Do you think Tony LaRussa is "overrated" as a ML m

[raddy]

How many managers would bench an all-star, gold glove 3B in the NLCS? Don't tell me a manager can't help a team.

If you're talking about last year's Game 2 (and you must be because Rolen played every other NLCS game that year), plugging in Spiezio and having him go 2-4 with 3 ribbies is a thing called dumb luck.

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

[ndistops]

How many managers would bench an all-star, gold glove 3B in the NLCS? Don't tell me a manager can't help a team.

If you're talking about last year's Game 2 (and you must be because Rolen played every other NLCS game that year), plugging in Spiezio and having him go 2-4 with 3 ribbies is a thing called dumb luck.

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

Yeah, if Rolen wasn't motivated already by playing in the League Freaking Championship Series, he probably shouldn't be on your team.

[Centreville]

When they have much superior talent than the other teams.

I've always been a little critical of guys like Phil Jackson that only coach teams that are stacked. Of course you could argue that he's earned it...but why not test your wares as a coach/manager and go turn around a sinking or already sunken ship every once in awhile to prove that you're really cut from an elite cloth.

That's exactly what Tony LaRussa did in St. Louis. He came to a team reeling after a 62-81 record in 1995. And they were almost as bad the year before. He didn't wait for a job to come along that would guarantee to pad his winning percentage. He took a team whose three highest paid players were Ken Hill, Todd Zeile and Mike Morgan. If his teams have been stacked it's partly his doing, IMO.

++

Last year really made my views on LaRussa change. To have done what he did with the 1996 and 2006 units is absolutely amazing. And 2002 was off the charts. That team was 3 wins away from a WS appearance after losing Kile, and weathering the storm with a rotation featuring Josh Pearce and Jason Simontacchi.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

Well something sure as hell changed. Rolen got whatever message Tony was sending and it turned him around.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

Well something sure as hell changed. Rolen got whatever message Tony was sending and it turned him around.

Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation

[Popeye_Card]

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

Well something sure as hell changed. Rolen got whatever message Tony was sending and it turned him around.

Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation

Of course it does not always equal.

But sometimes it does.

We shall never definately know the answer in this case. But we Cardinal fans will always cherish the end result, whatever the cause.

--P--

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation

Thank you for that reminder. I took stats in college too. For my money, enough of that stuff has gone right over the last decade to earn LaRussa a good bit of slack. But your mileage just very well might vary.

[Richie Allen]

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

Well something sure as hell changed. Rolen got whatever message Tony was sending and it turned him around.

Could have seen that Rolen needed a rest.
Could have recognized that Rolen would be angry and motivated to prove his manager wrong.
Whatever the reason, it worked and no one should have to defend it.

[sighyoung]

No, no - you missed the point. It's not Spezio's performance that matters, its the fire it lit under Rolen. Which was Tony's whole objective. And it worked.

Again, not many managers would have the balls to do that and take the heat from the player and the press. But Tony did because he is all about winning and he thought that grief would be worth it if Rolen responded as Tony must have thought he would.

Rolen performance the rest of the way in the playoffs and WS I lay squarely on the shoulders of Tony LaRussa.

Are you saying Rolen doesn't give a 100% at all times? I disagree.

Well something sure as hell changed. Rolen got whatever message Tony was sending and it turned him around.

Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation
Correlation does not equal Causation

OK, David Hume.