(Busch Stadium) In sharing the news that Matt Carpenter has been placed on the disabled list with a right oblique strain, St. Louis Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny also had a message of opportunity rather than accepting what he acknowledged was a “kick in the gut” for his team.
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“I don’t necessarily allow that to be an option,” he explained. “You’re taking obviously a key player on our club, but then you’re plugging in another kid that could be a key player on anybody’s team. Okay, now go do it. That’s the way I really see it. Whether it’s Kolten or Jedd–you name it, these are big league caliber players that have potential to be All-Stars as well. So, here’s an opportunity, go do something with it. That’s the way I see it.”
Carpenter is among the National League leaders in on-base percentage (.420) and slugging (.568). He injured himself on a check-swing in the 3rd inning last night and was forced to exit the game.
“Once again, I’m not trying to minimize the impact Carp has on our club,” continued Matheny. “I think everybody’s very clear who spends any time around here what we think about him–and we’ll have him back. There’s periods of time where he’s not getting done either because of the demands of this game. So now it’s an opportunity. That’s simple in my mind. Who’s gonna take it and let’s not buy into any of the noise.”
Wong replaced Carpenter after the injury in last night’s game and is again starting at second this afternoon.
There is no timetable in place for if Carpenter will need more than 15 days before being ready to return, but Matheny delivered a very direct message based on his own experience about not trying to push it.
“I just remember I didn’t listen to anything they said and it took a lot longer than it was supposed to,” said Matheny. “You do dumb things like bending until it hurts or rotating like they tell you not to. If you’re real dumb, you go home and throw a baseball into the couch.”
The manager isn’t too concerned about Carpenter making the same mistakes.
“I think he’s scared enough right now because I happened to walk in while the trainers were telling him all the things he needed to be aware of and I gave him my story,” said Matheny. “I was able to play through a bunch of things that people told me I couldn’t be able to play through–but that was the one. First time I ever went on the DL in my life. That was I don’t know how many years into my career. It taught me a valuable lesson.”
RAIN DELAYED
–As of 12:30pm, the tarp was being rolled off the field at Busch Stadium and the team has announced an estimated start time of 1:15pm CT for today’s game.
3B Greg Garcia
SS Aledmys Diaz
LF Matt Holliday
RF Stephen Piscotty
1B Matt Adams
C Yadier Molina
CF Randal Grichuk
2B Kolten Wong
P Adam Wainwright
photo credit: Jeff Curry, Billy Hurst-USA TODAY Sports
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