More Gamesmanship From The Cardinals' Tony La Russa

Last night's (4/22/11) game between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals was a complete debacle. The Reds lost 4-2, which was bad enough. But the real controversy was how the St. Louis Cardinals handled the storms that were rolling through the area and caused an over 2 hour delay of the game.

The game started on time. After Drew Stubbs drew a walk and one pitch was thrown to Brandon Phillips, the game was halted for 2 hours and 10 minutes due to very heavy rains.

Why was the game started? After the delay Dusty Baker chose not to pitch the scheduled starter, Edinson Volquez as he had already warmed up once. Matt Maloney ended up getting the start.

Tony La Russa, He Invented Baseball!

Listening to today's Reds broadcast on 700 WLW, Marty Brennaman, Reds Hall of Fame play-by-play man, reported that many people in the Reds camp are not happy, placing the responsibility firmly on Cardinals' Manager Tony La Russa, who may have withheld weather information from the umpires and the Reds. Marty also commented he had never seen anything like it in 38 years of covering baseball. This is all conjecture on Marty's part, but John Fay, beat writer for the Reds at the Cincinnati Enquirer is also suspicious. So is Dusty Baker.

My take? This is a typical Tony La Russa move. But what would you expect from the smartest man in baseball? He invented the game didn't he? He can also decide when and how to report the weather.

Here's La Russa's comments on the subject, vague as usual:

"The information that we had is the same information the Reds had," La Russa said on Saturday. "They said there was a window of 45 minutes to an hour, and C.J. [St. Louis traveling secretary C.J. Cherre] talked to two different people with the Reds and said, 'Look, they're not going to start their guy when we're only going to play a short amount of time.' There was a big enough window where you get ... You just don't want to burn the starter.

"Around 6:40, 6:45, they said, 'Look, we're going to start on time.' I said, 'Well, we're going to start Batista, and 'C.J. be sure and let them know that's what we're going to do.'"

Guilty as charged, your Honor!

Coverage on the Reds official website:

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110423&content_id=18159306&vkey=news_cin&c_id=cin

John Fay's blog on Cincinnati.com on the subject:

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/reds/2011/04/23/rain-rain-story-wont-go-away/

Just Like All The Others? Jim Tressel's Transgressions

I had a long drive last night after finishing a business trip to St. Louis. Listening to sports talk radio 700 WLW out of Cincinnati, I was able to hear highlights of the Jim Tressel press conference and local Cincinnati reaction to the story.

Jim Tressel was obligated to report information he received in emails about Ohio State football players selling/exchanging memorabilia with a tattoo parlor owner in the Columbus area months before the information became public this past December. The players implicated have received 5 game suspensions to be served at the beginning of the 2011 football season.

Jim Tressel screwed up. He said as much in the press conference last night. Talk radio callers generally gave him credit for standing up and taking his punishment. I'm not so sure. First of all, he didn't come out and self report it. He was caught. He had to face his punishment.

Secondly, I have to wonder about the inconsistencies of the punishments related to this incident. The players received a 5 game suspension for selling the memorabilia. Jim Tressel, the man who is supposed to be their leader, the man who is supposed to set an example for these young men, withholds information he was obligated to provide to his superiors, and signed an NCAA certificate of compliance at the beginning of the 2010 season stating "he has reported any knowledge of possible violations to the institution". What is Coach Tressel's punishment? A 2 game suspension and $250,000 fine. The NCAA will probably add to this punishment. But shouldn't the coach receive a harsher punishment than the player?

My take? No defense for what Jim Tressel did. He didn't get fired because he beats Michigan, wins Big Ten titles, and has won a National Championship. The disappointment for me is Jim Tressel seems to hold himself to a higher standard as does The Ohio State University. Both the coach and the institution are no different than any other College football coach or program.

But in the end, who cares? All will be forgiven when Jim Tressel leads The Ohio State University to another win over Michigan, another Big Ten Championship, and another BCS Bowl game.

As reported in the Columbus Dispatch: http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2011/03/09/tressel-i-let-some-people-down.html?sid=101