Jerry Reinsdorf will
be glad to see Tony La Russa as the Sox kick off a series with the St. Louis Cardinals tomorrow. That makes one of us, because there is not a more boring brand of baseball than the one the Cardinals play. This may be the one series for which I’m glad I won’t be in town, because when it's St. Louis, I enjoy my ability to change the channel.
The guy has been responsible, either in part or entirely, for the two worst games I’ve attended that weren’t
played in Shea Stadium.
Game 1: July 14, 2000There was only one big inning in this game, yet it lasted three and a half hours. When the Cardinals were at the plate, they seemingly hit dozens of foul balls and took their sweet time re-adjusting between pitches.
And in classic La Russa style, he uses two pitchers in the ninth inning with a seven-run lead. The Sox were already losing big at that point, but La Russa just loves prolonging the agony with his pitching changes.
He was literally adding insult to injury, because earlier in the game, Cal Eldred blew out his elbow, ending his days as a starting pitcher. It was unfortunate, because he was 1) having a career year at 10-2, and 2) had the best strikeout stuff on the staff. Everybody in the stadium knew it, too, and there was an eerie vibe while Herm Schneider was tending to him on the mound.
Game 2: April 17, 2004My friend Matt and I made the two-hour drive to St. Louis to see the Cards play Colorado on Mark McGwire Day, and the Cards once again had a definitive victory all wrapped up as they headed to the ninth with a five-run lead.
Ray King came into the ballgame and retired the first two batters on eight pitches, throwing only one of those for a ball. So what does La Russa do? You guessed it – he changed pitchers.
Why? Because the right-handed Aaron Miles was coming to the plate, and evidently the boy genius manager felt he posted a serious threat to his team’s chances of victory. Miles must’ve had the power to hit a five-run homer, and you don’t want to take any chances going lefty-righty. If that’s the case, I’m wondering why the Sox didn’t keep just keep Miles.
Anyway, he brings in Julian Tavarez to maintain his precious matchups, and Tavarez gives up a triple, and then follows by allowing an RBI single to Denny Hocking to make it a four-run game. With the tying run still in the dugout and probably not even wearing a batting helmet, La Russa makes ANOTHER change, bringing Steve Kline in to face Todd Helton – once again, another friggin’ matchup. This time it actually works and the game’s over.
This game only took 2:40, but I think at least half of that was used up in the ninth inning.
So for the sake of fans that actually have to pay to watch the game, let’s hope the games are either blowouts or pitcher’s duels, because anything in between is torture. I've ripped on Ozzie Guillen a
couple of
times for playing La Russa ball, and this is exactly why. The more times you go to the bullpen, the greater the chance of finding the guy who just doesn't have it that day.