UPDATE, Oct. 9: TLR is mismanaging the bullpen in Game 1 of the LCS, with "perfect bad timing," even as this post was originally about Game 1 of the LDS. But, yes, it's arguably that Tony the Pony is at fault this time, too.
As Yahoo Sports' Les Carpenter notes, Tony La Russa had nobody warming up in the bullpen, not just before Ryan Howard's three-run smash, but afterward, too. Yes, the pen's been iffy. But, as Carpenter notes, junkball artist Kyle Lohse in a bandbox ballpark was playing with fire all along. (Unfortunately, the team is stuck with $12M of playing with his fire next year,)
Anyway, WHY Marc Rzepczynski wasn't warming up for the one-batter scenario against Howard, if nothing else, I have NO idea. How much is Tony the Pony's fault? How much is Dave Duncan being distracted by his wife's brain tumor situation?
But, this shouldn't have happened.
But, this isn't an isolated incident in the series.
He lost Game 3
through telling Jaime Garcia to intentionally walk Carlos Ruiz to face Ben Francisco. He almost lost Game 2, IMO, by pulling Chris Carpenter when he
did rather than calling for a safety squeeze.
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