ramsfan125
08-15-2002, 11:07 PM
Cardinals fans, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Tony LaRussa will be a Hall of Fame manager, but with the Cardinals, I'm not excited.
First up, he single-handedly invented a word: Larussaball. Larussaball's definition is: the process of managing in which starting pitcher, despite performance, are given very little faith and in result, games are long. This is a process of which is controversial and has resulted in god-knows-how-many temper tantrums in St. Louis homes.
I've heard local sports writers hailing LaRussa for a job well done, but he's had trouble since he arrived in St. Louis. It started in 1996, when he benched Ozzie Smith, the most popular Cardinal player ever, and who, despite being at the age of 42, could still hold his own in the majors. Rather, he put in a young shortstop you may have heard of named Royce Clayton. I'm not obsessed with Ozzie or even much of a fan, I guess he's okay. But Royce Clayton?? Not only is it inexcusable to bench Ozzie regularly for anybody, but for Royce Clayton? Ozzie is now a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and Royce Clayton is, um, I don't know, Texas, San Francisco, Chicago, he's been around.
Here's a brief summary of the Cardinals last year. They tied for the division crown and made the playoffs. Nice, huh? But had it not been for a Larussa mistake, which is bringing Mike Matthews into Game 3 of the NLCS in which he blew it, and the Cards lost. Had they won, the Cards would have beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. I can just imagine Joe Buck and Tim McCarver saying, "In comes Mariano Rivera, a great playoff closer. Here comes the pitch to Edmonds, Edmonds hits it and the Cardinals win the World Series." All that could have been.
Now, you could argue that it's not Larussa's fault his relievers run out of juice, it's the pitchers. But for the multiple times this had happened, I do not think Larussa can stay. I support Walt Jocketty as manager. He built this team by trading no-account players for stars. Who else is with me?
First up, he single-handedly invented a word: Larussaball. Larussaball's definition is: the process of managing in which starting pitcher, despite performance, are given very little faith and in result, games are long. This is a process of which is controversial and has resulted in god-knows-how-many temper tantrums in St. Louis homes.
I've heard local sports writers hailing LaRussa for a job well done, but he's had trouble since he arrived in St. Louis. It started in 1996, when he benched Ozzie Smith, the most popular Cardinal player ever, and who, despite being at the age of 42, could still hold his own in the majors. Rather, he put in a young shortstop you may have heard of named Royce Clayton. I'm not obsessed with Ozzie or even much of a fan, I guess he's okay. But Royce Clayton?? Not only is it inexcusable to bench Ozzie regularly for anybody, but for Royce Clayton? Ozzie is now a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and Royce Clayton is, um, I don't know, Texas, San Francisco, Chicago, he's been around.
Here's a brief summary of the Cardinals last year. They tied for the division crown and made the playoffs. Nice, huh? But had it not been for a Larussa mistake, which is bringing Mike Matthews into Game 3 of the NLCS in which he blew it, and the Cards lost. Had they won, the Cards would have beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. I can just imagine Joe Buck and Tim McCarver saying, "In comes Mariano Rivera, a great playoff closer. Here comes the pitch to Edmonds, Edmonds hits it and the Cardinals win the World Series." All that could have been.
Now, you could argue that it's not Larussa's fault his relievers run out of juice, it's the pitchers. But for the multiple times this had happened, I do not think Larussa can stay. I support Walt Jocketty as manager. He built this team by trading no-account players for stars. Who else is with me?