Passive-aggressively, a testy Tony LaRussa complained about the strike zone yesterday. One moment, he pointed out the inconsistencies of umpire Larry Vanover’s zone, the next he tried to intimidate reporters who dared to ask him a follow-up question.
During and after the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over LaRussa’s Cardinals, the St. Louis manager squawked as his club was swept.
“He always does,” Robin Ventura said of LaRussa complaining to the umps.
With the precise Woody Williams on the mound, LaRussa knew how important corner strikes were. Williams entered the game averaging an NL-best 1.55 walks per nine innings. Early on, LaRussa liked the aggressive strike zone that Vanover outlined.
However, to begin the decisive four-run sixth, Williams walked Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada before Ventura worked a 3-2 count into a two-run go-ahead double. Suddenly, LaRussa felt Vanover was unfair.
“You don’t throw the ball down the middle,” LaRussa said. “You have to pitch to the edges. He is a master of that. The catcher was hardly moving. I thought we were in good shape. The umpire established an aggressive zone for both pitchers early.”
So you thought the zone changed?
“You always adjust to the umpire,” said LaRussa, clearly frustrated with the follow-up question. “Our responsibility was to adjust to the zone that he establishes. That is what we were trying to do.”
While LaRussa implored Vanover “to be consistent” during the game, he glared and hesitated when asked to detail his complaints.
“I just answered the question, do you want to get onto something else? LaRussa said. “I’m not big on [minutia,] talking about the umpires. The umpires didn’t beat us. We got outplayed for three days. The Yankees beat us. You ask a question, I answer it. That is the [minutia] part of the game that doesn’t deserve to have more than just a mention.”
The problem with LaRussa’s complaints about the follow-ups was that he started the conversation. To begin his interview session, he was asked a general question about Williams.
“You always look at it from your side,” LaRussa said. “We thought there were pitches that could have changed counts around.”
He then mentioned that Williams didn’t receive calls on the edges. Williams agreed, but wasn’t going to lean on Vanover as the reason for the five-run, 5 1/3-inning loss.
“I felt I threw some close pitches that weren’t called, but you can’t make excuses for losing,” said Williams, who dropped to 8-2. “I’m not going to sit here and do that, but I thought I had good enough stuff to definitely win.
“Our hitters that were playing behind me and were playing the field were saying that wasn’t the case. Mike’s a good pitcher so not to take anything away from him. He beat me and so be it.”