Reading Time 5 Minutes:

* Terry Francona interviews with the Cardinals: Is it just me, or did you find his post-meeting comments to be a little odd? While there's no way of knowing (right now) the specific discussion points and tone of his sitdown with Bill DeWitt Jr. and John Mozeliak, I'm not sure how to read Francona's characterization of the discussion.

"We just had a dialogue," Francona told Post-Dispatch baseball writer Joe Strauss. "I enjoy talking about baseball -- a lot. Without going into details, we discussed pretty basic philosophy. I'd call it an enjoyable, casual conversation."

Perhaps there was a lot more substance to the meeting than Francona is willing to let on. Perhaps he wanted to keep it general and vague, in an attempt to respect the confidentiality of the Cardinals' process. (The Cardinals are being comically secretive about this, for some reason. Boston and Chicago aren't treating their managerial searches as if the info must be protected like some nuclear-weapon launch code.) And perhaps the meeting was, in fact, casual -- simply because DeWitt and Mozeliak need to get to know Francona personally.

But if Francona is a serious candidate for this position, I suppose I didn't expect him to read words like "basic" and "casual" to describe the session.

And it leads me to wonder -- perhaps incorrectly -- if Francona is, indeed, a serious candidate.

My considerable gut tells me "No."

But I could be wrong.

Here's the thing: Cardinals management obviously has concerns about Francona's reported meltdown in Boston in September. As we speculated in this space last week those concerns could be legitimate, but could also be used as a cover to justify the real desire to hire someone else.

If Francona is healthy, and if he's energized, he's clearly the best choice for the job. But if the Cardinals believe he's damaged and in need of time off, they'll hire someone else.

Did Francona come out of the meeting with the sense that the Cardinals weren't all that fired up about him? The comments only added to the confusion.

Moving On ...

* If Francona isn't the choice, Mike Matheny has as good a chance as anyone. If I had to bet $2, I'd put it on Matheny. Do I say that with confidence? No, I do not. But I do know this: Mozeliak thinks the world of Matheny. They have a great relationship. And Mozeliak has never even tried to conceal his feelings about Matheny. Mozeliak thinks Matheny can be special, which is why he recruited and encouraged the retired catcher to join the organization as an instructor. Matheny is a Mozeliak ally. Matheny is also respected by pitching coach Dave Duncan, and key veteran players. Mozeliak has viewed Matheny as a future manager. I don't know if the future is now, but this is interesting. Will Mozeliak and DeWitt be able to get past Matheny's lack of experience? That's the question. But they clearly hold Matheny, the person, in high regard.

* I wouldn't underestimate the strength of Ryne Sandberg's candidacy, either. Because he does have managerial experience in the minors, and was a smart Hall of Fame player.

Moving On ...

* We were saddened to hear of the passing of "Easy" Ed Macauley. He was a certified St. Louis sports legend. An enduring presence on the local scene for decades. The more the years go by, SLU's 1948 NIT championship becomes more prominent in terms of achievement. Macauley's Billikens ascended to a level that we'll never see again with the SLU hoops program. A great college player, a great NBA player, a great family man, a great Catholic. Easy Ed really did have a wonderful life.

Moving On ...

* The Blues' pregame ceremony to honor the late Pavol Demitra and Igor Korolev was superbly done. Very classy, with just the right touch. I was moved by it. And the way the Blues' alums stick together is very impressive. They have a strong, lasting bond. And they're always there for each other. Brett Hull and Keith Tkachuk did a terrific, heart-felt job in the ceremony. We can only hope that the Blues' sincere efforts to salute their fallen teammates and friends will provide some measure of comfort to the grieving families.

* Congrats to Ken Hitchcock on his first win as Blues coach. The Blues were impressive in their 3-0 victory over Chicago. I know the tendency is to overreach here and go overboard in claiming that we could already see positive changes. And I think it's wise to keep the lid on the Kool-Aid for now. But a couple of things were obvious: (1) More emphasis on puck possession. I love that Hitchcock has an aversion to dump-and-chase hockey, or, as he calls it, chip-and-check hockey. He wants to see the Blues utilize their team speed and size to hold onto the puck and make things happen. And (2) More emphasis on a sharper, faster transition game to put pressure on the opposing team. (3) Without having to worry about a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo the Blues seemed to play a more relaxed, free-flowing game. It was only one game. And the Blues had been winning at home early this season under deposed coach Davis Payne. But we liked what we saw from this team against the Blackhawks, including the Blues' improved play on special teams.

* Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk perfectly summed up the modifed approach after the game, telling reporters: "It's that quick transition game that he likes to play. We preached that before the game that we wanted to play fast hockey and that's how you do it. Once pucks came out of the zone and we had possession, we were jamming it right back down their throats."

* For all of our talk about coaching, we also need to state this rather obvious point: if Jaro Halak doesn't play well in goal, you could have Scotty Bowman, Al Arbour and Ken Hitchcock behind the Blues bench and it would not matter. If Halak plays the way he's supposed to play, this is a much better team. If he continues his erratic, inconsistent ways, the Blues won't go anywhere. Halak was very good against Chicago.  

Moving On ...

* Can someone explain why the Rams cut LB Jabari Williams? Why did they draft him and keep him (instead of third QB Thaddeus Lewis) only to cut him recently? And now the Rams are scrounging for LBs? It simply makes no sense.

Thanks for reading ...

-Bernie