GLENDALE Joe Carter Jersey , Ariz. (AP) — Sox rotation last season after returning from shoulder surgery, the left-hander had an impressive stretch of starts before fading badly down the stretch.All that really mattered for Rodon and the White Sox was that he made it through the rest of the season healthy, and got to spring training that way.“It felt like a normal year, but actually didn’t really feel like a normal year because a normal year for me was going through an injury,” Rodon said Friday. “I had a good offseason, got to be healthy, and show I’m healthy and have a healthy spring, so I’m excited.”Rodon missed the beginning of the last two seasons because of injury. He was coming back from arthroscopic surgery on his left shoulder when he made his 2018 debut in June. He made five so-so starts that month.Then came those impressive nine starts in July and August, when he was 5-0 with a 1.84 ERA, a huge boost for a rebuilding White Sox team that lost 100 games last season. He was the first White Sox pitcher since at least 1908 to make nine consecutive quality starts when allowing ?ve hits or less.But Rodon was 0-5 with a 9.22 ERA in six September starts http://www.indiansfanproshop.com/authentic-b.j.-upton-jersey , and finished the season by allowing 14 earned runs over 3 1/3 innings in his last two appearances.Instead of blaming the bad finish on fatigue at the end of the season after the comeback from surgery, Rodon insisted Friday that he was just bad in those games and got his rear kicked — using much stronger terms than that.“He’s just being accountable, being responsible to everything,” manager Rick Renteira said. “We do look at coming back after being off, you know, pushing. So we’ll say it might have had a little fatigue factor to it at the end. But I’m glad he’s looking at (as) even if you’re fatigued, in his mind, he’s thinking, ‘I can find ways of still getting it done.'”The 26-year-old Rodon has 473 strikeouts through his first 86 career games, the most in White Sox history in such a stretch. That includes seven games with at least 10 strikeouts. He ranks fifth among AL left-handers since his big league debut in 2015 with 8.61 strikeouts per nine innings.Rodon missed the first three months of the 2017 season because of left biceps and shoulder inflammation. He had shoulder surgery that September Corey Kluber Jersey , and the rehab from that pushed back the start of his 2018 season.“He’s actually really, really happy to be coming into camp feeling good and happy,” Renteria said. “You can see that he’s determined to try to have as consistent a season as he possibly can. … With health on his side, and the right mindset, he’s got a chance to do some good things for us this coming season.” It took Mike Shildt only 38 games to convince the St. Louis Cardinals to remove the interim from his title as the team’s manager.Hours after the club announced Tuesday that it signed Shildt through the 2020 season, St. Louis showed why he canceled its intentions of a highly publicized offseason search for a skipper to replace Mike Matheny.With Jose Martinez and Tyler O’Neill slamming two-run homers to complement seven good innings from rookie Jack Flaherty, the Cardinals improved to 27-12 under Shildt with a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates to solidify their position atop the National League wild-card standings.Article continues below ...St. Louis (74-58) will attempt to win its 10th straight series Wednesday night when it plays the middle game of its set with Pittsburgh.“We just felt like we could not do better,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “Clearly the relationship he has with our players and coaching staff and front office and ownership, it just made this a very seamless decision. We didn’t agonize too much over it because we have a lot of confidence in him.”As they should. Shildt has played a more aggressive brand of baseball than Matheny preferred, unafraid to start runners regardless of the hitter or runner. He’s also helped revamp the bullpen Ricky Vaughn Jersey , introducing young arms such as Dakota Hudson and Daniel Poncedeleon to high-leverage situations and also adding Opening Day starter Carlos Martinez to the mix last week.The effects could be obvious if St. Louis can continue this run and qualify for the playoffs. In Hudson and Martinez, it has two power arms who could play the Andrew Miller role that Cleveland manager Terry Francona created for its trade deadline acquisition in 2016, helping the Indians come within a win of breaking their now 70-year World Series drought.“Everybody’s doing their job, just having so much fun and competing,” Flaherty said.Miles Mikolas (13-3, 2.94) takes the mound for the Cardinals after his worst start of the year, allowing five runs (four earned) and 12 hits in 4 2/3 innings Friday night of a 7-5 win at Colorado. Mikolas gave up all his runs in the fifth inning, getting the hook one out shy of qualifying for his sixth straight win.The All-Star right-hander has faced the Pirates (64-68) three times this year, going 0-1 with a pair of no-decisions. He’s 1-1 in five career games with a 2.91 ERA.Opposing Mikolas is right-hander Trevor Williams (10-9, 3.44) Michael Brantley Jersey , who’s enjoying the best season of his three-year career. Williams is coming off a no-decision Aug. 22 in a 2-1 loss to Atlanta, pitching six innings and allowing only one run off two hits and two walks with four strikeouts.Williams has been outstanding in his last seven starts, permitting four runs over 42 innings, although he’s only 3-2 in that span. But he’s struggled mightily in 10 career games against St. Louis, posting a 2-4 mark with a 6.93 ERA and giving up a whopping 56 hits in only 37 2/3 innings.