Mike Matheny, Cardinal manager, contributed to the Cardinals’ loss tonight. The Cardinals trailed 4-2 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. They had a man on first, with Carlos Beltran up. Beltran is a clutch power hitter, and at least gave the Cardinals a chance to tie the game. Matheny put in Wong, a fast pinch runner, which made sense. Wong was taking a very large lead off first base, and I said he could get picked off. I said he had to take less of a lead, because his run wasn’t the tying run. There was no reason for him to take the big lead, which I noticed and commented on, but apparently Matheny and his coaches didn’t understand. The announcers mentioned a couple of times that they were surprised the Red Sox were even holding him on first base, as he wasn’t the tying run and a lefty was up. Again, Matheny and his coaches didn’t get this, and they picked Wong off to end the game.