I heap my share of scorn on La Russa but there are times when he does everything right. Last night La Russa was in full force, mind gaming Phil Garner into a suicide squeeze that was textbook. Two things about that squeeze:

1. La Russa's reputation and mindgames worked. Garner pitched out 1-0 because La Russa has the reputation of squeezing and La Russa waited. Then on 2-0 with a strike coming La Russa did make the call on a pitch he knew was a strike.

2. It was the right call. With the double play on, one out, and a pitcher up the Cardinals had to be very careful of a double play. La Russa correctly didn't waste the out completly and picked up the run while avoiding the double play. The fact that Cardinals pitchers as a group are excellent bunters isn't an accident, it's something La Russa has worked towards. That successful squeeze was a direct result of La Russas influence.

La Russa also managed the pitching staff very well. Carpenter through 96 pitches in 8 innings. He'd thrown 92 pitches after 7 and La Russa had the option to pull him there with Carpenter leading off the bottom of the seventh. Carpenter had just given up a 2 run home run to cut the lead to 3. At this point with a game tomorrow and a sketchy bullpen La Russa stuck with carpenter who rewarded him with a 4 pitch 8th. I like to see Tony ride his starters in safe places. And this was a safe place to do it, Cards up by three, Carpenter under a hundred pitches on the day, and a full bullpen waiting. La Russa avoided the itchy trigger finger that drives me so nuts about him and was amply rewarded.

Other Stuff:

Jason Isringhausen scares me. In 23 pitches last night he had 1 swing and miss strike. Most of the strikes he through were very low in the strike zone, to the point that if Backe had been getting those calls I would have pissed.

My grandfather tells a story: He was in Pittsburgh in the 80's and through some sort of connection wound up in Three Rivers talking to the grounds crew one afternoon. The groundskeeper was soaking the basepaths, and when my grandpa asked why the guy said "The Cardinals are coming to town this weekend and I wanna slow em down a little". I noticed that the dirt in front of home plate was soaked the entire game. Chris Carpenter gave up 17 ground balls vs 4 fly balls. Coincidence?

What's up with Jeff Bagwell? He's on the roster but in the 9th Garner chose Jose Vizciano to represent the tying run instead of him. Is Garner batty or is Bagwell really hurt? If he's hurt that bad why is he on the roster?

Update: Pittsburghs stadium is Three Rivers, I had it as Riverfront (which was Cincinatti).