I’ve been a St. Louis Cardinals fan for a long time, long before cable and remote controls. Never in that time have I seen a team collapse like the Cardinals did in the ninth inning against Colorado on Tuesday night.
With a 9-3 lead going into the bottom half of the ninth, you’d think a victory was all but sewn up. But that was not the case as the Rockies scored nine runs to defeat St. Louis 12-9.
It’s only the third time in major league history that a team scored nine or more runs in the last inning of a walk-off win. The other two occurred during the 1901 season.
Reliever Dennys Reyes started the ninth for St. Louis, giving up one run on a fielder’s choice that cut the Cards lead to 9-4.
Cardinals manager Tony La Russa called on closer Ryan Franklin to finish up what was still an easily winnable game.
Franklin, who had thrown a total of seven pitches in the last week prior to Tuesday’s game, was dreadful, allowing six runs on six hits, with all of the runs coming on two three-run homers.
After the game, Franklin took responsibility for the loss as he should have.
But La Russa tried to place the blame on the entire team, which only adds to the growing discontentment with his handling of the club this season.
“Momentum built on their side and we couldn’t stop it,” La Russa said. “We just lost a very difficult game. It isn’t on Ryan Franklin.”
If the loss wasn’t Franklin’s fault, then who?
“Everyone who wore gray,” La Russa replied. “Including the manager.”
If anyone is to blame for the Cardinals collapse, it’s La Russa.
After Franklin gave up the first three-run homer to get the Rockies within two runs, La Russa should have sensed that his closer didn’t have his best stuff, or anything close to it.
With reliever Mitchell Boggs in the bullpen, La Russa never had him warm up. It was a clear message to Franklin that the game was his.
Regardless of the confidence La Russa may have had in Franklin, he should have erred on the side of caution.
Instead, he allowed Franklin to struggle and ultimately cost the Cardinals an easy victory.
The loss was the second embarrassing defeat for St. Louis in four days, falling behind Milwaukee 11-0 on Saturday before losing 12-5.
The Cardinals also blew a chance to move within a game of Cincinnati in the NL Central after the Reds lost to the New York Mets 3-0.
La Russa has had two dust ups with the Cardinals team leaders this season, one with Albert Pujols and the other with Chris Carpenter.
The team has given away at least 10 wins this season because of poor play or questionable managerial decisions.
La Russa’s biggest problem is his inability to recognize his own shortcomings.
He apparently believes the constant lineup changes, batting the pitcher eighth and overuse of his bullpen are innovative steps to helping the team win.
But those “innovations” are among the reasons why St. Louis has underachieved this season.
Before anyone talks about the injuries to starting pitchers Brad Penny and Kyle Lohse, rightfielder Ryan Ludwick and third baseman David Freese, those arguments aren’t going to justify La Russa’s consistently bad decisions.
The Cardinals haven’t played well even when they’ve been healthy. The injuries certainly haven’t helped matters, but they aren’t the reasons behind the club’s poor performance.
With five games remaining before the All-Star break, Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt and general manager John Mozeliak should take the opportunity to shake up the club and give La Russa his pink slip.
Otherwise, a season that had so much potential is going to end with the Cardinals out of the playoffs.
