LaRussa’s latest quick hook
Posted by John Autin on October 14, 2011
In game 5 of the NLCS, Tony LaRussa replaced starting pitcher Jaime Garcia with Octavio Dotel in the 5th inning, with 2 outs, 2 on, a 4-1 lead and Ryan Braun coming up.
Since I've often knocked LaRussa for ruining the flow of games with excessive pitching changes, fairness demands that I shout this from the rooftop:
I loved this move.
- While Braun is a menace to all pitchers, his career BA is 37 points higher against southpaws (.340-.303), and his OPS 144 points higher.
- In game 1, Braun homered and doubled in 3 trips against Garcia, driving in 4, and he was 1 for 2 with a double tonight; career, he's 8 for 27 with 2 HRs and 2 doubles.
- Dotel has been great against RHBs the past 2 years, with a BA around .160. His career BA vs. righties is .202; Garcia's is .257.
- If Braun gets on, Prince Fielder comes up as the go-ahead run.
- Garcia had thrown 17 pitches in the inning, and the last 2 were pulled for base hits.
- LaRussa is carrying 8 relievers, and there's an off day tomorrow; it shouldn't be a strain to get 13 outs from the bullpen. None of his relievers had worked more than 4 IP so far, and only Salas had pitched in each of the last 2 games.
By the way ... The 2011 Cards are the first team ever with 5 starts of 5 IP or less in an LCS or LDS. It's been done 4 times in the World Series, including all 7 games by the 1947 Dodgers; 6 of 7 by the 2002 Angels; all 5 by the '84 Padres; and 5 of 7 by the '87 Cards.
October 14th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
If you change the criteria to games in which the starting pitcher got 6+, the 2002 Angels were 0-7. Amazing that they won the series.
October 14th, 2011 at 11:19 pm
The 2005 Astros WS might have made this list had their Series gone long enough. As it was, their starters did not earn a decision.
I take that back. Their starters went 2, 6, 6, and 7 innings.
October 14th, 2011 at 11:33 pm
Heard a most unique stat, STL has won the last 16 getaway days in a row, not sure how to research that . . . August 3rd was the last day they lost and had to fly.
October 15th, 2011 at 2:23 am
In the last 3 games of the '84 WS, the Padres starters recorded a total of 14 outs, with none making it through the 3rd inning.
October 15th, 2011 at 3:31 am
Actually, the biggest surprise is LaRussa is only carrying 8 relievers.
Anyhow, this might have been the one time, it was worthwhile to do.
October 15th, 2011 at 5:13 am
Tony LaRussa is a genius no doubt about it, but even I cringed a little when he made this move. Of course it worked, but many of his haters would have crucified him had the Brewers come back. LaRussa has dominated this series and motivated his team like a great Roman General.
October 15th, 2011 at 9:20 am
It pains me to say this but if the Cards and Brewers had switched managers the Brewers would probably have already won the pennant.
October 15th, 2011 at 2:54 pm
@7 That is a great observation!
October 15th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
In game 1 he left Garcia in too long, watching a 5-2 lead become a deficit.
October 15th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
John, I'm the other way around; in his first appearance in the DS against the Phillies, I thought Tony the Pony was too SLOW on hooking Lohse. He obviously had learned by Game 4. Kds @9 offers another good counterexample.
October 16th, 2011 at 12:18 am
I despise Tony LaRussa and his micromanagement crap, but this was indeed a good move.
October 17th, 2011 at 7:03 am
Larussa was an early pioneer of the three-and-one-half-hour snoozefest that has become the norm. I remember hearing comments about his White Sox teams back in the eighties, which were among the league leaders in "time of game". A lot of people back then also blamed Carlton Fisk.
Bill James wrote about something similar in one of his Historical Abstracts. The thesis of his article was, there are many things that are good strategy, like long pauses between pitches, multiple mid-inning pitching changes or throwing to first base, which should be discouraged, perhaps by umpire harrassment or a change in the rules, on the grounds that they make the game itself boring. They are bad for the game, in other words.
October 17th, 2011 at 11:45 am
You know, you are right. I agree with everything you said there. As much as I love baseball, quicker games would be a positive. That said, I think managing baserunners curbs the running game and working the count burns out your opposition so I can't see any reason to reverse the trend unless there were drastic rules changes.
October 17th, 2011 at 7:07 pm
Thanks. According to James, before night baseball, they did not need such rules; it was put in the hands of the umpires to "move the game along" before the clock (i.e. the sun) ran out. Which makes a lot of sense. Until lights came, baseball really did have a time limit.