The Game That Almost Was

By the top of the fifth, Jeff Suppan had already given up six hits to a revivified Tigers offense.  Craig Monroe began the inning by grounding out to third.  Then Carlos Guillen singled to right field.  With the best part of Detroit's batting order due, St. Louis manager Tony LaRussa must have been preparing to replace Suppan.

Or not.

He let Suppan pitch to Magglio Ordonez, who holds a lifetime OPS of 1.051 against him (which is to say that Ordonez, against Suppan, metamorphoses into a near-perfect copy of David Ortiz.)  But Ordonez flew out to center.  Next came Sean Casey, who was already 2-for-2 in the game, with a home run.  Even Tim McCarver observed that LaRussa needed to relieve his starter at this point.  LaRussa left Suppan in the game, however, and Casey singled to center field on the first pitch.  With two outs and two men on base, Ivan Rodriguez, 6-for-12 against Suppan during his career, came to bat.  He swung at the first pitch and grounded out to shortstop.

Detroit led at the time by one run; the game would be decided by the same margin. At the postgame press conference, we heard the Cardinals manager talk about his team's "heart" and "guts." Three times last night Tony LaRussa made an indefensible decision--a decision that actually favored his opponent--and three times he got away with it.  He is newly confirmed in his belief in his own gut instinct.  A school of baseball thought is ratified.  Somewhere in North Carolina, Grady Little is tipping his cap to LaRussa.