Major League Baseball

Odd trip for Cards without La Russa

Published May. 11, 2011 4:25 a.m. ET

share

facebookxredditlink

foxsports

They built Wrigley Field in 1914, and it only seems like the visiting clubhouse hasn’t been updated since then. It is the smallest in the major leagues, the coziest corner of the Friendly Confines.

The manager’s office, tiny and plain, has been a ruminating space for some of the game’s greatest minds. We can’t imagine what sort of desk, if any, John McGraw used to sketch out his lineup when he last brought his Giants here in 1932. But we know this: In the eight decades since, no manager has walked through these gates with more victories than Tony La Russa.

The St. Louis Cardinals were back at Wrigley on Tuesday.

Their manager was not.

La Russa spent the day in Arizona, undergoing a battery of tests for what doctors believe is a case of shingles around his right eye. The team announced late Tuesday that he will miss the rest of this week’s road trip to rest and take medication. There is hope – but no guarantee – that La Russa will be at Busch Stadium when the team returns home on Monday.

For the Cardinals, the absence is both worrisome and a little eerie. This is not baseball-as-usual, particularly against the archrival Chicago Cubs.

“It’s odd,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said.

Before their 6-4 victory, Cardinals officials and players spoke of their concern for La Russa; shingles cases that affect the eye tend to be of particular concern. La Russa is 66, even if he doesn’t look or act his age.

And as I watched the Cardinals go about their day, I kept coming back to the same idea: La Russa, like superstar Albert Pujols, is in the final year of his contract. And for all the speculation that Pujols might play elsewhere in 2012, it would be even more jarring to see this team with a different manager.

Players come and go. La Russa and his tinted glasses have been the constant for 16 seasons. Club officials couldn’t recall a similar absence for La Russa since his father died in 2002.

“He’s been here so long,” right-hander Kyle McClellan said. “You think of the St. Louis Cardinals, he’s one of the first things you think of. It would be really different. But right now, we don’t have to think about that. Just hopefully get him healthy, get him back, and move on.”

Cardinals bench coach Joe Pettini managed the team on Tuesday, but he did not replace La Russa. There is a difference. Pettini couldn’t even bring himself to use that humble office while preparing for the game. Instead, he took notes and typed practice plans at an even more Spartan desk inside the clubhouse laundry room.

Long after Eduardo Sanchez recorded the final out of a back-and-forth win, the morning newspapers remained on the manager’s desk, neatly folded and presumably unread. The Chicago papers, after all, had been left by the clubhouse staff for the Cardinals’ manager. And the Cardinals’ manager was not there.

Other than to pick up a lineup card, Pettini didn’t walk into the office until a team official directed him there for the postgame news conference. And when Pettini spoke, he did so in front of the desk, rather than behind it.

Sit in Tony’s chair? No way. Just wouldn’t have been right.

“Not my office,” Pettini said, matter-of-factly.

The hit-and-run that allowed Lance Berkman to score on Yadier Molina’s fourth-inning double? Pettini credited Jose Oquendo, the third base coach.

The gritty effort by Chris Carpenter, resulting in his first win of the season? Pettini referred the questions to pitching coach Dave Duncan.

“We all do our part,” Pettini said, hinting at one of the night’s greatest ironies: The experience and continuity of La Russa’s staff was perhaps most evident in his absence.

Pettini and the other coaches had watched their boss work through pain for several weeks. The players saw it, too. Prolonged exposure to light gave La Russa headaches. He would take refuge in his office during batting practice, a towel compress over his eye.

“It’s been painful to watch,” Pettini said. “There’s been so much agony over this eye. He doesn’t want to miss anything. He got to the point where he knew he couldn’t be out there all the time for batting practice and the pregame. He would just try to stay rested up and then gut it out during the game.”

And know this about La Russa: For him, it’s almost harder to miss the practices than the games. He loves to prepare. That’s why he has won more games than all but two managers – Connie Mack and McGraw – in baseball history. “I’ve never seen him not ready for any situation that comes up in the game,” said Duncan, La Russa’s friend for decades.

The first pitch of Tuesday’s game was shortly after 7 p.m. local time. Had La Russa been managing, Pettini guessed, he would have arrived at noon or 12:30.

“He’s done an amazing job doing his job, but it’s certainly not the same Tony we’ve been around for as many years as we have,” Mozeliak said. “He’s had to remove himself at times. But when the bell goes off, he’s ready. Right now, he’s just not the Tony we’re used to.”

Said Duncan: “I think he’s distracted. He has to be. It’s something that’s constant. It’s not like it’s there for a little while and goes away. It’s there all the time. It’s got to affect his ability to rest and do all the other things you need to do, to be on top of everything.”

Yet, on a day when so much about his life seemed uncertain, La Russa did what came naturally: He discussed the day’s batting order with Pettini, albeit over the phone from 1,700 miles away.

Of note, Ryan Theriot batted leadoff in his (jeered) Chicago homecoming. Nick Punto (second base) and Daniel Descalso (third) continued filling in for injured infielders.

The acting manager was asked if the decisions were his and his alone.

He shook his head.

“No,” Pettini said, smiling. “His lineup.”

His lineup. His team. His office.

His chair, left empty.
 

share

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

in this topic

Major League Baseball