Cardinals fans back on the Oli Marmol hatewagon for blowing game against Pirates

Consider me a moderator, rather than any form of reporter, columnist, pundit or worse, in this case for St. Louis Cardinals fans. St. Louis has marched its way back into the NL Wild Card race and over .500, thus the calls for Marmol's job have silenced...for now.

One mistake will not change that, as last I checked the Cards three games over .500, good for second place in the NL Central and the third NL Wild Card spot. St. Louis is 1.5 games up on the New York Mets.

Yet, as manager in St. Louis, Marmol also signed up as liaison to the most passionate fanbase in baseball, period. Yes, there are arguments to be made for a few others, but you do not know Cardinals fans as I do, or rather, their anger. Whether it be a player, Marmol or John Mozeliak and the front office, when a Cardinal makes an avoidable mistake, they will hear about it.

What did Oli Marmol do wrong this time? Cardinals fans explain

A consistent complaint of the Cardinals fanbase towards Marmol is his bullpen management. Against the Pirates, Marmol pulled a reliable Mikolas after six innings in favor of Giovanny Gallegos, who gave up a run, pushing his ERA to 9.75. After a scoreless inning from Matthew Liberatore, Marmol turned to the normally-reliable Andrew Kittredge, who gave up two runs in the top of the eighth.

"We've got a couple guys down that have pitched a lot. We're going to have to figure out a way to win without them from time to time. ... You mix and match as good as you can going to the end of that game," Marmol said after the game.

Cardinals fans were quick to point out the obvious. First, why did Marmol pull Mikolas after just 87 pitches? Removing starting pitchers from the game with only 75-90 pitches under their belts has been a theme of Marmol's this season, and one that has come back to bite the Cardinals.

Second, where was Ryan Helsley? The Cards star closer was nowhere to be found on Wednesday night, rather wasted sitting in the St. Louis bullpen. An argument can be made in favor of Marmol that his usage leading up to the All-Star break has been quite high -- he has 31 saves, overall -- but he didn't pitch from June 30 until an appearance on Tuesday against the Pirates, where he threw 17 pitches.

Cardinals fans always have suggestions. Valid or not, it's a long season, and St. Louis is right where they need to be -- making a postseason push. Assuming they stay there and add some pieces at the deadline, Marmol's job should be safe.