Matheny's first incident of poor judgment

I'm not a fan who gets overly worked up by officiating and how it might negatively affect the outcome of a game.  One of the best parts of baseball that distinguishes it from the rest of sports is the human element and how umpires can see a call, for better or worse. They can only do their best with a real-time view of the game; they don't have the benefit of instant replay (yet).  Umpires get the call right the overwhelming majority of the time, and a very small handful of the total calls during high profile moments of a game unfairly casts a blight on the individual umpire and officiating in general.

I also believe that baseball managers get too much credit for the limited influence they have on the play on the field.  Sure, managers put players in and out of the game and when a player with a more desirable set of skills fits a situation better. But I believe that players play and that they're the ones who must execute, sometimes to overcome the external forces that also have an effect on the game.  Games are not won or lost on one play or on one decision, or worse, one blown call.  A baseball game can have upwards of 60 plays or more, if the game goes extra innings; 60 or more plays in which either team can have a great influence on the eventual outcome.  By comparison, one or two plays at the end of the game are less than influential.

I am, however a fan who believes in momentum within the context of the sport and of an individual game.  When a team has momentum, they're focused and confident and can heighten their performance against a team that is reeling and falling apart.  When a team doesn't have it, they're back on their heels or gripping the bat tight, rigid and just trying to stem the tide.  (Was that enough cliches for you?)

Still, I feel that last night, Mike Matheny did a disservice to his team that likely cost the Cardinals the game and the series.  Matheny chose to press the issue on a potentially harmless stolen base that was mistakenly called "safe" by the second base umpire.  At that time, the Cardinals still hadn't lost, tied with the Cubs 2-2, though Matheny may have felt that the umpiring at that moment and earlier in the game put his team in a losing situation.  The Cardinals had one of their most dependable relief pitchers on the mound and facing an underperforming and strike-out prone middle of the Cubs' order.  When the stolen base happened, Matheny was well within his rights to question the call.  But continuing to argue to the point of being thrown out, making his players wait, possibly lessening the focus of his pitcher and a confidence-challenged second baseman zapped any trace of momentum the team might have had left at that moment.

I understand a manager's desire, overt or unstated, to fire up his team at a critical moment of a game, or better yet of the season, by getting himself thrown out of a game.  But to me, pressing the issue last night, in a game on April 24 against a last-place,was unadvised, unecessary, and to me, detrimental to the team's chances of winning.

Give the Cubs credit, though.  For two nights in a row, they executed and they came through against a team higher than them in the standings.  The Cubs were the better team on those two nights, thanks in part to poor judgment by a rookie manager.