Cardinals news and notes: Matheny, Grichuk, Waino, Correa

In spite of my whining (see below), the weekend wasn't all bad for the Cardinals. In fact, we may have seen the highlight of the year when Adam Wainwright pitched a complete game shutout against the Marlins, which happened on the night the Cardinals were celebrating the 2006 World Series team, no less.

We all love the 2006 team. Of course, we do. But there's a sentiment (hardly an epidemic, mostly just rival fans on the internet and my bad friends) that believe since the '06 Cardinals were far from a juggernaut, their World Series should only count as 90% of a championship or something. Nonsense.

Everything about that postseason was beautiful, from Game 7 of the NLCS - maybe the best game I've ever seen - to the error-riddled five games against the clumsy Tigers. It seems silly now, but I assumed the Cardinals would never punch one through. From '87, to '96, to the '00-'05 run, I was programmed to deal with disappointing postseasons. If you were too young to remember '82 then you probably felt the same. And then it all changed. It made no difference whether they won 83 games or 103 games, they were the last team standing. Finally.

Besides, unless we get to celebrate an imaginary title in '04 when the team won 105 games, we shouldn't feel the least bit bad about basking in the glow of '06.

Here's what you may have missed yesterday at VEB:

Mike Matheny

I wrote about manager Mike Matheny, who didn't have the best weekend against the Marlins, and why his bullpen management is a problem.

Randal Grichuk

Have you seen these new launch angle graphics which Joe Schwarz used in his excellent piece on Randal Grichuk's disappointing numbers in 2016? Check them out, please.

Adam Wainwright

Lil Scooter has more on the great performance from Wainwright on Saturday and his bond with Yadier Molina.

Down on the farm

Jeremy Hazelbaker is raking in Memphis since returning from the DL. That and other notables from the farm.

Chris Correa

After the sentencing was pushed back multiple times, Chris Correa appeared before a federal judge yesterday and was sentenced to 46 months in prison for his role in the Cardinals' hacking scandal. Personally, and I'm not expert on CFAA law, but it seems incredibly harsh for someone who pled guilty to the charges.

Cardinals vs. Padres

In spite of what you may have heard, the Cardinals should destroy the Padres. They should and they did. Check out the game thread here.

Have a great Tuesday, everyone.