ST. LOUIS -- Almost always, Mike Matheny keeps his cool. Thats what you might notice at first about Tony La Russas successor as St. Louis Cardinals manager, the inner fire without the bombast. Its what you see right now in the glare of October, when the moves pay off big time or fail miserably, and are endlessly dissected either way. Theres a difference in style, but winning is a given. La Russa managed 2,728 regular-season wins in 33 seasons and trails only Connie Mack and John McGraw. He became the first manager to retire a winner after guiding a heavy underdog to the 2011 title, and is sure the Cardinals got the right guy. "Im in no position to compare," La Russa said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I just know that he was always an impressive leader type. "I definitely know he has the ability. I think hes already made his mark." Make no mistake, theres plenty of fire. In Game 4, Matheny took umpires to task over perceived shortcomings. Though every question gets a measured response, sometimes after tough losses the microphone picks up the sound of fingers impatiently tapping away on the lectern. The manager declined to take it easy on Kolten Wong after the rookie was cut down in Game 4 for the first game-ending pickoff in World Series history, pointing out he knew about Koji Ueharas move. "He was reminded once he got on base, and also he was reminded that run didnt mean much, be careful, shorten up," Matheny said. Mathenys playing career as a light-hitting, strong fielding catcher peaked when he played for La Russa and won four Gold Gloves in five seasons. His steady field leadership made an impression, and his resume jumped to the top of the pile for St. Louis without a single game of managing experience. Players climbed aboard right away. Pitcher Adam Wainwright credits not just La Russa, but also 90-year-old Hall of Famer Red Schoendienst, who managed the Cardinals to a World Series victory over the Red Sox in 1967 and remains active as a special assistant to general manager John Mozeliak. "The perfect torch there," Wainwright said from the podium earlier in the post-season. "A guy who was a great leader and a great motivator of men, and a guy whos learned from the best in my opinion." The Cardinals were expected to fade a bit last year with a rookie manager who didnt have Albert Pujols big bat for the lineup. They took advantage of the second NL wild card and rallied on the road to knock off the Braves and Nationals before running out of gas in the NL championship series when they squandered a 3-1 lead against the Giants. Matheny is part of a new breed of manager, a group including Boston counterpart John Farrell, Kirk Gibson in Arizona and White Sox manager Robin Ventura, that didnt require minor league trial and error seasoning. Last fall, San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy thought the Cardinals had the same fire and added, "I wish I could tell you theres a difference." "If you played the game for as long as he did, you know how the game is going to be run," St. Louis slugger Carlos Beltran said. "You know the players dictate how the game goes and as manager you know youre going to have two or three opportunities to make a change. "But there are a lot of things you have to do to put your team in position." In Year 2, Matheny has gotten the most out of a roster that by necessity has leaned heavily on rookies. St. Louis is close to making it two titles in three seasons with not just different managers but vastly different casts, too. Rookies combined for a major league-high 36 wins and have provided five more in the post-season, four by Michael Wacha. All the high leverage spots in the bullpen are manned by rookies. Matheny is probably more of a players manager than La Russa, but both can be fiercely loyal. The Cardinals are carrying Edward Mujica, who had 35 saves before fading badly in September and losing the closer job to rookie Trevor Rosenthal, perhaps as a reward for what hes done. Rookie Shelby Miller also seems to be around because of his role in the season-long success. The 15-game winner was in the rotation from the start and the team is giving him the quasi-Stephen Strasburg treatment, using him for just one inning entering Game 5. Matheny came under fire for pitching decisions in Game 4 of the World Series, and seemed to arrive for Game 5 with a clean slate. "La Russa is a Hall of Fame manager, and I think a lot of us wanted Mike," third baseman David Freese said. "There were a ton of us who were friends with Mike and we knew what type of guy he was." "Hes extremely close to his family and I think were his second family." Cheap College Jerseys . The teams were scoreless for most of the first two periods before Canada scored three times in a span of less than four minutes. Sarah Potomak opened the scoring on the power play. Cheap NFL Jerseys . Switzerland faces Belgium or Kazakhstan in the quarterfinals in April. Serbia dropped into the World Group playoffs in September. A confident Chiudinelli and Lammer defeated veteran doubles player Zimonjic and young Krajinovic 7-6 (3), 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2. https://www.cheapnfljerseysjustwholesale.com/. Finlands Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves to lead Dallas over the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 Saturday night. He received plenty of help from the Stars defence and got goals from Ray Whitney and Russias Valeri Nichushkin. Cheap Football Jerseys . Terry came from Boston along with Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce but has appeared in just 35 games after a knee injury, averaging 4.5 points on 36 per cent shooting. Evans was a favourite of fans but not coach Jason Kidd, who used him in just 30 of their 51 games. China NFL Jerseys . - Ryan Spooner scored twice to lead the Boston Bruins to a 6-1 victory over the New York Islanders in a preseason game Friday night.Laurel, MD (SportsNetwork.com) - Post positions were redrawn for the $100,000 Frank Whitely Jr. Stakes for Thursday after Saturday racing at Laurel Park was canceled due to poor track conditions. Most of the original nine 3-year-olds have been re-entered for the seven- furlong stakes with trainer Chad Brown taking advantage of the postponement to enter his stakes winning gelding Majestic Affair. Majestic Affair, owned by James Covello, Thomas Coleman and Doheny Racing Stable, will break from the far outside post with Kendrick Carmouche keeping his spot in the saddle. The chestnut 3-year-old won the Frank Capossela Stakes on Jan. 2 at Aqueduct by 5 3/4 lengths. He was second on Nov. 15 in Laurel Parks James F. Lewis Stakes. Majestic Affair won his career debut last July at Canterbury Park, but five weeks later was eighth at 5-1 in the Saratoga Special. He came back in October with an allowance victory at Parx Racing. The gray gelding has earned $124,000. Golden Years, the original 9-5 program favorite, has drawn post 6 with Victor Carrasco again riding. The colt is trained by Rodney Jenkins for Hillwood Stable. The 3-year-old has made all prior starts at Laurel winning three of four, including the Maryland Million Nursery on Oct.dddddddddddd 18 and Marylander Stakes on Dec. 6. He was fourth in the Lewis Stakes. He is doing fine. I gave him two or three weeks off after his last start doing nothing but walking and jogging to try to freshen him up. I went a little strong with him at the end of the year, Jenkins said. He might be a hair short for this one but hell try real hard. The last work (Jan. 17), we galloped him out 7/8ths and he got a little tired but I think it helped him. The horse is very intelligent and he picks up on things real quick. If you look into his eyes he is a very, very intelligent and he is one of the best moving horses I have ever had. Golden Years has banked $146,760 as he begins his 2015 season. Here is the field for the Frank Whitely from the rail out: Governmentshutdown, Julian Pimentel; One More Time, Erik Ramirez; Sizzling Quatorze, Angel Serpa; Notional Debt, Sheldon Russell; Bodhisattva, Victor Santiago; Golden Years, Victor Carrasco; Measured, Horacio Karamanos; Mini Cosmo, Frankie Pennington and Majestic Affair, Kendrick Carmouche. Post time will be approximately 4:27 p.m. ET. ' ' '