Tony LaRussa Appreciation Thread

[Slaky]

Thanks Tony! Without you we might be one game away from another St. Louis championship.

How do you feel about that game tonight, Tony?

[Saul Goodman]

Let's make a list.

1. Brought in Lynn to intentionally walk a batter, then took him out.
2. Tried to hit and run with Albert Pujols at the plate and Allen Craig at first, several times, trailing by two, in the ninth inning, before the inevitable strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out finally happened.

[Armchair_QB]

Let's make a list.

1. Brought in Lynn to intentionally walk a batter, then took him out.
2. Tried to hit and run with Albert Pujols at the plate and Allen Craig at first, several times, trailing by two, in the ninth inning, before the inevitable strike-'em-out-throw-'em-out finally happened.

3. Blamed his bullpen coach for No. 1. Said he wanted to bring in Motte but his bullpen coach misunderstood him because the crowd was so loud and got Lynn up instead and you can't see the bullpen from the dugout so he didn't know Lynn was warming up until he walked out of the bullpen. Seriously.

Fucking dick.

[Slaky]

I really just wanted to make sure that gif lived on forever.

[Slaky]

[Slaky]

Verducci has his say:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/tom_verducci/10/25/game.5/

[Waco Kid]

[Saul Goodman]

Brilliant.

[CT III]

Brilliant.

I cannot stop laughing at this.

[Brownie]

Needs something big?

[Quality Start Machine]

Between the Genius giftwrapping another game and Chris Pronger damn near losing an eye, last night was fucking magical.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Someone should have hung this by the bullpen...

[Quality Start Machine]

Nobody's buying the shit the Genius is selling.

Everyone goes under the bus, including those who don't fit:

This is what La Russa and the Cardinals want you to believe: First, that the Cardinals twice had the wrong pitcher in the game in the decisive eighth inning, and that it happened because the crowd at Rangers Ballpark was so loud that bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist couldn't hear La Russa correctly on the bullpen phone -- twice. Second, that when Allen Craig was thrown out trying to steal in the seventh inning, setting up Rangers manager Ron Washington's third consecutive intentional walk of Albert Pujols, Craig was running because Pujols himself had put on a hit-and-run play, then didn't swing at Alexi Ogando's pitch because it was too far off the plate."

[CBStew]

We were season ticket holders in Oakland during the GENIUS era.  I grew to hate the Genius for coming out of the duggout three or four times in the same inning for a pitching change in a game with a 5 run difference.  I wish I were exaggerating.  I was grateful for the designated hitter rule because the double switch was one less area where I had to endure his brilliance.

[Brownie]

Nobody's buying the shit the Genius is selling.

Everyone goes under the bus, including those who don't fit:

This is what La Russa and the Cardinals want you to believe: First, that the Cardinals twice had the wrong pitcher in the game in the decisive eighth inning, and that it happened because the crowd at Rangers Ballpark was so loud that bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist couldn't hear La Russa correctly on the bullpen phone -- twice. Second, that when Allen Craig was thrown out trying to steal in the seventh inning, setting up Rangers manager Ron Washington's third consecutive intentional walk of Albert Pujols, Craig was running because Pujols himself had put on a hit-and-run play, then didn't swing at Alexi Ogando's pitch because it was too far off the plate."

Pujols is raising more red flags than you'd see at a Warsaw Pact meeting. First, he botches the cutoff throw, costing Game 2, causing him to flee the reporters. After his Sosa-esque 3 HR performance in Game 3, he was a big zero in Game 4. Yesterday, he nearly ran through a stop sign and called at least 1, if not 2 hit and runs.