It says here in my MLB post-season manual (oh, I’m sorry, #postseason according to all the signage and TV ads, apparently MLB only cares about Twitter now) that teams are not supposed to fall behind one of Philadelphia’s many aces by four runs, especially the heretofore unbeatable Cliff Lee, have their own ace get pulled after three innings and still win the game. I guess that manual never counted on Tony La Russa going out and LaRussa-ing all over the place to somehow micromanage the Cardinals to a much-needed series-tying victory.
As painful as it was to watch LaRussa use four (FOUR!) pitchers in the eighth inning, you have to hand it to him, he pulled all the right strings tonight. His penchant for having a hair trigger when it comes to yanking a pitcher worked out exactly like he always thinks it is going to. A lesser manager might’ve clung tightly to his staff ace, Chris Carpenter, hoping that he could right the ship and keep the team in the game despite a very rough three innings of work. No, not LaRussa. Sensing the urgency of the game and the rare opportunity to score some rare early runs off Cliff Lee, LaRussa lifted Carpenter for a pinch-hitter, even though Carpenter was coming off a 1-2-3 inning and looked like he might be able to settle in. Granted, the pinch-hitter struck out, but LaRussa wasn’t about to risk letting Lee off the hook when there was blood in the water.
A few screams and one tirade about the strike zone later (a wildly overrated argument on his part, as we will explain tomorrow in a lengthier post), and the Cards managed to scratch away at Cliff Lee to take the lead, in large part thanks to LaRussa mixing and matching six relievers over six innings, all of whom combined to allow one base hit, one hit batsmen and nothing more. It may have driven baseball fans crazy to watch so many calls to the pen, but for one night, it made LaRussa look like a genius. It also made Jake Westbrook look terribly lonely sitting all by himself in as the lone reliever left in the Cardinal bullpen.
Ironically, the Phillies were seemingly undone by Charlie Manuel’s relative reluctance to go to his relievers. Coming off an inning in which Lee had just allowed three base hits and the game-tying run, Charlie Manuel elected to send Lee back out for the seventh inning to face the heart of the Cardinal order. St. Louis took full advantage by finally figuring out how not to waste a leadoff triple. As great as Lee can be, he just wasn’t sharp tonight and letting him try and muddle through another inning of work is something everyone will second-guess Manuel for.
Now Philadelphia has to find a way to re-group after blowing a winnable game and losing homefield advantage in the process. If there is good news for the Phillies, it is that they were the best road team in baseball (50-31) while the Cardinals had the worst home record (45-36) out of any playoff qualifiers.
