jim wrote:lol at Tony for bringing Motte in with 2 outs in the 9th and a 4 run lead with nobody on. Mixin' and matchin' 'til the very end.
I thought he wanted to give Miller two nights off, what's with bringing him in to start the 9th with a 4 run lead?
I think just that 1 extra batter would make a difference in how Miller holds up tonight considering he's out there almost every day, but usually only facing 1 or 2 batters. I don't have a problem with him doing it; I'd rather he do that than continually use a 1 batter guy for an entire inning (see Ron Villone)
I had strongly disagreed with Tony's manuevers in the 7th inning; burning 3 players in the process of replacing Brendan Ryan........however, I understood what he was trying to do.........but I really respect his comments about this in PD, and also his approach to Brendan in the dugout.
The seventh inning caused La Russa his most distress, however. Rather than allow shortstop Brendan Ryan to hit with one out and the bases loaded against righthanded reliever David Weathers, La Russa engaged Brewers manager Ken Macha in tactical tit-for-tat that cost him three players and resulted in Khalil Greene's strikeout against lefthander Mitch Stetter.
The inning died when a third reliever, righthander Claudio Vargas, got Pujols to bounce a harmless ground ball to third base.
"The guy made a good pitch on me," said Pujols, who stepped in against Vargas nine for 13 with two doubles, five home runs and 29 RBIs this season with bases loaded. "It doesn't happen every time."
"I haven't been here long, but I haven't seen it," Holliday said about Pujols' late misses. "I'll still take my chances."
The manager was left with a squandered chance, to go with his regret.
"To pull the trigger on Brendan ... I'm not really sure," La Russa said. "In fact, I think it wasn't a good move to make. I should have let (Ryan) have the at-bat. I'm disappointed in my decision there no matter how it turned out. Albert could have hit a grand slam or Khalil hit a three-run double and it's not a good decision."
The move meant La Russa had to expend Ryan, Greene and Skip Schumaker, who served as a decoy to prod Macha to import Stetter for Weathers.
La Russa acknowledged the walk of second baseman Julio Lugo to load the bases should have altered his thinking.
"I had Khalil ready for the lefthander because I was going to hit (Schumaker). But once Julio got on base it was a different situation," La Russa said. "There's a good chance Albert comes to bat because it's tough to double (up) Brendan. That was not a good decision. Brendan hadn't had a real good day (zero for three with one strikeout), but he's had a lot of big hits and runs well. Bad decision."
La Russa and his pitching-rich team have done little wrong over the past six weeks. Despite Thursday's loss, the Cardinals (79-56) have won 10 of their last 11 series, tying the other. The Chicago Cubs' loss let the Redbirds' lead stand at 10 1/2 games. Rather than dwell on Rasmus' baserunning blunder, Pujols' two late misses or Smoltz's inability to hang on to a lead, La Russa fell on his sword.
Even before Pujols grounded out, La Russa had approached Ryan in the dugout to admit his mistake.
"I never would have expected that. I would never second-guess any move he makes. He certainly doesn't have to do that. But I appreciated it," said Ryan, who has previously felt public criticism from his manager.
st.lewis11 wrote:I had strongly disagreed with Tony's manuevers in the 7th inning; burning 3 players in the process of replacing Brendan Ryan........however, I understood what he was trying to do.........but I really respect his comments about this in PD, and also his approach to Brendan in the dugout.
The seventh inning caused La Russa his most distress, however. Rather than allow shortstop Brendan Ryan to hit with one out and the bases loaded against righthanded reliever David Weathers, La Russa engaged Brewers manager Ken Macha in tactical tit-for-tat that cost him three players and resulted in Khalil Greene's strikeout against lefthander Mitch Stetter.
The inning died when a third reliever, righthander Claudio Vargas, got Pujols to bounce a harmless ground ball to third base.
"The guy made a good pitch on me," said Pujols, who stepped in against Vargas nine for 13 with two doubles, five home runs and 29 RBIs this season with bases loaded. "It doesn't happen every time."
"I haven't been here long, but I haven't seen it," Holliday said about Pujols' late misses. "I'll still take my chances."
The manager was left with a squandered chance, to go with his regret.
"To pull the trigger on Brendan ... I'm not really sure," La Russa said. "In fact, I think it wasn't a good move to make. I should have let (Ryan) have the at-bat. I'm disappointed in my decision there no matter how it turned out. Albert could have hit a grand slam or Khalil hit a three-run double and it's not a good decision."
The move meant La Russa had to expend Ryan, Greene and Skip Schumaker, who served as a decoy to prod Macha to import Stetter for Weathers.
La Russa acknowledged the walk of second baseman Julio Lugo to load the bases should have altered his thinking.
"I had Khalil ready for the lefthander because I was going to hit (Schumaker). But once Julio got on base it was a different situation," La Russa said. "There's a good chance Albert comes to bat because it's tough to double (up) Brendan. That was not a good decision. Brendan hadn't had a real good day (zero for three with one strikeout), but he's had a lot of big hits and runs well. Bad decision."
La Russa and his pitching-rich team have done little wrong over the past six weeks. Despite Thursday's loss, the Cardinals (79-56) have won 10 of their last 11 series, tying the other. The Chicago Cubs' loss let the Redbirds' lead stand at 10 1/2 games. Rather than dwell on Rasmus' baserunning blunder, Pujols' two late misses or Smoltz's inability to hang on to a lead, La Russa fell on his sword.
Even before Pujols grounded out, La Russa had approached Ryan in the dugout to admit his mistake.
"I never would have expected that. I would never second-guess any move he makes. He certainly doesn't have to do that. But I appreciated it," said Ryan, who has previously felt public criticism from his manager.
I had thought he made an error by pinch hitting for Ryan and then getting into wholesale moves that left him with a worse matchup. But it was good to see him accept that he made a mistake.
First off, I wish TLR would stop using AW in a PH role. He's most likely not a better option, and you are putting the guy in a position to get hurt. I'm all for keep plugging ahead, run AP and Holliday and those guys out there every day, but stop with the pitchers PH. We have a lead sufficient where you don't have to resort to desperation maneuvers every night to win the game. Not only that, we have a bench now. Use it. (edit .. and yes I know Glauss is out).
Second off, if you do have AW up there just bunt. I generally like pulling the bat back and keeping the other teams on their toes, but we needed one run badly at that point. Just get the guys to 2+3 with 1 out.
The end result was Thurston hitting with a 1-2 count, and of course we know what happened.
