I think you mean Game 4 (the Napoli HR), but I get the point. And it actually does go back to Game 3. He had to use Boggs in Game 4 because he used Dotel in the blowout Game 3 for some mysterious reason.
One of the reasons I thought the Cards had a chance in this series is because I honestly felt that Tony was a better in-game manager than Wash. I’m not sure I’m wrong about that, but he’s certainly done everything possible to turn that potential advantage into a disadvantage.
The funny thing is, I don’t think Wash had a very good game in Game 5 either. Intentionally walking Pujols with nobody on? Probably not wise. At least one of the other IBB was “bad”, IMO, too. But Holliday failed, and Wash looked good. If Rzep makes the play on the comebacker (and maybe turns two), then we likely don’t even talk about TLR. Same if the Cards cashed in even 25% of their RISP.
You need the run of either the batter or the on-deck guy just to tie, so advancing the guy on first doesn’t help you at all. The only potential gain is avoiding a double-play. So basically you’re risking an out and the only time it pays off is if a) the batter hits what would be a double play ball AND b) then the on-deck guy gets a hit AND c) either the on-deck guy’s hit is a home run or the in-the-hole guy gets a hit which drives in the on-deck guy.
Hard to see that paying off enough to make the risk worth it. I suppose the risk is slightly less if it’s a full count, because there’s a couple less situations where the loss of a runner hurts you, but it still doesn’t seem like a very good gamble to me… But what do I know? I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t understand why bunting in an early inning makes sense (especially when you’re averaging something like 6 runs per game in the series so far)
Oh, I absolute agree it was a stinky decision. I was just answering the question about why LaRussa would order a steal in that situation, and that’s not *exactly *what he did. But yeah, sending Craig wasn’t all that great a call anyway.
Part of it, I think, is the Cardinals’ awful propensity for grounding into double plays all season long. You see that happen game after game after game (I’m looking at you, Holliday, although Pujols did it a lot, too), you get jumpy whenever you have a man on first and less than two out. I guess LaRussa was thinking, “I gotta stay out of the goshdarn double play for once!” instead of, “Well, Pujols has hit the ball to right with a runner on first ELEVEN TIMES all season as opposed to THIRTY SEVEN home runs, so putting Craig in motion here maybe isn’t the smartest move.”
The Cardinals did ground into an amazing number of double plays this year, way, way more than any other team inthe league. In part, of course, that’s because they got more guys on base than anyone else, but it’s also because they just have a lot of guys who hit the ball hard but aren’t very fast. Pujols led the league in GIDP, by the way; Holliday was well behind him, tied with Molina for second in the league. Yes, St. Louis had the top three GIDP masters. And David Freese tied for ninth even though he only played in 97 games.
Still, though, if you’re making your mangerial moves out of frustration, you have lost control of the situation.
Anyone want to make any predictions for Game 6? We’ve had one run games go both ways, a blow-out, a shut-out and a, ummm, managerial blunderbuss. So, obviously tonight has got to be…
The Rangers are 10-0 the last 10 times they’ve had today’s home plate ump (Gary Cederstrom), while the Cardinals are 3-7. An average of 7.34 runs were scored over his last 35 games as home plate ump. St. Louis is a pitcher’s park, where it will be cold/rainy.
My prediction (read: wild speculation) is that Tony La Russa will back off the bullpen shenanigans while an emboldened Ron Washington intentionally walks even more hitters. As a result, La Russa will begin to approach the “non-crazy management” threshold while Washington vanishes into the event horizon of the Singularity of Insanity.
Final score: Cards 7, Rangers 3.
Or, y’know, it’ll be a baseball game. The score will be somewhere between 0-0 and 20-20, and the better team will have a 50-60% chance of winning.
OK, I’ll stick with my original 4-1 prediction. And I’ll add: Ian Kinsler will hit a solo HR that hits the left field foul pole. I dreamed that on my train ride home today. No idea why, since I don’t particularly care who wins this series.
I dreamed last night that Albert Pujols punched the first base umpire for saying “You’re a liar, just like your mother.” Tell me you wouldn’t be glued to the screen if that happened.
Baseball should cut the schedule back to about 150 games. The playoffs are taking them into winter. They are fighting other sports for media attention and viewership. There is discussion of making the playoffs even longer.
They would have to shorten the schedule by about a month to avoid conflicts with the NBA and two months to avoid conflicts with football. Chopping 12 games out of the season wouldn’t help. And yes, I wouldn’t be surprised if they add another wild card team and a short playoff series in the next few years.
