Tony La Russa had another chance to get it right regarding Chicago White Sox DH Yermin Mercedes after the hitter belted a home run on a 47 MPH 3-0 pitch from Minnesota Twins position player Willians Astudillo in the middle of a blowout.
The White Sox manager had already expressed that he was upset with Mercedes’ “mistake” and spoke about “sportsmanship and respect” when it came to not swinging on a pitch like that late in a game that was out of hand. Then, he didn’t back Mercedes when the Twins threw at him in retaliation, saying, “I didn’t have a problem with how the Twins handled that.”
So with one more chance on Wednesday before another game against Minnesota to say he realized he made a mistake and should have shown some solidarity with his own player, he … doubled down:
Tony La Russa stands his ground on criticism of Yermin Mercedes saying it was mistake to swing on 3-0 pitch in 15-4 game.His rule of thumb: "Do you think you need more [runs] to win, you keep pushing. If you think you have enough, respect the game and opposition. Sportsmanship.''
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 19, 2021
More Tony La Russa: "If you're going to tell me that sportsmanship and respect for the game of baseball and respect for your opponent is not an important priority, then I can't disagree with you more.''
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 19, 2021
Lance Lynn last night said "there are no rules" when a position player is pitching, adding: "The more I play this game, the more those (unwritten) rules have gone away."
Tony La Russa said of those remarks: "Lance has a locker. I have an office. … I don't agree."
— Chris Emma (@CEmma670) May 19, 2021
Ugh. This can only further push the players away from the manager. At what point does that outweigh this feeling that La Russa has to uphold archaic unwritten rules?
[vertical-gallery id=1028959]