Heading into the 2011 World Series, the St. Louis Cardinals were favored to prevail against the Texas Rangers for two reasons. First, they came in as the hottest team in baseball. The Redbirds posted a red-hot September, going 18-8 and snatching the NL Wild Card by one game over the Atlanta Braves. They proceeded to knock off the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies in the division series. With timely hitting and bullpen pitching, they were able to win yet another series in which they were considered the underdog against the Milwaukee Brewers. Many credited Cardinals manager Tony La Russa for critical strategic moves and overall leadership. So, Texas appeared outmatched by a team coming in playing the best baseball and having the best manager.
There was so much talk about this “mismatch” at the helm that Rangers manager Ron Washington was forced to admit that he probably couldn’t outwit his managerial opponent. So much talk, in fact, that what happened in the 8th inning of Game 5 in Texas was almost inevitably going to happen. La Russa being this good made people forget that things almost never go to plan, which is actually the basis for him being that good in the first place. We call that a circular argument. Here’s why. La Russa’s use of his bullpen in the NCLS made him look like a strategic whiz. It made everyone remember there’s a reason why he’s third on the all-time wins list, won Manager of the Year four times and the World Series twice. The problem is that he only appeared this way because his starting pitchers couldn’t get out of the fifth inning against the Brewers.
No matter how shrewd you are, there’s no way you’re not going to make a mistake, because things rarely go as planned. The only reason the 8th inning of Game 5 blew up in La Russa’s face is because of a misplaced idea that he was definitely going to make all the right moves. The biggest mistake La Russa made in Game 5 was actually in the 9th inning, when he made a “one run game” play during a two run game. You have a runner on first with no outs and your five best hitters due up. Why put on a hit-and-run? I know that’s The Machine up at bat, easily the best hitter in the game, but it still makes no sense. The hit-and-run is designed to get the runner on first to third base, setting up the sacrifice fly for a run.
It makes sense to trade an out for a run when it’s the 9th inning and you’re down by one run. But they weren’t down by one run. Furthermore, let’s say that Pujols still strikes out, which I think is fair to say given that Rangers closer Neftali Feliz basically threw an unhittable 3-2 pitch. In fact, let me pause a moment to give Feliz some due credit. He didn’t back down from the game’s best hitter, instead, put a 98 MPH fastball just off the plate, but close enough to it that Pujols still had to swing. Perfect pitch. But back to the scenario: so Albert strikes out, still one on, now one out. If you’re La Russa and the Cardinals, you still have Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman due up. A home run still ties the game and those two combined for 53 on the season. Should they get on somehow, you have David Freese and Yadier Molina to follow. Freese was their best bat in the NCLS and Molina led team in batting average on the season.
You know in a full count to Pujols that Feliz is going all fastball, so even if Allen Craig gets a good jump, catcher Mike Napoli still has a great chance to throw him out. This is exactly what happened and instead of having a chance to tie the game, Matt Holliday comes up with two outs and nobody on base. This was a costly error – very costly – especially given that it made almost zero strategic sense. While this was talked about, it still rode a back seat to the 8th inning. I suppose it makes sense because this was the inning that Texas took the lead. The problem for me is that what happened in the eighth was entirely spun as La Russa’s gaffe, whereas the real credit should go to Ron Washington’s genius.
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| How could you not love playing for this guy? |
Throughout this postseason, Washington has repeatedly been praised for being a great “player’s manager,” but criticized for his strategic prowess. The praise, I think, is certainly deserved. The criticism, however, is not. Great managers work with what they’re given and try not to “overmanage” (Which by the way is exactly what La Russa did in Game 5). One thing you must give Ron Washington credit for is sticking with what is working, and what has been working all season. Sometimes that is great managing, as it certainly is in this case. The star of the World Series right now is catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli. He’s simply been pounding the ball. He’s hitting lefties, righties, doesn’t matter. From July 4th to September 28th, Napoli hit .378 with 20 homeruns, 50 RBI, and .457 on-base percentage. Many have wondered why Ron Washington has such a hot hitter routinely batting 7th or 8th in the lineup.
The simple answer is that the Rangers lineup is loaded with talent. Leadoff batter Ian Kinsler has always thrived in that position and has great speed – no need to mess with things there. Elvis Andrus is another speedy, hits-for-average type of player, a great fit for the two-hole. After those two, you have Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, and Nelson Cruz. In that same 7/4-9/28 clip, Hamilton posted .300/15/54/.338, Beltre .331/21/62/.356 and Cruz .274/18/60/.317, not quite as high in average as Napoli, but in terms of production by no means far from him. These guys have been on a torrid pace for months and they’ve been doing so in more or less the same spots in the lineup. Why would Washington mess with that?
Reigning MVP Josh Hamilton is battling through injuries and clearly not himself, although he still drove in the winning run in Game 3. He continues to hit third in the lineup, though. Beltre also has been battling through nagging injuries for months, but remains in the fifth spot. Cruz, the ALCS MVP, hitting .364 and belting 6 home runs and 13 RBI in 6 games, continues to hit 6th in the lineup. Napoli was in the seventh spot in the first three games, and hit eighth in games 4 and 5. Beyond the whole “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” idea of sticking with the same order, there is another facet of the subtle genius behind this offensive advantage.
Washington’s placement of Mike Napoli in the batting order effectively engineered the debacle that went down in the 8th inning of Game 5. Managers rely on the bottom third of the order to provide easy matchups, leading to easy outs. First of all, there are no easy outs in this Texas lineup. When you have a bottom third go David Murphy-Napoli-Mitch Moreland, you have far from a typical 7-8-9 combination. You have to give Washington due credit for sticking with this plan. There might have been a miscommunication over the bullpen phone, and this may have been because of a raucous Texas crowd. But don’t forget that this matchup headache was completely generated by Washington’s decision to keep his batting order the same.
Marc Rzepczynski got a free pass from blame in Game 5 because as a left-handed specialist, his job is get opposing lefties out in spot situations. Am I really going to be the first person to say that he failed to cleanly field a catchable groundball? I know it’s not his “fault” that the he had to stay in and face Napoli because a right-hander wasn’t ready. You can fault La Russa and his bullpen coach all day for not anticipating the ensuing situation, but I still think the fact that Ron Washington left Napoli in the bottom of the lineup is much more relevant. It’s not an active move, so it’s easy to forget. But how can you assail Washington for an entire series for not having Napoli hitting third or fourth, and then when his reasoning for leaving him near the end of the order looks genius, chalk it up to La Russa mismanaging his bullpen? That completely avoids the fact that Napoli’s presence at eighth left La Russa with a matchup nightmare in the first place.
Ron Washington deserves a lot more credit than he is receiving. Let’s not forget that despite La Russa not having a right-hander ready, the situation still arose mainly because Rzepczynski failed to make a play pitchers are supposed to make. If he makes that play, pitches around Napoli, and strikes out Moreland to end the inning, La Russa gets credit for looking smart. Onus is always on the players. After all, the manager isn’t on the field making plays. It turned into a disaster only because Washington stuck with Napoli in the bottom of the lineup. Lastly, let’s remember that just because Napoli is facing Rzepczynski, doesn’t mean the ball is on a tee. Credit him for taking the ball the other way and credit Washington for forcing St. Louis into a tough position just because of how he set his lineup.
Sources: MLB.com, baseball-reference.com
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