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Yadier Molina calls out manager Mike Matheny on Instagram

Mike Matheny (right) and Yadier Molina aren’t seeing eye-to-eye. (Getty)
Mike Matheny (right) and Yadier Molina aren’t seeing eye-to-eye. (Getty)

While the St. Louis Cardinals are trying to make a playoff push, their manager and their veteran catcher have beef over playing time.

In a Friday morning piece in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mike Matheny seemed to suggest that Yadier Molina was tired. The piece came a day after rookie Carson Kelly had started in place of Molina. Molina was having none of it, though, and he took to social media to air his frustrations:

The Cardinals, who were coming off a sweep of the Rockies, lost 4-0 at home to the Diamondbacks on Thursday. Kelly went 0 for 2 with a walk as the Cardinals simply couldn’t get anything going offensively.

Molina is a beloved figure in baseball-crazed St. Louis, and with good reason. Over his 14-year career — all with the Cardinals — he’s an eight-time Gold Glove winner, eight-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion. An incredibly durable player for his position, Molina also leads the league this year with 85 games caught. His slash line of .275/.307/.414 is mostly in line with his career averages, with his batting average and on base percentage being slightly lower than normal and his slugging percentage being slightly higher.

The Cardinals had a five-year playoff appearance streak snapped last year, a streak that included a championship in 2011. Matheny took over as manager in 2012. This year, the Cardinals are 50-52 and 4½ games back of the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. Matheny has faced his fare share of criticism over the past two seasons, and being called out by his star catcher certainly doesn’t help with the playoff race heating up. The organization hasn’t missed back-to-back postseasons since 2007-08.

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