LaRussa Helped J-Rolls Cause

From Jim Salisbury on Philly.com:

It wasn't that long ago that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa used to watch in frustration as opposing teams pitched around slugger Mark McGwire.

He didn't want to see that happen to Rollins as the Phillies' leadoff man chased something special in a game that was all but decided.

There were two outs in the bottom of the eighth when Rollins came up. Anticipation hung in the air. Six months of hype had come down to one at-bat.

Ball one. No problem.  Ball two. The crowd booed.  Ball three. More boos.

That was enough for La Russa. He got the attention of catcher Yadier Molina and made a universal hand signal for "What the #$%&*@ is going on? Throw a fastball down the middle and see if this guy can hit it."

Not quite on the same level as Brett Favre letting Michael Strahan sack him to set a record, but a questionable move by La Russa.  Personally, I think it was a nice baseball move.  Just throwing a fastball isn't letting him get a hit.

-Rollins owes La Russa one [Inqy]

Comments

[IUP Philly Fan]

people are looking way too much into this. just because a strike was thrown doesn't mean rollins could get a hit on it. la russa just wanted to make sure the streak didn't end with a walk. classy move by tony la russa

[SID]

Larussa is slime, he watched his sluggers take steriods for years and did nothing about it. Canseco and McGwire and probably Pulous all did them and he sat there and did nothing, he is just as bad as Bonds and Canseco maybe even worse.

[chris]

'Pulous'????

[Tom Goodman]

You nailed it when you said just throwing a strike isn't letting get a hit. In that situation J-Roll had to be tense. Just getting his bat on the ball was an accomplishment to say nothing of smoking it down the line.

[Ben]

It's questionable, but nowhere near Favre/Strahan.

Although McNabb got sacked by Strahan 3 times in one game that season and I doubt any of those were intentional. hah.