Cardinals news and notes: Reyes, the strike, Cubs

Last night was the pits. The Cubs won in extras on a bad ball four call, but the worse news was that Matt Holliday left the game after he was hit by a pitch up and in from Matt Montgomery. Derrick Goold later reported that Holliday had a fractured thumb, which means he's most certainly destined for a long trip to the DL.

With Holliday having a team option pending for ‘17, there's a chance that was the last time we'll see him in a Cardinals uniform. If that's the case, I'm sure plenty of more worthy obits on his Cardinals career will follow, but allow me to say in a few words that he was quietly one of the best players in baseball these last eight years and we were lucky to have him.

There are plenty of great Holliday moments - and again, we don't know all that much right now and there stands a decent chance he'll be back next year - but I always think of Game 4 of the 2013 NLDS in Pittsburgh. Michael Wacha received most of the glory from that game, and for good reason, but without Holliday's two-run homer in the 6th the series never makes it back to St. Louis. It was a huge moment for a guy who was stupidly labeled "unclutch" for the first half of his tenure with the team. Here's hoping last night wasn't the last we see of Matt Holliday.

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

Alex Reyes

He only threw 11 pitches in his debut but that was enough for some awesome GIFs and PitchF/x data for Alex Reyes.

The Strike

The ‘94 strike began 22 years ago today. I wrote about it and its very loose impact on the Cardinals here.

Farm Report

Here's the farm report for the games played the last few days.

Carlos Martinez

I don't want to pressure anyone into buying a car, but if you're thinking of buying a car, you should probably buy one from Carlos Martinez.

Facebook Live Episode 9

Watch site manager Craig Edwards discuss the Cardinals, including his recent column on why Mike Matheny should be fired, in this latest Facebook live series.

Cardinals vs. Cubs

Cardinals should destroy the Cubs every year for the rest of our lives. In a perfect world anyway. Per above, they lost last night (here's the game thread and recap), which will make the destroying today seem all that more just.

Have a great weekend, everyone.