MANAGING JUST FINE : THEY DON'T HAVE THE TALENT THEY'VE HAD IN THE PAST, BUT TONY LA RUSSA OF THE CARDINALS AND JIM LEYLAND OF THE PIRATES REMAIN AT THE TOP OF THEIR PROFESSION.Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer Over the preceding three seasons, they combined for a winning percentage of .443, and between them produced two fifth-place finishes, two last-place showings. Today, their teams are a combined four games under .500. Are they the major-league managers thought to be on thinnest ice as baseball nears the halfway point of the 1996 season? Why, no. They are the managers considered the cream of their business, the standard against which all others are judged. They are Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals For the National Football League team that played in St. Louis from 1960 to 1987, see . The St. Louis Cardinals (also referred to as "the Cards" or "the Redbirds") are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. and Jim Leyland A few years back, they repeatedly celebrated championships of various stripe, La Russa while with the Oakland A's and Leyland with the Pirates. In what can be considered a resounding re·sound v. re·sound·ed, re·sound·ing, re·sounds v.intr. 1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children. 2. tribute to their reputations, the stature of neither diminished when their teams, through attrition and small-market economic realities, fell on hard times. ``In our business, if you have any intelligence at all, you look and see what somebody has,'' said Sparky Anderson ``These two guys are the type of people who go through the good times and handle it extremely well. And when they go through the bad times, they handle it well. And that, to me, is great coaching.'' La Russa and Leyland say they appreciate such acclaim. (A preseason poll of baseball authorities, conducted by The Sporting News, named them the top two in their profession.) But the mantle of managerial excellence seems to be weighing heavily on both as their teams languish around .500. In extensive interviews on recent visits to Dodger Stadium • • [ , both took great pains to point out that everything they know of the game they learned from others, and neither seized the opportunity to say of the recent past, ``Hey, I've had nothing to work with.'' Rather, they talked hopefully of what their teams might be able to accomplish - soon or later. Both the Cardinals and Pirates changed ownership over the past winter, and there is optimism in each franchise of triggering the chain of events that leads to success in this game: glimmers of promise on the field, more rumps in the seats at home, more money to work with, the ability to retain or sign top-flight players, the prospect of assembling a powerhouse. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. those who play for, have played for, work with, or have played against La Russa and Leyland, the two close friends and former colleagues are applying their talents to get the absolute most out of two pretty mediocre teams. La Russa's strength is said to be his strategic machinations in any given game, while Leyland is primarily credited with his people skills in coaxing the maximum out of each man on his roster. LA RUSSA The label was applied during the late '80s, when he took the A's to three consecutive World Series, winning in '89. `` `The computer manager,' '' Tony La Russa said, spitting out the words in obvious distaste. ``I hear it all the time. ``There's a perception that the computer's involved. The computer's never been involved in our preparation.'' Indeed, the material that is available to the Cardinals can be had by all the managers in baseball. This is just one who makes certain he looks at it. All of it. What is Delino DeShields' career average against Mike Morgan
Radinsky finished his career with a 42-25 record, a 3. picked off first base? How often do the Dodgers hit-and-run? What is Mike Piazza's success rate against base-stealers, and does it drop significantly when Chan Ho Park is pitching? ``I think in the end I totally rely on my gut,'' said La Russa, ``but to the extent possible, I try to make it an informed gut.'' The erroneous public perception of him, he says, is that there's a laptop lying around somewhere that tells him how to handle every situation. People think, he said, ``that you prepare for a game saying, `OK, if we have a one-run lead in the seventh, and the leadoff guy gets on, the printout says that if I sacrifice, 82 percent of the time that run will score.' ``That isn't available. That doesn't happen.'' La Russa continued: ``What happens, you look at whatever you can get ahold of, then you put it all away and you watch the game. ``You have to recognize in this game, holy smokes, the guy who is 9 for 20 against this pitcher is acting like he needs glasses, and the guy who is 1 for 16 is acting like the ball is this big (beach ball). And the pitcher is not quite the same as what he usually is. . . . ``You always have to remember, this game is played by men, not machines.'' For years, La Russa commanded a Big Green-and-Mustard-Yellow Machine in Oakland. Then, with shocking swiftness, the roster seemed to get old or hurt. Or both at the same time. Through it all, La Russa continued to trust that gut. And fearlessly, apparently. Anderson, who was in Detroit during the fall of the A's, said of La Russa, ``I never liked managing against somebody who's not scared. I always loved managing against somebody who was worrying about his job, because I knew that he will not move, because he don't want to have to answer a question (from top management) that's tricky and delicate. So I can put him in a position where he cannot move. ``But Jimmy and Tony never have one fear of their job. So all I'd be doing (against La Russa) was wasting my time.'' In his current situation, La Russa has inherited a team that finished 19 games under .500 and 22-1/2 games out of first. He is in the honeymoon stage, of course, but apparently is loath to draw reassurance from that. ``It hasn't been easy, just looking at him,'' said relief pitcher relief pitcher n. Baseball A pitcher who replaces another during a game. Noun 1. relief pitcher - a pitcher who does not start the game fireman, reliever Dennis Eckersley
