Unless you are a Cardinals fan, you cannot understand why most in St. Louis want him gone.  He does Win but is very frustrating to watch.

HOWEVER, I had to laugh the other day as yet another starter didnt make it until 5 innings in the playoffs and somehow the 4-5 innings of the same guys out of the pen has worked for him.  My first thought was Tony also plays WIS and is using the "supposedly defunct" WIS strategy.   

That tells  you how warped players on this game such as myself have become.  Next your pitchers will hit better if you bat them 8th.

GO CARDS

I've been a TLR fan and a critic. But it's impossible to criticize the success he had in the NLCS, having set his team up with a deep bullpen and then using the relief pitchers for matchup after matchup to control the Brewers while the StL offense hit away.

Beyond the starting pitching, the oddest think about the series, in my mind, was that the Cards' defensive weakness -- Holliday and Berkman in the OF corners -- never got tested by the Brewers offense, while the Birds seemed to repeatedly knock balls just out of the reach of the Brew crew outfielders.

FWIW - B-Ref has Holliday as a neutral defender according to dWAR.  FanGraphs has him mostly neutral-to-good.

Totally agree.  Have to give him some credit for this....unfortunately the grief he deserves over the past 5 years still tugs at many......

I'm not sure if it's positioning, or just dumb luck, but doubletruck is right... that Cards' outfield is bad from a scouting perspective. Jay is really stretched in CF and Berkman is stretched anywhere but DH. Holliday seems like he's about average. Fangraphs rates Jay as a plus, and I wonder if that is just the effect of SOMEONE needing to catch those fly balls. The fans' scouting report for Jay isn't great.

Posted by The_Creeper on 10/18/2011 10:28:00 PM (view original):
Totally agree.  Have to give him some credit for this....unfortunately the grief he deserves over the past 5 years still tugs at many......

Yeah, it's gotta stink being a Cardinal fan....who needs a team with a manager who makes the playoffs  8 out of 16 seasons with a WS win and two more appearances.   You guys have it rough.

Signed, 

A Mets Fan

Give credit to LaRussa. They do have a potent lineup but he is really a huge factor (along with Pujols) to their success.  I still do not think they will continue this pace, I look for Tex to rebound and win the series but its the World Series so who knows

I think we can close this one out.....get Motte....errrr. Ryzepskinsiki up.

Bye Bye Tony......

Posted by Trentonjoe on 10/20/2011 9:44:00 AM (view original):

Posted by The_Creeper on 10/18/2011 10:28:00 PM (view original):
Totally agree.  Have to give him some credit for this....unfortunately the grief he deserves over the past 5 years still tugs at many......

Yeah, it's gotta stink being a Cardinal fan....who needs a team with a manager who makes the playoffs  8 out of 16 seasons with a WS win and two more appearances.   You guys have it rough.

Signed, 

A Mets Fan

Davey Johnson is available, I hear.

TLR, and tne Cardinals did not win the World Series.  The Rangers LOST it.  More than once by the way.  Nobody will ever convince me anything that TLR did in game 6 won that game for them.

Ranger Pitchers, and fielders chocked.

Posted by Braziman on 11/3/2011 3:52:00 PM (view original):

Posted by Trentonjoe on 10/20/2011 9:44:00 AM (view original):

Posted by The_Creeper on 10/18/2011 10:28:00 PM (view original):
Totally agree.  Have to give him some credit for this....unfortunately the grief he deserves over the past 5 years still tugs at many......

Yeah, it's gotta stink being a Cardinal fan....who needs a team with a manager who makes the playoffs  8 out of 16 seasons with a WS win and two more appearances.   You guys have it rough.

Signed, 

A Mets Fan

Davey Johnson is available, I hear.

Actually, he's with the Nats.

I'm a Cardinal fan . . . and it's been great. I started watching them in 1963. I saw Musial's last year, Brock's first with the Cardinals and other Cardinal greats throughout the years. I have been treated to 15 trips to the post-season, 9 world series, and 5 championships. And while the Yankees may boast more more championships than anyone, the Cardinals have a 3-2 edge over the Yanks in the Fall Classic - neener neener.

St Louis is an awesome baseball town and a great place to grow up if you love the game. Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals - together, as a team - just brought us a most incredible post-season and World Series. While I will always root for them, if the Cardinals never make it to the postseason again, I am sated.

Foremost, I am a baseball fan and I hope one day some young Cubs ( or insert your team here. Enough for you though Yankees =;-D) fans live long enough to tell their version of this story.