2011 Playoffs Thread

[Little Slide Rooter]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/762420/larussa.gif

 

Ted Lilly glove slam, you have been dethroned.

[minnesotacubsfan]

BBTiA Joey Matches

 

 

 

Hahahahaha RT @TroyRenck TLR said that wanted Motte to face Napoli and bullpen didn't hear Motte's name... Crowd noise cited. I am serious.

 

 

 

AHHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHA holy [expletive]

 

no [expletive], its amazing they had that communication issue in the friggen WORLD SERIES

 

of course Ozzie Guillen is making excuses for Tony on espn

[shnsajax]

TRL taking it up the rear questioning his game management.

[TruffleShuffle]

to summarize TLR's awesome managing in that game:

-third inning: bunting furcal to third with a hot hitter (a. craig) ahead of a great hitter (pujols), setting up an obvious intentional walk.

-sixth inning: giving away an out (furcal) with 1st and 2nd, none out.

-seventh inning: hit and run with pujols at bat and a not-fast runner (craig) on base

-eighth inning (top): burning a PH (theriot) to bunt molina into scoring position for a bad hitter (punto) and furcal.

-eighth inning (bottom): intentionally walking n. cruz (.289 obp versus rhp this year) with a rhp, dotel, who dominated rhp this year (.154/.198/.211/.410)

-eighth inning (bottom): using a lhp with sharp LH/RH splits against a hot RH batter with a career .294/.400/.555/.955 line, rather than using the RH closer who dominated RH batters this year (.162/.220/.234/.454).

-eighth inning (bottom): using a relief pitcher just to issue an intentional walk

-ninth inning: hit and run with a not-fast runner (craig) as the tying run and pujols at bat.

 

 

even dusty baker thinks this [expletive] is bad.

[minnesotacubsfan]

Washington defended the mis-communication too though. I just think its great that THE GREAT TONY LARUSSA couldnt communicate with his own bullpen at a critical time.

 

 

hahaha I hate that guy

[Mark_R]

Spazz A Muzz OKAY THIS HOW IT SHLD GO, craig get rid of him, he is so stupid thinkin he can steal a base. Pujols let him go as a free agent, and berkman if he was smart along with holliday--LEAVE...get rid of jay.. if they cant pull it off for a game 6 and 7

 

You can't beat immediate erik-like reaction on facebook.

[chuckywang]

When you need that big intentional walk, you gotta go with Lance Lynn.

[minnesotacubsfan]

its as if Dusty is out in the Cardinals dugout

[TruffleShuffle]

copy/paste the imb facebook trolling of cards fans plz

[Guest]

copy/paste the imb facebook trolling of cards fans plz

 

Seconded.

[TruffleShuffle]

man i would be so irate if i were a cardinal fan (and thank God i'm not). that honestly is one of the worst-managed games i've ever seen. just terrible decision after terrible decision.

[ConstableRabbit]

I caught the last 2 innings -- this is just pure joy.

 

TLRLRLRLRLR outmanaging himself in another game -- and in the WS -- coupled with Theo tomorrow? NSBB is awesome right now.

[imb]

Lol @ IMB getting into it with some crusty old Cards fans on FB!

 

yea...lol

 

I do what i can

[imb]

copy/paste the imb facebook trolling of cards fans plz

 

Seconded.

 

It was nothing too out of the ordinary. Some guy was freaking out on Mark's status and I strung him along for a little while.

[MWV]

I think the "crazy-legs Ron Washington" routine occurring at the 0:26 mark of this clip--properly GIFed--could easily supplant OMCs weird, musician-puppets-having-a-seizure GIF.

[Omar]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/762420/larussa.gif

 

Ted Lilly glove slam, you have been dethroned.

 

What moment was that for? The 2-run double?

[Yeti]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/762420/larussa.gif

 

Ted Lilly glove slam, you have been dethroned.

 

What moment was that for? The 2-run double?

yup

[chuckywang]

Today was the second time TLR was asleep at the wheel.

[El Duderino]

wait, I thought he was a genius.

[Banedon]

Here's TLR's explanation of the 8th, paraphrased from the press conference highlights on SC this morning:

 

Brought in Rzep to face Murphy. He tells the bullpen to warm up Motte. Nobody gets up, so after the Murphy AB, he has no choice but to leave in Rzep.

