The classic moment that will be replayed for a long time in the minds of Cub fans everywhere in Wednesday’s game between the Cubs and Cardinals was not Carlos Zambrano almost ordering the Cubs’ coaching staff to allow him to pitch to John Mabry.
It was when Tony LaRussa, the 8 consecutive World Series game-losing baseball managing expert of the 21st Century decided to shout an expletive towards the home plate umpire during the ninth inning.
And the Comcast SportsNet (We don’t show replays of close plays, but we can give you crappy music, graphics, and studio shows!!!) microphones picked it up. That’s the way LaRussa! Next time, why don’t you just have somebody throw a ball intentionally at the guy? Oh, wait, you already do that…
The Cardinals’ fans responded to the Zambrano injury, at the conclusion of a great pitching performance, in a way that befits the reputation of the “best fans in baseball” that Saint Louis supposedly has: They booed him.
There were three big stories in Wednesday’s game.
1. Carlos Zambrano didn’t kill the Cardinals, but that performance sure looked like a half-mortal blow. Plus, he actually looked composed, or at least as composed as Carlos can be.
2. Jim Edmonds almost spent more time chasing after balls that he missed than the time he spent complaining to the home plate umpire about the strike zone. I guess there was just too much wind out there tonight for Jimmy’s liking. Or maybe he is still emotionally shaken from losing former teammate Edgar Renteria???
3. Nomar’s injured. The injury should open up time for Jerry Hairston, the latter. Nomar is a great player, and you have to think he would’ve gotten out of his slump soon if he hadn’t gotten hurt tonight. But, now, we don’t know how long Garciaparra is out. It could be a week, a month, or the season. But, Nomar is too good for people to be happy that the poorly-playing Nomar we were seeing so far this season to be hurt. Because at some point, he would have gotten out of it. The one positive is that a Perez/Hairston middle infield will be better defensively than a Nomar/Walker middle infield ever would have been. And, if Dusty Baker moves Hairston to leadoff and moves Corey Patterson down in in the order, the middle of the lineup could have some good balance.
All in all, a good night for the Cubs, and their fans. It’s been a while since we have had a fun game where we actually won the game against a good team.
Don’t hate us beacuse we’re white trash, hate us because we’re stupid white trash.
My parents live in a Winnebago…yeah, I fit in here in St. Louis.
Yeah, it’s always a good night for the Cubs and their fans when a future hall of famer goes down to be replaced by Neifi for God knows how long.
Brian, I meant that as referring to the game itself, not in terms of the Nomar injury. I think those that are happy about Nomar’s injury are wrong and silly.
I do understand where someone would get the impression that I felt happy about the overall results of the evening. I am happy about the game itself, but (as I just said) those that are happy about Nomar’s injury are just out to pasture.
I don’t see how you can call a game where an All-Star and future HOF shortstop is out for who knows how long “…a good night for the Cubs, and their fans.”
Geez people… I meant the comment in reference to the game itself. It was a fun game against a good opponent which we actually won.
Yes, the Nomar injury is a bad occurence, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact the Cubs won the game.
You guys are making an issue over semantics where there isn’t anything there.
Yeah, I’m in a crappy mood. Christ, I’m up at 1 for no reason other than being pissed off. It’s a good win, but there were two reasons for optimism about the Cubs: 1) A healthy rotation (we’ll see), and 2) a full season of a healthy Nomar. Yeah, he has been awful (and as Chippy would say, “he’d be the first to tell ya…”), but he WOULD HAVE hit.
Considering the lost production in the off-season, I don’t see how the Cubs offense could possibly score as many runs as last season without Nomar.
Hardly a well-written concluding paragraph, BC. That’s all I’m saying.
Holy shit, I am pretty morbid aren’t I?
Hey! What about us? That final paragraph gets all the attention, but we’re really badly written too!
Take, for instance, “But, Nomar is too good for people to be happy that the poorly-playing Nomar we were seeing so far this season to be hurt”. That’s dreadful! Journalism Major, my arse. We think BC might want to reappraise his choice of career.
But the defense will be improved!!!! Doesn’t that make you feel all better about losing about 180 RBI between Nomar and Walker? Whoo, defense!
I think everyone needs to chill out. BC was doing the right thing: enjoying the fact that we beat the Cardinals last night. With all our doubts about the season, at least something went right. Of course, with our luck, there was the unavoidable subplot of something going horribly wrong–Nomar’s groin snapping like a rubber band. One way or another the Cubs will make do, and if they can keep beating the Cardinals and other good teams we could still see the postseason. Remember the 2003 Cubs? With or without Nomar this team’s better than that squad. We just have to find ways to squeak out games with whoever’s on the field that day, and that happened last night.
Any win over the Cardinals is a good win.
A great win of course would be a win over the Cardinals in Wrigley and then a fiery plane crash on the Cards’ return flight to Dogpatch.
No, Nomar’s injury is a good thing! It’s FAN-tastic, just like U.S. Soldiers being killed in Iraq!
I’m a scholar and a gentleman! Or something.
Who IS “The Franchise”?
#38: big cajones, kill them all attitude
or
#22: all-world talent, prone to injuries
Both.
I’m not even close in the “Franchise” debate.
we win today we go to 9-7. That’s .5625 ball after 10%
of the season. That equals 91 wins and maybe the Wild card.
Maybe I will pitch better, now that expectations for me are lower than Dempster’s.
Poster #19 (Grudz): I was trying to edit your post as it contained a piece of irrelevant personal information but I accidentally hit delete instead of edit, so your comment is gone.
To show that I am being nice and that I am open about relevant points of view being heard, here is Poster #19’s (Grudz) comments, without the said information:
“BC’s right, the “classic moment” that no one will soon forget about this game was a manager cursing at an umpire. It’s doubtful that will ever happen again.”
In response: Good point. But, LaRussa has given himself this aura of being above getting in petty spats with the umpires, etc. That’s what made what he said all the more hilarious.
At least now I won’t see Hariston playing left any more. Now if Dusty can stop giving 3 times as many at bats to a guy who is worse than me in just about every statistcal offensive catagory … Big Z almost has as many at bats as me!
C’mon guys, we need more noise for good ole Dub-ya
“LaRussa has given himself this aura of being above getting in petty spats with the umpires, etc. That’s what made what he said all the more hilarious.”
I don’t think The Genius has given himself any such aura. He is a notorious red ass. He is in more spats than any manager in the big leagues. Dugouts have emptied with Tony vs. Dusty, Kenny Lofton, Llloyd McClendon, and probably several others. You can assume that with 18 games against the Astros, Tony and Scrap Iron will go toe to toe at some point.
The aura that LaRussa has tried to present is that he is a baseball genius–making a hundred pitching changes, batting the pitcher eighth, etc.
BC edits his replies?
“The Other Paragraphs” = quite possibly the best Desipio comments’ moniker ever!
“What the?”: Everyone knows BC ONLY edits the comments section for “irrelevant” information as he sees fit. Surely you’d agree his own paragraphs contain plenty of irrelevant information for the entire page…
Remember folks, keep it positive!
I know I am missed, but Jake won’t get off his ass to write one of me.
I enjoyed the show quite a bit.