ST. LOUIS – In a stunning move for a team that has long preached the importance of consistency, the St. Louis Cardinals fired manager Mike Matheny on Saturday night after an 8-2 loss to Cincinnati.
The move comes on the eve of the All-Star break and after one of the ugliest stretches of baseball in years for the team.
"These decisions are never easy, but we felt that a change in leadership was necessary as the team prepares to enter into the second half of the season," Cardinals President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak said.
The Cardinals said Mike Shildt will take over as interim manager. Hitting coaches John Mabry and Bill Mueller were both dismissed as well.
The firing comes in the middle of Matheny's seventh season as manager. The Cardinals had long pointed to his winning percentage and his run of four consecutive playoff appearances to start a career for retaining him. This year's team has been inconsistent, at best, and with the loss Saturday slipped to 43-42 — leaving the team on pace to miss the postseason for a third consecutive season.
Matheny went 591-473 as manager, and his tenure included a loss to Boston in the 2013 World Series. He was a Gold Glove Award-winning catcher with St. Louis from 2000 to '04 before getting his first managerial job with the club before the 2012 season.
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