Thinking more and more about him snubbing Chris Young for the All-Star game, has left me with the following conclusion. LaRussa is an egotistical bastard.
First of all, Young beat LaRussa's Cards in the playoffs last yr (the one game SD won). 3 starting pitchers have dominated this yr in the N.L. (Penny, Peavy, and Youg). Young has an ERA barely over 2, a batting avg against under .200, shut-out the Red Sox (the necessary high-profile win), has flirted with mulitple no-hitters.
Bottom line: Brian Fuentes had to have been LaRussa's last choice. LaRussa needs to fulfill his fat ego by having another lefty since he is the "genius" who invented having 7 pitchers get the final 7 outs of a game with situational match-ups. What a joke! So he can stroll out to the mound in the 6th inning to get Fuentes to pitch to Ortiz and people can talk about what an intellect he is. The fact is, LaRussa is a good manager, but far from a genius. And his ego got the better of this decision.
Fuck LaRussa.
First of all, Young beat LaRussa's Cards in the playoffs last yr (the one game SD won). 3 starting pitchers have dominated this yr in the N.L. (Penny, Peavy, and Youg). Young has an ERA barely over 2, a batting avg against under .200, shut-out the Red Sox (the necessary high-profile win), has flirted with mulitple no-hitters.
Bottom line: Brian Fuentes had to have been LaRussa's last choice. LaRussa needs to fulfill his fat ego by having another lefty since he is the "genius" who invented having 7 pitchers get the final 7 outs of a game with situational match-ups. What a joke! So he can stroll out to the mound in the 6th inning to get Fuentes to pitch to Ortiz and people can talk about what an intellect he is. The fact is, LaRussa is a good manager, but far from a genius. And his ego got the better of this decision.
Fuck LaRussa.