WORLD SERIES : COMMENTARY : A’s LaRussa Should Take a Lesson in Maneuvering from Professor Piniella

The mighty Athletics have been defeated, dejected and, above all, debunked. That goes for their manager, too.

Tony LaRussa’s law degree, his honorary genius degree and his best-selling beatification by a political writer turned baseball expert appear more overblown than ever in light of his work in the World Series.

LaRussa has been outmaneuvered and out-managed by his former Colt League teammate, Cincinnati Manager Lou Piniella, who simply is a baseball man, not a man of letters. LaRussa has not been LaRussa--and that is one reason why Oakland faces a must-win situation tonight in Game 3. No team has ever won a World Series after losing the first three games.

In Wednesday night’s game, the Reds trailed Oakland, 4-2, after three innings and 4-3 after seven. The Athletics were 91-2, including the American League Championship Series, when they brought a lead into the eighth inning.

But Piniella managed like it was the World Series; LaRussa did not.

That was apparent in the first inning, when Piniella brought his infield in with a runner at third, one out and Canseco at bat. The aggressive move nearly worked, too, but first baseman Hal Morris bobbled a grounder and had to take an out at first base, rather than try for one at home on Rickey Henderson.

LaRussa, given a similar situation in the bottom of that inning, chose to act more passively. With the score 1-1 and Billy Hatcher at third base, LaRussa played his infield back. He conceded the go-ahead run. Sure enough, it scored on a ground ball to short.

But no inning backfired against LaRussa and the Athletics like the eighth. Why would LaRussa not pinch hit for Bob Welch in the top of the inning and then turn over the 4-3 lead to his bullpen? Welch was pitching for the first time in 10 days and had completed only three of his past 70 starts. How much more could he have expected from Welch?

“My preference was I wanted Bob to start the next inning,” LaRussa said.

Said Dennis Eckersley: “I was kind of surprised he hit. I thought Rick (Honeycutt) was going to set it up for me.”

So Welch returned for the bottom of the eighth and Hatcher hit the fly ball that Jose Canseco, as LaRussa duly noted, should have caught. It became a triple.

With Honeycutt and Eckersley warmed up, LaRussa then permitted Welch to pitch to Paul O’Neill. He walked him. He even let Welch pitch to Eric Davis. Welch retired Davis on a fly ball that was deep enough to score Hatcher, but the runner decided not to try for home.

Finally, with Morris due up, LaRussa went to his bullpen. With five outs needed to close out a 4-3 victory--and with Thursday’s day off--he did not use Eckersley. Instead, he chose to have Honeycutt pitch to pinch hitter Glenn Braggs.

“The big thing is that it’s going to be tough to escape a bullet there anyway,” LaRussa said.

Braggs drove in the tying run on an infield grounder. The Athletics had blown an eighth-inning lead and not used Eckersley.

Meanwhile, Piniella used 18 players, including five pitchers. He yanked his left-handed starting pitcher, Danny Jackson, before the third inning was over, then left all but one inning of the remainder of the game to right-handers against Oakland’s predominantly right-handed lineup. The Athletics did not score another run.

Piniella has been thorough. His decision to remove Jose Rijo after seven innings in Game 1 showed foresight (Rijo may have to pitch twice more), he has obtained good matchups for his pinch hitters and he has done a magnificent job in using his bullpen. And, by golly, the man has done such fine work without benefit of a law degree.