World Series Outsider: Genius and Hyperbole

Many coaches/managers have been termed ‘genius’ by an overzealous and often attention starved media. Apparently, any time a Super Bowl or a World Series is won, a genius is born.

“Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown” wrote William Shakespeare (or whoever the hell Roland Emmerich says really wrote Henry IV). This pithy bit of writing is currently getting tested by baseball’s resident genius, Cardinals manager Tony Larussa. Many things have been said about Mr. Larussa, some snide commentary; some reverential hyperbole. As with so many things, the truth may lie in the middle.

I have, more often than not, fallen on the snide side of the ledger. What can I say? I can be small minded sometimes, and my dislike of someone or something can have an inverse relationship to how much credit or how sycophantic the evaluation of the person or thing is. Often, the more the thing is built up, the more likely I am to resist. However, I am willing to give a second listen, look or evaluation to the thing, ready to be disproved or to have my opinion strengthened. And if the thing proves to be as good as, or better than what was described (very rare), then I usually become a pretty staunch supporter.

What does this rambling thought/explanation have to do with Tony Larussa? Well, he’s been anointed with the ‘genius’ label. He ‘outmanaged’ the hapless Philadelphia Phillies manager Charlie Manuel (yes, this is sacrcasm) to get his team to the World Series. Larussa is credited with being an ultimate tactician, changing pitchers as if channel surfing. An inning can go on for 30 minutes as Larussa plays the matchups. And, it seems that I may be the only baseball fan who gets bored and stops watching.

Fox and their broadcasting team have joined the genius chorus of ESPN, and revel in breaking down the nitty gritty of each and every move Larussa makes. So it must have stunned anyone who fancies themselves a baseball fan that the Cardinals lost a game the other night. And that they lost this game due to… a bad (or, perhaps non) decision by Larussa??? That can’t be!

He’s a genius, you remind me. How could he possibly have a pitcher in the game that he did not want there? I have no idea – I didn’t actually watch this game. My diatribe here is pretty much based on accounts I’ve heard on sports radio – where true geniuses abound… That said – this happened because of a bad phone situation? Because he was unable to communicate to his bullpen coach which guy he wanted on the mound? Where was the Tony Larussa that told TBS broadcasters (during the game) that, against the Phillies, the Cardinals were pitching to two strike zones?

The bullpen can’t be all that far away from where Larussa was. At the very least, he could have walked out to the mound, and yelled out the name of the guy he wanted. Surely, the shortstop could have relayed the message to the appropriate outfielder and that guy could have mentioned it to the bullpen crew. People bring signs to ballgames all the time. Larussa could have made one of his own. He could have gone out to the mound and held up his very creative and colorful sign – with the name of the reliever he wanted in the game clearly written.

Perhaps there is some ancient baseball rule that I don’t care to be aware of that made it so Larussa had to stick with the pitcher he had, rather than, I don’t know, cause some phony delay to give the pitcher he wanted time to warm up? He could have volunteered to conduct an impromtu in-game, dugout interview in which he could have talked about how his team should not have to deal with the indignity of the 3-strike strikeout. And while this subterfuge was going on, someone could have alerted the correct pitcher to start warming up. Then, after the interview finished, Larussa could have bought even more time by walking to home plate and outlining a plan (with pie charts – or at least stills of the Pitch Tracker) for helping the umpire to improve his calling of a game.

Somehow, none of this happened. And Larussa and the Cardinals lost as a result. That’s what we’re told, anyway. Somehow in sports, a game can be won or lost based on one play. All the other errors, baserunning mistakes, poor pitch selections, walks and just plain dumb luck have no cumulative effect. No – it was that bullpen situation. Forget that the guy who was in the game is a professional pitcher and should be able to handle a pitching situation. This all comes down to the fact that Larussa is not twins, and therefore, was not in the bullpen at the time of the call.

I don’t really care. I have no love lost for the Cardinals, and I am glad they lost. Serves them right for defeating the Phillies. I hope they lose game 6 and draw a close to this tainted baseball season. Should Larussa and the Cards come back to win, then maybe he is a genius. But in order to be a genius, you have to take the good with the bad. You take them both, and there you have....Genius? If Larussa is willing to accept the fawning, he has to take the goatship too. And, to his credit, at least in this case, he has done so. I do dispute his genius-ness though.

To be honest, my ire here is more directed at the baseball drones who seem to have had their ability to independently evaluate surgically removed. Is it necessary to bleat on about Larussa’s skill as a manager? Is that really the most compelling thing to talk about? This idea is pretty well established. How about breaking some new ground? There are oodles of baseball-related things to talk about that haven’t already been covered in endless, hyperbolic detail, right? Like – how awesomely supreme Albert Pujols is. No, wait – that has been… Oh, never mind.