In Praise of LaRussa

Chris Carpenter left his Opening Day start early, hasn't thrown a pitch since, and won't this year. Mark Mulder hasn't thrown a pitch this year. Jim Edmonds has been old all summer. Scott Rolen is damaged goods, perhaps permanently. David Eckstein's body isn't as strong as his incredible heart. Adam Kennedy apparently left all of his bats in Los Angeles of Anaheim. Encarnacion? Hurt. Taguchi? Fourth outfielder at best. Duncan? Pretty good bat, remniscent of Ryan Klesko in the outfield. And that's not a compliment.
Josh Hancock was killed in a drunken driving accident. His family filed, and later dropped, a lawsuit against Mike Shannon's Seafood and Steaks, and Mike's daughter who runs the restaurant. Mike's wife, Judy, died of her cancer a couple of weeks back.
Walt Jockety has apparently tired of St. Louis, and is said to be making eyes at Cincinnati for next year. And Tony LaRussa was arrested for drunk driving in Florida during Spring Training.
I've probably left several things out, but when you're discussing the 2007 St. Louis Cardinals, there's just so much that I can't remember it all.
Here's what I do know:
Adam Wainwright
Braden Looper
Anthony Reyes
Kip Wells
Joel Pineiro
Mike Maroth
Quiz: How many Major League Starting Pitchers do you see on that list? My count is 1. That's ONE. Adam Wainwright has been their best starter this year. Without periodic help from Looper-a career reliever until this year, a man who owns the record (really? there's a record for that?) for most relief appearances to start a career before making a first start-Adam would have been the only starting pitcher they've had. Not sure I'm right? Consider:
Reyes, 2-13, 5.33
Wells, 6-15, 5.50
Maroth, 5-6, 6.79
Pineiro, signed after being released by the Red Sox
Looper, 11-10, 4.66
This team won the World Series last year.
There are two bright spots, of course. Rick Ankiel is back. As an outfielder. And in 15 games, he has 4 homers, 10 RBIs, a .321 average, and an OPS of .966. You just can't help but feel good for this guy if you remember anything about the 2000 postseason. Or the 2001 regular season. Or the 2002 elbow strain that stole the whole season. Or 2003's Tommy John surgery. Or 2005's retirement as a pitcher to learn the outfield. Or 2006's knee surgery that took another season. Are you in tears for this guy yet? Well, don't, because the story has the (so far) happy ending described above.
Then there's Albert Pujols. When Abner Doubleday first envisioned the game (I know, I know), he pictured Albert Pujols. Conventional wisdom: Albert won't be nearly as good this year without Rolen and Edmonds in top form. You think? As of 8-29, the numbers report:
Pujols, 30 HRs, 84 RBIs, .321 avg, .987 OPS.
Only about 99.7% (everybody but ARod, Prince Fielder and Ryan Howard) would trade their numbers for his, and he hasn't had runners on ahead of him or protection behind him. Just picture where Albert would be with Jimmy Rollins, Derek Jeter or JJ Hardy batting ahead of him, or Hideki Matsui, Chase Utley, Manny Ramirez or Mark Teixeira batting behind him. Albert has extended his record of years to start a career with .300 or better average, 30 or more homers, and soon he will add 100 plus RBIs and Runs Scored to all that. Go ahead; clear his place in Cooperstown now and avoid the rush later.
Tony LaRussa has Albert Pujols, Adam Wainwright and the Little Sisters of the Poor in third place, just two games out of first. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's the National League Central, but until MLB adopts European soccer league rules and drops abominable teams down to the minor leagues for poor performance, they still get to send their champion to the playoffs. And last year, with their record-setting (although not in any way anyone would be proud of) 83 wins, the Cardinals won the whole thing.
LaRussa is, plain and simple, one of the handful of all-time great managers in baseball history. He stands third on the managerial wins list, and of all those managers who didn't have an ownership interest in their team, he is already Number 1. He has won with the White Sox, the A's and the Cardinals. And last night he tied Red Schoendienst as the winningest Cardinals manager ever. You know the Cardinals: the franchise with the second highest total of World Series wins in all of baseball? The greatest franchise of the National League? Tony's next win makes him number one with that team!
Everyone knows the knocks: he's smug, sort of arrogant, often thinks he's the smartest guy in the room, and he burns up pitchers. My answers: he's earned the right to a certain self-confidence, he usually is the smartest guy in the room, and he's very loyal to Dave Duncan, his long-time partner with whom he has achieved those 12 playoff appearances, 11 Division Championships, 5 pennants and 2 World Series championships. And four Manager of the Year awards.
But for all of that, he may have saved his best for this year. Having this team in contention is incomprehensible.
Tony is one of the three genuine managerial successes of this generation, along with Bobby Cox and Joe Torre. They will all land comfortably in Cooperstown, and Tony won't have to take a backseat to anybody.