CINCINNATI • There’s something, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny said as Yadier Molina and others took batting practice Thursday afternoon, about “making some noise in the bleachers” that is reassuring for a hitter, even when the stadium hasn’t opened and they’re empty.
While his players hit on the field and Matheny answered questions from the media in the dugout, he paused to note Molina’s hit off the batter’s eye at Great American Ball Park — a shot to dead-center field that caromed off a wall near a window for television cameras. Matheny described how even that moment could bring some “needed reinforcement” for a player who recently had been trapped in a one-for-34 spell.