The supposed "managerial genius" gets a lot of praise around baseball, some of it probably deserved. Regardless of how much he had to do with it, his 83-win Cardinals did find a way to win the World Series last year.
La Russa definitely fell asleep in the 9th inning of the all-star game last night. Kind of like that time...sorry - tasteless. But how do you go to Aaron Rowand with Albert Pujols sitting on the bench in that spot? Your own player, and one of the best in all of baseball! And who cares if it's the all-star game? You still play to win it!
With 2 outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th in the all-star game last night, the American League clinging to a 5-4 lead over the National League after the NL had plated two in the inning on a home run by Alfonso Soriano, La Russa did just that - only to watch Rowand fly out, the NL lose, and La Russa's best player express public dissatisfaction.
Tony's rationale was that if the game did go to extra innings, he'd need Pujols and his versatility to come into the game at that point. But with everyone watching dreading the idea of any more extra-inning all-star games after the 2002 debacle, why was La Russa only playing to tie? It's not as if the game was already knotted up and it was either win or go to extras for the NL. Essentially La Russa's excuse is that he sent Aaron Rowand up hoping for a dink single to tie the game, and he didn't want to burn Pujols after that happened.
Pujols was probably going to end the game in that spot one way or another; if he didn't make an out, it's likely that a hit from a man of his hitting prowess would have brought in two of the three runners on base to win the game. By not going to Pujols, La Russa not only made a bonehead managerial move, he created some potential clubhouse friction with his star player.
You've got to at least die by the sword in that spot, and with Aaron Rowand's flyout the NL died, at best, by the butterknife.
If the Mets find their way into the World Series this year, I'm blaming Tony La Russa when it starts in Detroit.
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