Tony LaRussa Can Compile a Sub-.500 Record Without Any Help From Bloggers

St. Louis' Riverfront Times has a piece about "The Felix Incident," when Felix Hernandez won by pitching according to the instructions of a USS Mariner post that coach Rafael Chaves had showed him.

The Riverfront Times writer, Keegan Hamilton, asked Tony LaRussa what he thinks about this.

"If that's true," LaRussa said, "then the [Mariners] pitching coach isn't doing his job."

Yeowtch!

As Chaves pointed out at the time, it wasn't like he hadn't told Hernandez before that his pitch selection was too predictable, the blog post was just another way of getting the message across.

I imagine the conversation going something like, "Uh, dude, if bloggers know what you are going to throw, don't you think major league hitters do too?"

LaRussa, of course, completed his absorption of all baseball knowledge in 1979, and hasn't needed to learn anything since. For example, let a journeyman outfielder make the last out when you've got baseball's best hitter ready to pinch-hit. (learned in 1971 from Hank Bauer).

theatrical removal of hat and full bow to USS Mariner