ST. LOUIS – Bench players live a simple existence. They find their preferred spot in a dugout, like an animal that sniffs out its territory, and plop down. They clap. They deliver high fives. A few hours and a round-shaped imprint in the cushion later, they stand up, take hacks in the batting cage, react appropriately to wins and losses, retreat to the clubhouse and realize they’ve got the most awesome seven-figure job in the history of ever.
And then there are Tony La Russa’s bench players.
Allen Craig, Skip Schumaker, Daniel Descalso and Ryan Theriot know the routine. Sometime early in the game – maybe the third inning, maybe the fifth, and on days they’re really lucky the seventh – they amble down a few steps, turn a corner, sneak into a long, rectangular room and get to work. Wearing a Cardinals uniform means they report to La Russa, and La Russa manipulates his bench like nobody else. He maximized it to capture the National League pennant and put to rest any thought he’d let off the reins in Game 1 of the World Series, where his insistence on micromanaging every bit of the game – along with Texas’ Ron Washington doing the same with far less efficacy – defined the night.
(AP)
La Russa tends not to lose such battles, so the Cardinals’ 3-2 victory Wednesday at Busch Stadium came as little surprise as the evening evolved into the battle of wits Washington admitted he was unlikely to win. La Russa, King Midas for the last two weeks, gilded everything, from Craig’s go-ahead pinch-hit single in the sixth to the five pitching changes that followed.
A forensic scientist would delight in examining a game managed by La Russa, his fingerprints all over it. This was a La Russa special, the sort that allowed him to exploit his team’s bullpen, suddenly strong, and unleash the best pinch-hitting option on either team at a strategically optimal, if unconventional, time.
“You never know what Tony’s going to do,” Schumaker said. “He’s got a plan, and you’re ready just in case.”
Article courtesy of Foxsports.com
