hogan873

At least from what I can see on Twitter, there's not any national sports writers, local sports writers, players, former players, fans of the Sox or other teams that agree with LaRussa. No one. Those of us old enough to have a lot of work experience have most likely worked for a terrible boss. Imagine being part of a team that is one of the best at what you do and having a boss like TLR. This team is succeeding in spite of him. My fear is that things will start to fall apart if this keeps up. How long before players start going to their agents or to Hahn saying they don't want to work here anymore?

I've had a chance to sleep on this, and I'm still pissed. No, pissed isn't the right word. I can't say I'm disappointed, because that would insinuate that I expected something different from LaRussa. I'm not terribly surprised, either. I do feel bad for the players. They have a manager that doesn't back them up and goes so far as to publicly trash one of his own players and then publicly praise the other team for plunking one of his own. The argument that TLR is "making this about himself to pull the focus from the players" is bullshit. How he's comporting himself is how he actually feels. He's stuck in the old days and wants one of the most dynamic, fun teams in the league to play by the unwritten rules and not be themselves. Ozzie was a bag of shit for quitting on the team when he decided he wanted to go to Miami. What LaRussa is doing is much worse. Ozzie would have still stood up for his guys.

I’m at a loss for words. He’s defending the other team throwing at his own player…on purpose. What bullshit. There’s not a player on that team that respects him now, there can’t be.

232 by Bonds

Jason essentially backing Yermin.

Can’t argue the ejection. That was clearly on purpose. I imagine fines and/or suspensions are coming.

I just looked it up and am surprised to see he actually has 218 PA that season. I barely remember seeing him play.

Lynn’s gonna beat their asses for that.

Great play by Yoan wasted.

Why not challenge that? He was out.

Jake Lamb. ?

LaRussa should have kept his mouth shut and dealt with this in-house.

Not following a sign from the dugout is an issue. But TLR could have just left it at that. Instead he had to go all lame old school and soft and squishy and apologize to the other team...AND say all that bullshit publicly.

Twitter seems to largely disagree with TLR. Heyman and Passan are two of the more well-known names defensing Yermin.

Pine tar poisoning.

Chances Mercedes sits tonight: Increasing?

Does Mercedes get plunked today?

He's not even hitting Madrigal's weight, but the OBP is impressive. I do think that if he were swinging the bat more, especially at the close pitches, he'd be getting more hits. I don't know if his BA would be close to his career norm, but it would be higher. It truly is impressive how good of an eye he has.

I'm torn on Mercedes hitting that HR in that situation. Part of me is fine with it. The other part of me wishes he would have hit it farther.

Yeah, but if he actually tried he'd have an OBP of .500. All he wants to do is make music videos with hot women.

Stone definitely holds a grudge against Moncada for some reason. The way he said it, too - "Yoan deciding to run instead of letting the line drive go through." Unless Yoan was standing on first base when the ball was hit (which no runner ever would be), there was absolutely nothing he could do. Any base runner would have been doubled up.

Stone obviously has something against Yoan. There’s not a base runner that would not have been doubled ip.

Could have probably just said that Abreu is out with a sore body the way the weekend went for him. Let's hope he didn't pull an Eloy and blow out his ankle celebrating.

Yoan definitely does not have the same personality as TA or Abreu or Hendriks (of course, Hendriks is unique). I think the best way to describe Moncada is to say he quietly goes about his business and is one of the best. None of us can say what kind of teammate he is, and it would be speculation if we did say. We also really don't know how hard he works outside of the games. He may work his ass off and prepare as hard as anyone. He obviously puts in a lot of work, but maybe he could work harder. Who knows.

Gallagher's reaction leads me to believe he didn't think he tagged him. He just laid there like a slug in the dirt. If he thought he tagged him, he would have most likely been right to his feet arguing. The home plate umpire had a great look at the play - it was right in front of him. The review showed no conclusive evidence to overturn the call. One could argue the call was "not overturned" vs. "confirmed", but I think he was safe. It was a spectacular slide.