4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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CardsofSTL
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4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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Nationals vs Cardinals
12:15 PM CT - April 14, 2021
Busch Stadium - St. Louis, MO
Watch: Cardinals - BSMW/Nationals - MASN/Out of Market - MLBN
Listen: Cardinals - KMOX 1120/Nationals - 106.7 The Fan

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CardsofSTL
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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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...A career about to reach a singular milestone truly began that summer night in Pittsburgh when Woody Williams uncoiled from his windup and delivered a pitch.

Awaiting it, in a crouch that will one day be bronzed, was Yadier Molina.

“It is so long ago, not only for a catcher — but 17 years since I threw him that first pitch and so long ago that I don’t even feel like baseball was part of my life anymore,” Williams said Tuesday from Texas. “And to see that he’s still doing it and still doing it at a high level. If I’m one of those pitchers on that staff, especially one who has struggled in recent years, I’m a bobblehead.


“My head is just going up and down on the mound,” Williams added. “He puts down a sign, and I’m throwing that pitch.”

What began June 3, 2004, at PNC Park with six shutout innings from Williams and a win for those runaway Redbirds will continue Wednesday afternoon at Busch Stadium with what’s scheduled to be Molina’s 2,000th game behind the plate. Only the sixth catcher in major-league history to receive 2,000 games, Molina will be the first to do so entirely with one team.

Molina received Tuesday night off after manager Mike Shildt canvassed his regulars and offered Molina either that night or Wednesday’s day game as a break. Andrew Knizner’s start at catcher Tuesday sets up Yadi2K with longtime teammate and “brother” Adam Wainwright delivering the pitches. Wainwright recently marveled at how Molina, 38, has revved into the season with 12 hits through the first 10 games and a .998 OPS.

It is possible to measure Molina’s career in statistics. He’s one of three active players with at least 2,000 hits, and earlier this season he passed Hall of Famer Johnny Bench for eighth all-time among catchers with his 382nd double. Molina will have caught 76.6% of the 2,609 games the Cardinals have played since his debut, not including his NL-record (for any position) 101 playoff games. He craves his 10th Gold Glove award and sets out to lead the league in innings behind the plate. Since 2004, Molina’s 25.4 defense Wins Above Replacement are second only to sublime shortstop Andrelton Simmons (25.8), according to Baseball-Reference.com. The next closest active catcher is Salvador Perez at 13.4 dWAR, and for context teammate Nolan Arenado, who debuted in 2013, has a 15.6 dWAR.

There have been eight Platinum Gloves awarded in the NL. Arenado has won the previous four; Molina won the first four.

Or, the longevity of Molina’s career can be measured in events. He debuted 16 years, 10 months, and seven days ago. A fan born that day can drive to his 2,000th game today. His debut was years before Netflix started to stream (2007), Twitter started a feed (2006), or his personal favorite Instagram filtered in (2010). The iPhone was an idea. Pluto was still a planet. The Astros batted pitchers in the NL not battered trashcans in the AL. During Molina’s time with the Cardinals, London won a bid to host the Olympic Games and hosted the Summer Games — almost nine years ago — and was about to host the Cardinals for two games before a pandemic limited travel.

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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Tuesday marked Shildt’s 300th game as Cardinals manager, another milestone in a career highlighted by progression. Never a Major nor Minor Leaguer himself, Shildt was named interim manager after the departure of Mike Matheny in the 2018 season and then given the permanent position shortly thereafter. Shildt’s teams are 167-132 entering Tuesday, with postseason appearances in each of his full seasons at the helm.

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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This article is from 2018 and the earliest Busch Stadium reference I found after a quick search to see how long the Woo Epidemic has been going on.

The WOO Has Come to Busch Stadium and It Is Terrible
It's loud, it's contagious and the culprit is usually a soon-to-be middle-aged man who gets too drunk off far too few beers. The Ric Flair-inspired "WOO" has infected Busch Stadium.

It's not just Busch Stadium: The trend has been infecting sports stadiums across the country all the way back to 2012.

The first documented case comes from a Pittsburgh Pirates game on September 5, 2012. The sound was reported to have begun in the 4th inning and carried on through the end of the game, as Deadspin reported. The Pirates' announcer, Bob Walk, secured the night's place in history by dubbing it "Night of the Woo."

A quick scroll through the comments section shows that isolated instances had allegedly been cropping up at PPG Paints Arena, home of the Pittsburgh Penguins, for several years before the "Night of the Woo." And numerous other cities and stadiums have since reported similar instances predating that night in 2012. However, few were properly documented in real time, suggesting that these previous incidents may simply have been the result of WWE fans who accidentally wandered into a real sports complex and, in a state of confusion, sent out a distress call.

More recently, Cincinnati Reds fans claimed that the WOO has been plaguing Great American Ballpark for the better part of five years. In 2013, Fox Sports spoke with a man who claims to be the originator and calls himself the "Red's WOO guy."

A flare-up in 2016 at a Philadelphia Flyers game left many sports fans with the false assumption that the trend was contained to northeastern parts of the country. But in 2017, the great state of Texas fell victim when Houston Astros fans began WOO-ing during outfielder Josh Reddick's at-bats.

Upon hearing of the chant making its way to Busch, many Astros fans, still apparently suffering from early-stage delirium, argued that we stole the WOO from them. (As if!)

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

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Noon start today; you know what that means.


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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

Post by heyzeus »

I wonder how new Cards beat writer Katie Woo feels about the woo.

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

Post by Jocephus »

Tommy Edman (S) RF
Paul Goldschmidt (R) 1B
Nolan Arenado (R) 3B
Yadier Molina (R) C
Matt Carpenter (L) 2B
Justin Williams (L) LF
Lane Thomas (R) CF
Edmundo Sosa (R) SS
Adam Wainwright (R) P

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

Post by heyzeus »

Edmundo Sosa sighting! Cleanup Yadi! An Edman/Williams/Thomas outfield! This lineup really is...something.

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Re: 4/14 GDT: Nationals(Ross) vs Cardinals(Wainwright) 12:15 PM CT

Post by GeddyWrox »

I hope we didn't use up all our offense last night.

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