You can pin the Tuesday night debacle squarely on the shoulders of the delicate genius Tony LaRussa.
Just how many hits, walks or wild pitches does it take to realize that a reliever just doesn’t have it on any given night?
With a 9-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth inning, just two Cardinal relievers surrendered an embarrassing and humiliating 9 runs to squander what seemed like an insurmountable lead. But, in their defense, players aren’t tasked with taking themselves out of games when they stink it up. That’s the manager’s job. In this case, Tony blew it – big time.
Anthony Reyes (who looks like his tenure as an MLB player is coming to a close) started the inning by allowing two hits and a walk to the first four hitters, getting just one out while allowing a run to score and leaving two men on base when he was relieved by Ryan Franklin.
In what should have been mop up duty to close the game out, Franklin promptly surrendered a 3-run homer to the first batter he faced. That made the score 9-7. The next batter doubled. After coaxing a 6-3 groundout, Franklin then allowed two consecutive RBI singles.
This is the point in the game that should never have arrived. LaRussa should have lifted Franklin after having allowed the third hit by batters that he faced. He didn’t have it and everyone knew it – except Tony.
Another single followed by a game-winning 3-run walk-off HR finished out the team and the night.
Inexplicably, the man who loves to micro-manage innings and pitcher vs. batter match ups, failed to act, leaving the team to be thrown under the bus by a less than stellar bullpen.
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