``He goes about his job consistently, relentlessly. But when we're losing, he's a (bear). He's tough, man.'' As he battles for the top in the weak and eminently winnable National League Central (the Cardinals are in first by one game), La Russa exhibits one of his strengths by not giving vent to aggravation when one of his many button-pushings proves fruitless on a talent-challenged squad. ``If I send up a pinch-hitter,'' he said, ``and he doesn't get the runner home from third, I don't think, `I had the guy in the right position and he screwed up.' My first reaction is, `What did I do to set this guy up with?' `Breaking-ball pitcher; don't try to pull the guy'? ``I will challenge you to find a case where I said I made all the moves and they just aren't handling it. No. There's always something the coaching staff should do to improve the execution.'' LEYLAND He cut his big-league teeth working under La Russa, as third-base coach for the Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are a professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox are a member of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the White Sox have played in U.S. in 1982-85. But he'd been managing in the minor leagues 11 years before that, seeing about every situation that could come up in the game. Jim Leyland says he was astounded a·stound tr.v. a·stound·ed, a·stound·ing, a·stounds To astonish and bewilder. See Synonyms at surprise. [From Middle English astoned, past participle of astonen, with the scouting and statistical information that was available on the major-league level, and with La Russa's ability to ingest in·gest tr.v. in·gest·ed, in·gest·ing, in·gests 1. To take into the body by the mouth for digestion or absorption. See Synonyms at eat. 2. and retain so much of it. ``His preparation was probably beyond belief,'' Leyland said of his former boss. ``He was conscientious about never being caught with his pants down.'' Leyland is ascribed similar attributes. ``People talk about how well he handles players,'' said Pirates third-base coach Gene Lamont Gene William Lamont (born December 25, 1946 in Rockford, Illinois) is a former catcher and manager in Major League Baseball who managed the Chicago White Sox (1992-1995) and Pittsburgh Pirates (1997-2000). , who managed the White Sox over the past four seasons. ``But what is overlooked is how well he handles the game.'' Said Anderson: ``He's maneuvering his pitching staff so well. He's getting every ounce out of them.'' Leyland's job didn't always require so much glue and baling wire baling wire wire used for baling hay which can cause injury to animals. A constant hazard on farms which use hay baled with wire. The most serious injuries are to the lower limbs of horses when they are accidentally entangled in the wire, and traumatic reticuloperitonitis when the . The Pirates won the NL East in '90, '91 and '92. Then came an appalling dismantling, as the low-budget franchise failed to lock up its stars. The resulting exodus involved Bobby Bonilla ``Certainly he is frustrated to the extent that we haven't won consistently over the last three years,'' said shortstop Jay Bell, who has worked under Leyland in times of both fat and lean. ``But there's not a lot he can do about that. . . . ``Especially over the last three years, we haven't had the horses to go out and not really think about it, to just go out and beat the world.'' Bob Walk, the former Hart High School Hart High School may refer to:
``It's easy when you win three division championships in a row to be the good guy, and have everybody like you, and protect the players in the paper,'' Walk said. ``When things are going bad, the temptation is to tell the media what the reality is, and say, `This guy just isn't good enough. He shouldn't be here.' To make excuses. ``He just doesn't do that. Players respect him because he doesn't pass the buck Pass the Buck may refer to:
Anderson, who can relate to the condition based on his final years with the Tigers, said: ``Anybody can have good clubs and go out and win. But how does he handle it when he wins? Is he flaunting it? Is he acting arrogant? ``A great manager knows that it's not him. And he understands when he has a bad club, he has to try to make the best of To improve to the utmost; to use or dispose of to the greatest advantage. To reduce to the least possible inconvenience; as, to make the best of ill fortune or a bad bargain. - Bacon. See also: Best Best a bad situation without embarrassing your players. They must not be told by you that they're bad. You know it, and they know it. But don't tell them. Live with it.'' Leyland, accordingly, says he is deriving satisfaction from helping young players develop or castoff cast·off n. 1. One that has been discarded. 2. Printing A calculation of the amount of space a manuscript will occupy when set into type. adj. also cast-off Discarded; rejected. veterans eke the most out of what they have left. ``My responsibility in the early '90s was different than it is now. You have to maintain your patience more,'' he said. ``. . . The No. 1 thing, you have to manage what you have. No, it's not frustrating. If you get to where you lose two or three games, you can't do something crazy. It will burn you. You can't get frustrated. You have to make the moves that make good sense. ``There's no tricks. One of the challenges as a manager, when you don't have a real good ballclub, you have to not panic, not get away from the things you do for good, solid baseball.'' La Russa and Leyland both employ self-deprecation when talking of their work. ``In the end,'' said La Russa, ``winning games is where you get the most credit, and I think right now Bobby Cox Said Leyland: ``I assure you I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. any more baseball than Tommy Lasorda or Jim Fregosi. ``As I've said many times, I've never gone into a game thinking I'm going to be outmanaged, and I've also never thought I was going to outmanage this guy. ``I think a lot of people overrate o·ver·rate tr.v. o·ver·rat·ed, o·ver·rat·ing, o·ver·rates To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly. overrate Verb to have too high an opinion of: the art of managing.'' Leyland recently signed up to remain with the Pirates through 2000. If La Russa's option is exercised, he'll be with the Cardinals at least through '98. New ownership with both franchises has voiced a commitment to fielding championship talent. Over the next few seasons, both of these men figure to get a chance to demonstrate anew just how valuable a shrewd manager can be to a team. TOPPING THE CHARTS Tony La Russa Overall Record: 1,355-1,217 Achievements: Five division titles, three league pennants, one World Series title (1989 Oakland); Three-time AL Manager of the Year. Jim Leyland Overall Record: 810-810 .500 Achievements: Three division titles; Three-time NL Manager of the Year. CAPTION(S): 4 Photos, Box Photo: (1--color) St. Louis Cardinals manager TonyLa Russa is performing in the National League for the first time in his long career. David Crane / Daily News (2--color) Tony La Russa (3--color) Jim Leyland (4) Cardinals manager Tony La Russa disputes the notion that he bases decisions on a computer's findings. David Crane / Daily News Box: TOPPING THE CHARTS (see text) |
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