmol acknowledged.

For 11 seasons as manager of the Cardinals, Herzog set such a distinctive, successful and popular tone for the Cardinals that it reverberates generations later.

When the Cardinals talk now of reestablishing the defensive identity that escaped their reach last season, they do so with the athletic, nimble and shrewd style of defense that defined Herzog’s “Whiteyball” teams. When the modern Cardinals talk about building a team that fits their pitcher-friendly Busch Stadium III, they echo what Herzog did on the turf of Busch Stadium II. A few hours before his major league debut, Victor Scott II, who stole 94 bases this past year in the minors, was asked to describe his game.

“I’m just new-age Whiteyball,” said the outfielder, who was born 19 years after that style of baseball won the 1982 World Series in St. Louis.

The Cardinals’ commitment to curating their history and connecting it through the years puts former managers in contact often. From Red Schoendienst to Tony La Russa, Herzog to Mike Matheny and onward to Mike Shildt and now Marmol, there are chats at the ballpark or charity events. The opening day festivities spur conversations, but so too does spring training. Herzog made annual trips to spring training, and it was there that he enjoyed seeing the young players and, just as Schoendienst did, spotting the rising talent before they did.

“Guys he was excited about, guys he had been watching,” Marmol said. “His thoughts on them and what they needed to do, stuff like that.”

Tone was a topic, but players were often the subject in their talks.

A manager can set a tone, but it takes players to carry it.

“Especially when you have someone as respected as him and the history (he has),” Marmol said. “The last couple of years, I had a couple different charity events (and) at the stadium a couple of times, being able to interact with him, he was, one, sharp, and two, always wanting to talk players more than strategy. It was interesting what he would see, how he would describe it. Even last year during the tough year, he was very encouraging.”

Thompson’s role shifts

Sonny Gray did more than extend his scoreless streak to start his Cardinals career to 11 innings and claim his 100th victory late Monday night against the Athletics. He pitched deep enough to the game to position himself for 85 or so pitches in his next outing, and that frees up lefty Zack Thompson to be used as a reliever.

Role? TBD.

Thompson had been tethered to Gray during the right-hander’s return to the rotation and recovering from a hamstring strain. Thompson took Gray’s spot in the rotation to open the season, and when Gray returned, it was the lefty Thompson who was stashed as insurance should the Cardinals need a long reliever. Gray threw 72 pitches in his win Monday night, and Thompson was not needed. That was the threshold outing for Gray, allowing Thompson to be used when needed, not saved for when necessary.

In three games (two starts), Thompson is 0-2 with a 5.27 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 13⅔ innings. He and Matthew Liberatore are the Cardinals’ middle-inning lefties with JoJo Romero set to handle late, high-leverage spots. Thompson, who is working to regain and sustain higher velocity on his fastball, and Liberatore have differentiated themselves this season from similar pitch profiles a year ago. Liberatore’s higher-powered fastball stands out, and Thompson is able to work with two different curveballs, including a smaller, faster one.

“I think they’ve both, in their own way, have done exactly what they needed to do,” Marmol said.

Injury, illness roundup

• Brendan Donovan had no lingering swelling or stiffness after being drilled on the right kneecap by a pitch late Monday night. Donovan remained in the game at DH and started at second base Tuesday with no limitations.
• Liberatore (illness) worked through two bullpen sessions over two days, feeling comfortable and stronger off the mound Tuesday at the Coliseum. The Cardinals considered him available for that night’s game.
• Keynan Middleton (forearm strain) recovered well after throwing Monday and will advance to a greater distance of 120 feet — the final step before move up on a mound and into bullpen sessions.