Sunday,
October 29, 2006
Do Italians Make the Best Managers?
The
ANNOTICO Report
Tony
La Russa will join Sparky Anderson as the only
manager to win World Series titles with both an American League and National
League team.
Tony
La Russa and Jim Leyland, the Detroit Tigers manger
are dear friends, La Russa hired Leyland out of the
minor league system as his third-base coach when La Russa
was managing the Chicago White Sox in the early 1980s.
But
the astounding thing is that the Cardinals won only 83 games in the Regular
season, (out of 162), the fewest of any World Series winner in history.
In
the Post Season the St. Louis Cardinals beat the San Diego Padres, The New
York Mets, then the Detroit Tigers.
The
Cardinal's Game 5 winning pitcher was rescued off the scrap heap of the
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in July. Their sometimes LF was released by the
Houston Astros earlier this season. Their post-season
closer had never recorded a major league save before September. And their
shortstop, the World Series Most Valuable Player, is no bigger than the typical
sixth grader. But
Do Italians Make the Best Managers?
Inside Pitch Magazine Online
From Dodgers Insider.com
By Ray Le Roux
Contributing Editor
October 28,2006
Joe Torre keeps bringing the Yankees home. Tony LaRussa just rode the Cards to the Championship. Young tyro
Joe Girardi made miracles with the Florida Marlins.
Ex-Dodgers catcher Mike Scioscia is doing just fine
cross town with the Angels. The question is, do
Italians make the best managers?
While
we have heard Tommy Lasorda on every subject short of
Shakespeare and the Septuagint, we've never heard him expound on this subject -
other than the fact he considers himself the manager of the 20th century. (Some
money grubbing organization gave him an award to that effect several years ago
- to sell more charity dinners - and Tommy believed every word of the award.)
When the Dodgers job opened up a year ago, Tommy had one
real candidate, fellow paison Jim Fregosi....
Well, LaRussa brought home a
wounded team, with no closer, an aging center fielder, a slugging third sacker
who had lost the spinach in his left shoulder, the team and league's best
player snoozing through the series, but one pesky, puny, undersized, popless shortstop to the big brass ring.
Could LaRussa have done it
without Jeff Weaver? Sure he could have. The point really is that he did it
WITH Jeff Weaver, the Hamlet of pitchers, the big
league pitc! her most likely
to loose it all at the first bent blade of grass on the field. Amazing. Buono fortuna, fraterni
e sistri...........
The
ANNOTICO Reports
Can
be Viewed, and are Archived at:
Italia
Italia Mia: http://www.ItaliaMia.com
Annotico
Email: annotico@earthlink.net