Oli Marmol reverses course after calling out Cardinals stars thanks to Nolan Gorman

The St. Louis Cardinals struggles have been well-documented over the past two years, and Oli Marmol has been at the center of fan frustration. Whether it be his questionable on-field decisions or publically calling out the team's best players to the media, Marmol has shown some bad judgement since Opening Day 2023, and even received a contract extension as a reward!

Just last week, Marmol hinted that he needed more from Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Gorman, two of the Cardinals best players who had yet to really get going in 2024.

"You can do all the shuffling you want," Marmol said. "At the end of the day, if those two guys [Goldschmidt and Gorman] aren't in the middle of it hitting doubles and homers, then..."

Marmol added that he had plenty of trust in both a little later, but the damage was done. Cardinals fans were not on Marmol's side this time despite the struggles of two of their best offensive players. Some matters are better left in the clubhouse, rather than voiced for the world to hear.

Nolan Gorman gives Cardinals manager Oli Marmol a chance to backtrack

Nolan Gorman hit the first walk-off home run of his career on Monday night, giving St. Louis a much-needed win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Cardinals were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend.

After the game, Marmol took a moment to bask in the blow.

"Those are the two guys we've been talking about and those are two guys who have been working hard and not seeing some of the rewards of that," Marmol said. "Goldy goes backside [with his home run], and when he's going the way we want him to go, he's driving the ball through the middle of the field toward right-center and that's a big homer there. Then, with Gorman, left-on-left … he drove the baseball and that was a really good sign for us."

Maybe Marmol's message was received the right way by Gorman and Goldschmidt, two players who are among the most professional in the sport. It says far more about them than it does Marmol.