Not really the same thing. Cards are forever in first. Every year. Matheny simply stood there with an incredibly deep team/system and won games. Joe won a ton of games with a LAST place team, with half a squad of rookies. (some that didn't even play the whole year)
And if you paid any attention, you'd know that Cardinal fans want Matheny out on rails, they hate that guy. He's not good, at all. Them giving him an extension was almost as enjoyable as the World Series.
Roberts really did do a good job with the Dodgers. Matheny didn't do anything, at all. He just has a really great franchise that practically runs itself. They win in spite of him.
The similarity lies in the amount of lineups and starters that the Cardinals had to run out there due to all the injuries. SOmehow, they still had the best record in baseball last year without their ace, key members of their lineup, hurt starter aftef hurt starter, etc. You may disagree because of how deep the Cardinals farm system is, but it really is the exact same thing as the Dodgers this year.
I know all too well how Cards fans feel about Mattheny currently. Doesnt change the fact that he was incredible last season. The Cards had every reason to be a .500 team, yet had the best record in baseball. I dont see how thats different at all than Roberts and the Dodgers. If anything, the Dodgers have even more of a reason that they can push forward with all the injuries. They had almost 300 million reasons.
The Cards had 6 guys make 135+ starts. Including Yadi, Carp, and Heyward. Holliday is the only main cog they had that missed any real time. And Grichuk replaced him quite admirably.
They also had FOUR starting pitchers make 30+ starts. 4 dude. Yes, they lost their #1, the rest of that staff was quite healthy.
The Dodgers had ONE starting pitcher reach 30 starts. Their lineup stayed pretty healthy, but their starting pitching was a war zone. And Roberts got them thru that. Matheny didn't do anything. If Cardinal fans are telling you that (the enormous homers that they are) that should tell you something.
Seems like you're just basing your vote on who had the most wins that year, Matheny last year, and Maddon this year. That's fine, you can do that, but other factors should be weighed, imo. Maddon did more last year than he did this year. This year was easy for him.
