Saunders: Tony La Russa whines, an umpire costs the Giants and the Cardinals play hardball

Three ruminations connected what’s already been a brainsick postseason:

Sportsmanship? White Sox manager Tony La Russa’s lasting imprint connected the 2021 postseason volition beryllium his ridiculous and childish rant aft his squad got its butt whipped by the Astros connected Tuesday successful Game 4 of the American League Division Series.

La Russa was ticked disconnected implicit José Abreu being deed by a Kendall Graveman transportation precocious successful Houston’s 10-1 rout that ended Chicago’s season.

“I lone attraction astir sportsmanship truthful far. And I person a limit,” La Russa told reporters. “They bushed us. They played better. We’re disappointed. That was intentional. I don’t recognize why. I don’t recognize however they got distant with it.”

“How they got distant with it?” Please.

While La Russa was adamant successful his accusation, Astros manager Dusty Baker was conscionable arsenic adamant that determination was nary intent down the pitch.

“I beg to disagree with Tony,” Baker said. “There was nary crushed to bash that — zero.”

So, who are you going to believe, the sore loser La Russa oregon the classy Baker?

Check-swing? Thursday night’s Game 5 of the NLDS was tremendous, with the Dodgers beating the Giants 2-1 to beforehand to the NLCS. But what a shame that it ended with San Francisco’s Wilmer Flores getting rung up connected a check-swing that wasn’t.

There is nary question that Flores held up connected a Max Scherzer’s low-and-away slider retired of the onslaught zone. But location sheet umpire Doug Eddings checked with first-base ump Gabe Morales, who demonstrably ruled that Flores swung.

Ooof!

Morales’ gaffe doesn’t travel adjacent to Don Denkinger’s missed telephone successful Game 6 of the 1985 World Series that mightiness person outgo the Cardinals the World Series against Kansas City. Still, it’s hard to recognize however Morales blew that call.

Morales told a excavation reporter, “check-swings are 1 of the hardest calls we have. I don’t person the payment of aggregate camera angles erstwhile I’m watching it live. When it happened unrecorded I thought helium went, truthful that’s wherefore I called it a swing.”

To his credit, Giants manager Gabe Kapler didn’t propulsion a La Russa aft the game.

“I mean, the contiguous emotion is frustration, right?” Kapler said. “Super tough. Yeah, I mean, evidently you don’t privation a crippled to extremity that way. I cognize these guys enactment truly hard to marque the close call, truthful it’s ace challenging connected our end.

“(We had) a beauteous high-quality hitter astatine the sheet that tin ascent backmost into that count, it’s nary warrant of occurrence astatine the extremity of the at-bat. But it’s conscionable a pugnacious mode to extremity it.”

The Cardinal way.  All told, the Cardinals went 252-199 (.559 winning percentage) nether manager Mike Shildt, who took implicit for Mike Matheny successful the 2nd fractional of the 2018 season. The Cardinals made the playoffs successful each of Shildt’s 3 afloat seasons, making it to the NLCS successful 2019.

This year, St. Louis rebounded from a mid-season slump, won 17 consecutive games and qualified for the wild-card game, lone to suffer to the Dodgers, 3-1, connected Chris Taylor’s walk-off location run.

Yet, connected Thursday, the Cardinals fired Shildt with 1 twelvemonth remaining connected his contract. President of shot operations John Mozeliak cited a “philosophical quality successful the absorption that our large league nine is going.”

In emblematic front-office speak, Mozeliak told reporters: “This is simply a determination that arsenic we commencement to look forward, what bash we privation it to astir look like, and however bash we privation that to beryllium run? … The determination that some (chairman Bill DeWitt Jr.) and myself and immoderate others came to was — what we privation to bash and wherever we privation to go, we needed to spell successful a antithetic way.”

Schildt is expected to marque a connection Monday, and what happened down the scenes volition yet travel out. But 1 happening is clear, whether it’s making a commercialized for Nolan Arenado oregon firing a manager, the Cardinals don’t messiness around. Winning is the apical precedence successful St. Louis. That can’t beryllium said for a batch of big-league teams.