Resurgent Cardinals take interim tag off manager Shildt
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Thrilled with the results, the St. Louis Cardinals thanked Mike Shildt.
The Cardinals took off the interim tag from Shildt’s title and promoted him to full-time manager on Tuesday, a reward for steering the team back into postseason contention after taking over for the fired Mike Matheny.
In danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since the late ‘90s, the Cardinals have gone 2612 since July 15, including a 19-5 mark in August. St. Louis now holds the top spot in the NL wildcard standings.
The Cardinals were 47-46 when Matheny was fired a day before the All-Star break. Since then, they have the most wins in the majors. They’ve also cut their deficit in the NL Central from 7 1/2 games to 4 1/2 behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs.
“The team’s focused, high-level style of play under Mike is a standard that his teams consistently displayed during his prior years in the minors, and it has continued here at the major league level,” Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt said.
The Cardinals made the move before playing Pittsburgh at Busch Stadium. St. Louis has won five of six, all on the road, and have won each of their last nine series overchampionship. all. “Over the past 15 years, Mike
The 50-year-old Shildt, who has been mentored by many great never played in the minors or mabaseball men including George jors, joined the Cardinals organizaKissell, Tony La Russa and Mark tion in 2004. He spent most of that DeJohn. Now he has an opportunitime managing in the minors and ty to share his insights throughout was a member of the major league the entire organization,” Cardinals coaching staff the past two seasons. President of Baseball Operations
Shildt became the 50th manager John Mozeliak said. in franchise history when he was An organization that has longed given the job on an interim basis. prided itself on playing the game
St. Louis missed the playright — “the Cardinal Way,” the offs the last two years. Matheny team says — St. Louis has done reached the postseason in his first well in all phases since Shildt took four over.yearssincefollowingTony
La Russa, who guided the CarWith veterans Yadier Molina dinals to the 2011 World Series and Matt Carpenter provided a steadying presence and an influx of rookies and newcomers, the Cardinals are back in position as October contenders.
Second baseman Kolten Wong has seen the difference, especially since the switch in the dugout.
“Shildt’s been really good at letting us play our own game and letting us play the way we want to play. That’s the biggest thing,” Wong said last week after a sweep at Dodger Stadium. “We have so many different personalities and different guys in this clubhouse. You just have to allow people to be themselves and eventually people are going to mesh together.”