Tony La Russa grilled over bull-pen controversy – MLB Update
St. Louis Cardinals’ manager Tony La Russa did not have any justified clarifications to defend his decision of bringing on Lance Lynn to close Game 5 of the World Series instead of regular closer Jason Motte on Monday, October 24 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington,
Texas.
While most of the bull-pen coaches repeat the name of the reliever over the phone, La Russa explained that this is not the standard policy in the ballclub and names are usually not repeated. Clarifying the situation, La Russa added that there are ballparks
where it is hard to convey the message, largely because of the noise. He continued that Milwaukee is one place where conveying the message to the bull-pen is a tedious task and this was just another bad situation.
Justifying himself, La Russa articulated that wherever the team played during the regular season, the bull-pen was situated near the dugout and thus the team never encountered issues such as this. He added that there are times when the bull-pen cannot hear
the phone ringing and thus problems can never be completely settled.
Explaining the incident, La Russa said, “If the guy can't hear, sometimes he says it, and like I said, I thought yesterday the first mention of Motte was probably after he had hung up. Maybe I didn't say it quickly enough. The second one, I said "Motte",
he heard "Lynn". That's only one way to explain that. You can't hear clearly.”
La Russa further explained that it is never an option to bring the pitcher back even before he has started on the mound and thus he had to continue with the way things turned out to be. The manager then took the responsibility of the issue and stated that
it was his problem and that there was nothing wrong with the bull-pen coach.
Shifting his focus to Game 6, La Russa asserted that Jaime Garcia’s start will be vital for the Redbirds and will play a major role in deciding the outcome of the must-win game. He failed to make an impact in Game 2 of the Fall Classic, but this is his chance
to prove his mettle on the biggest stage of baseball.
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