 

Again, TLR tells the bullpen to warm up Motte. Rzep gives up the double to Napoli. Then leaves him in for Moreland. Apparently, you can't see the pitchers warming up in the visitor's bullpen from the visitors dugout, so TLR signals for the new pitcher, and out comes Lance Lynn. TLR says "What are you doing out here?"

 

So to give Motte more time to warm up, he tells him to IBB Kinsler. Then, Motte is finally warmed up and brings him in to get out Andrus.

[UMFan83]

If it's ok, I am going to continue to pretend that all the moves he made in the 8th were as designed, and they failed miserably.

[sneakypower]

http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/762420/larussa.gif

 

Ted Lilly glove slam, you have been dethroned.

 

What moment was that for? The 2-run double?

yup

no, it was when Chep...zin...ski? Scrabble muffed the bouncer from David Murphy, that could have possibly ended the inning but instead loaded the bases

Edited October 25, 2011 by sneakypower

[illiniguy]

Here's TLR's explanation of the 8th, paraphrased from the press conference highlights on SC this morning:

 

Brought in Rzep to face Murphy. He tells the bullpen to warm up Motte. Nobody gets up, so after the Murphy AB, he has no choice but to leave in Rzep.

 

Again, TLR tells the bullpen to warm up Motte. Rzep gives up the double to Napoli. Then leaves him in for Moreland. Apparently, you can't see the pitchers warming up in the visitor's bullpen from the visitors dugout, so TLR signals for the new pitcher, and out comes Lance Lynn. TLR says "What are you doing out here?"

 

So to give Motte more time to warm up, he tells him to IBB Kinsler. Then, Motte is finally warmed up and brings him in to get out Andrus.

There's always an excuse ready for when they get beat. The balls in Cincy aren't right, The other team is stealing signs no way could Sammy hit Matt Morris if not, the Dodgers fans were waving white towels and Holliday couldn't see them, they cant see at a certain time of day and mean baseball keeps making them play games then during the playoffs, now they can't see in the Rangers bullpen.

[El Duderino]

There's always an excuse ready for when they get beat. The balls in Cincy aren't right, The other team is stealing signs no way could Sammy hit Matt Morris if not, the Dodgers fans were waving white towels and Holliday couldn't see them, they cant see at a certain time of day and mean baseball keeps making them play games then during the playoffs, now they can't see in the Rangers bullpen.

 

don't forget the lights in Milwaukee.

[UMFan83]

Has anyone posted this Verducci article?

 

He tears the [expletive] out of LaRussa and his explanation for his moves last night.

 

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/10/25/game.5/index.html#ixzz1bopZloTx

 

This is only like 1/3rd of the article, but I'll edit it more if its too much to post.

 

The intentional walk to Nelson Cruz. This is where La Russa began to let the inning get away from him. He had his best right-handed specialist, Octavio Dotel, on the mound in a 2-2 tie with a runner at second base after he had just struck out Adrian Beltre on three pitches. Everybody knew going into this series that Dotel's job was to troubleshoot the right-handed hitters that Washington stacks in the middle of his lineup: Michael Young, Beltre and Cruz.

 

Suddenly, pitching coach Dave Duncan walked out to the mound and told Dotel, "We're going to walk [Cruz]."

 

Dotel came back with the obvious reply: "Why?"

 

Beltre would later say he could not figure out why they would walk Cruz.

 

It made no sense. Dotel's job is to get these right-handed hitters out. And by walking Cruz -- and barring a double play, an event that cannot be counted on -- La Russa was making sure that Napoli, the hottest hitter, would get to the plate.

 

When I asked La Russa if he could do this because he thought he had closer Jason Motte ready for Napoli, he replied, "Well, I was more thinking that we had a real good chance with Rzepcynski with a pinch-hitter [for Murphy] or not, and if we got an out or not we were going to pitch around Napoli and then go after the left-hander."

 

Stop right there. That's gibberish -- "whether we got an out or not." If Rzepczynski did not get the next hitter, Murphy, the Rangers would have the bases loaded and there would be no possible way to pitch around Napoli. And that's exactly what happened.

 

The first botched phone call for Motte. La Russa said he wanted Motte to get up along with Rzepczynski, but Lilliquist, La Russa said, did not hear him ask for Motte.

