WhittyBall?

[dmiles2186]

Agreed on La Russa Curt.

One stat stands out for me. La Russa has managed the Cardinals for 16 seasons. They have made it to at least the NLCS 7 times.

So just under half of the seasons La Russa has been with the team has resulted in being one of the 4 best teams in baseball. Every other team in the league aside from the Red Sox and Yankees would kill for that success.

Curt is right. Cardinals fans are spoiled.

[DaDitka]

Agreed on La Russa Curt.

One stat stands out for me. La Russa has managed the Cardinals for 16 seasons. They have made it to at least the NLCS 7 times.

So just under half of the seasons La Russa has been with the team has resulted in being one of the 4 best teams in baseball. Every other team in the league aside from the Red Sox and Yankees would kill for that success.

Curt is right. Cardinals fans are spoiled.

Damn right! And I love how everyone always says we have the best and smartest fans.....honestly, Cardinal fans are some of the least knowledgeable fans in baseball.

A bunch of bandwagoning - second guessers........in all honsety, most Cardinal self proclaimed 'die hards' make me sick. They are fans of a logo....not a sport.


Let me put it this way, Cardinal fans would be making up excuses for Halak's play last night. They would blame other members of the team, the officials. this lighting, possibly even the CIA.

[cardsfan04]

I agree that TLR gets a worse rap than he deserves. His results have been extremely solid. He still makes a lot of questionable, and even bad, in game decisions though.

[cprice12]

I agree that TLR gets a worse rap than he deserves. His results have been extremely solid. He still makes a lot of questionable, and even bad, in game decisions though.

LaRussa will make mistakes...every manager does. But I don't think he makes as many bad moves as other managers do.
LaRussa's moves are very calculated and based on stats, a player's history against certain players or in certain situations, and sometimes hunches. Most often, a fan at home may not realize why he is doing what he is doing and think it's a stupid move, but when LaRussa explains his moves, it makes sense in most cases.

I think where LaRussa gets into trouble sometimes is in situations when he takes out a reliever who looked good in retiring the first two guys he faces, to bring in a guy who has better numbers against the next batter. That's an easy one to get upset about because logic would tell you to stick with the guy who is pitching well...if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But when you play the numbers, you win more than you lose. And if you win more than you lose during the season, you'll see your fair share of the playoffs...and if you win more than you lose in a "best of" series you'll win a lot of playoff rounds...and he has.

LaRussa is also very short with the media during his press conferences...especially after losses when a member of the media will ask him a question about why so and so sucked. LaRussa won't answer questions like those and will sometimes go off on the media for asking those kinds of questions, and may even walk out of the press conference. He won't throw a player under the bus or criticize him publicly...aside from saying, "he needs to be better"... no matter what. Players appreciate that...but the fans dislike that. Fans need scapegoats and players to blame for losses or poor performances. If they can't get that acknowledgement from the manager, they turn on the manager...and that's what LaRussa wants. He'd rather the media and any fan negativity fall on him than on his players.

[abc789987]

I became a big fan of TLR after reading Three Nights in August. I thought it was awesome to learn what goes on inside his head.