 

Think along with La Russa here. He thinks he has Motte warming with Rzepczynski. So after Rzepczynski comes in and Murphy gets on and the bases are loaded and Napoli is up, what does La Russa do? Does he go out to the mound and call for Motte, whom he thinks he has ready? No. And if somehow word got to La Russa that Motte was not throwing, are you telling me the world's master at stalling a game -- who had not yet made a mound visit to Rzepczynski, and who knows he has three-minute commercial breaks for pitching changes where the guy has more time to get loose, and who has a guy who gets loose quickly -- made no attempt to buy time to get Motte in the game?

 

Look at this question and answer with La Russa:

 

Q: Just to be clear, if Motte was ready, he would have faced Napoli?

 

A: Yeah.

 

So La Russa, a master strategist who knows every trick in the book, simply went ahead with a matchup he didn't like with the game on the line, Rzepczynski on Napoli? No attempt to call Motte? No attempt to stall the game to get the matchup La Russa wanted?

 

The second phone call for Motte. This time, La Russa said, when he said "Motte" into the phone, Lilliquist thought he said "Lynn." Lance Lynn is a guy La Russa said two days ago was not available for Games 4 and 5 except in an emergency because he needed rest. So Lilliquist hears that La Russa wants a guy who's not available to start throwing and thinks nothing of getting him up?

 

Every team begins every game with a list of pitchers who are available and not available. Lynn was so unavailable that when he did show up on the game mound -- La Russa thought he was bringing in Motte to face Kinsler -- La Russa didn't even want him facing one batter and ordered him to toss four intentional balls. What kind of massive breakdown has to occur for that to happen?

 

That also led to this delicious bit of embarrassment when La Russa saw Lynn, not Motte, jogging to meet him at the mound: "Oh," La Russa said, "what are you doing here?"

 

Now re-look at the Napoli at-bat in light of what La Russa did with Kinsler at the plate. In the latter case, La Russa walked out to the mound and signaled for Motte to come into the game (erroneously as it turned out). So if La Russa really did want Motte to pitch to Napoli as he said, why didn't he do exactly what he did with Kinsler up -- walk out to the mound thinking he was bringing Motte into the game?

 

The two caught stealings of Allen Craig. In the seventh inning, either Pujols called his own hit-and-run play and didn't swing, or Craig saw a sign that wasn't there, or the moon was in the phase of Aquarius, but somehow the Cardinals gave up a runner at first (Craig was thrown out), which immediately allowed Washington to intentionally walk Pujols. It gets worse. In the ninth, trailing 4-2, Craig was on first base with no outs while Rangers closer Neftali Feliz had a full count on Pujols, who represented the tying run. La Russa ordered Craig to run on the pitch. Pujols, after two foul balls, chased ball four, a 99 mph fastball off the plate. He swung through it and Craig was thrown out at second for a double play.

 

Here is La Russa's explanation in full:

 

"Yeah, I trusted Albert could put the ball in play. In fact, the two swings that he fouled the ball off with the second baseman going over, the hole was there and all of a sudden it was first and third and nobody out and the last pitch, the guy has a very live arm and it sailed on him and he missed. I liked sending him and having a chance to open that inning up, and it didn't work."

 

Think about what La Russa is saying here. Pujols represents the tying run, and yet La Russa is talking about him as if he is Nick Punto. He is thinking about Pujols -- who two days earlier joined Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only men ever to hit three homers in a World Series game -- hitting a groundball through the right side of the infield with Kinsler covering second base. A groundball to second base with Pujols finally getting a chance to swing the bat as the potential tying run! Do you know how many opposite field singles Pujols had this year in 651 plate appearances? Eleven. Less than two percent of his plate appearances. And that counts all opposite field singles of any kind, including line drives, not just seeing-eye ground balls through the vacated second base hole.

 

Do you know how many times Pujols hit a homer this year? Thirty-seven -- or more than three times more often than he hit opposite field singles.

 

Really, my head hurts trying to figure out what La Russa did to this game but mostly how he tried to explain it away. It was like being stuck in a gigantic corn maze. Blindfolded. At midnight. After getting spun around 38 times. Every explanation led to another turn that led to another dead end or false exit. The bottom line is he lost the game having a matchup he didn't want -- a left-hander pitching to red-hot Napoli -- and he lost his last opportunity by getting a runner thrown out who, while down two runs, didn't mean anything. I've never seen a game even close to this one and I hope never again to have to try to explain one like it.