Rogers cheating!

[Deeper_Background]

But then they would have sacrificed a beautiful friendship!

Well, considering Leyland doesn't look a day over 95, that's also a chance I'd be willing to take if I were Manager Sunglasses.

Maybe John McCain can start a congressional investigation. It's a shame to see a quality guy like Steve Palermo having to paricipate in this charade

 

[Armchair_QB]

The only thing I could figure (and this is only conjecture, mind you) is that he knew his pitcher was also cheating. And he knew that Leyland knew. Almost a mutually assured destruction scenario: You don't nuke our pitcher and we won't nuke yours.

But even then, I make the move if I'm LaRussa. I'd trade losing Weaver for losing Rogers any day.

I hadn't thought about that but that is more than likely the real reason. La Russa a cheating mother****er. Always has been, always will be.

 

[JR]

Cheating in sports is as as North American as apple pie. If it gives you an edge and you can get away with it, go fot it.

Lie. Cheat. Steal. Win. Win. Win.

I might be considered a dirty rotten scoundrel, but I look at what Rogers did like I do speeding on a country road or the freeway. Yes, it's wrong and against the rules, but you'll only be punished if you get caught by the authority figures. In this case, Kenny was caught, but he wasn't nailed by the umpires. He's been nailed by the nosy neighbors and now they're gossiping about it.

Since the dawn of competition, some folks work harder on excelling, while others work harder at cheating to get ahead. This is nothing new.

Glad someone agrees with me.

 

[Deeper_Background]

Holy ****, this thing is picking up steam, leading the national news summary on Yahoo. http://www.yahoo.com

 

[suburbanite]

Maybe should have posted this here, instead of the MLB Playoffs thread:

LaRussa lost that game for the Cardinals. And if the Tigers win the WS, LaRussa lost the entire thing for the Cardinals last night.

Guess the genius is too good of friends with Leyland to do what any other right-thinking person would have done.

You MUST have Rogers checked WHILE ON THE MOUND if you have any idea he might be doctoring the ball. Even if they don't catch him (which seems highly unlikely), you get into his head something fierce. Hell, you couldn't have made him any better.

Now, the second half of this ridiculousness is that baseball subscribes to these strange codes – code of conduct, code of silence, code of who knows what?

It is why performance-enhancing drugs continue to fester in the sport. It is why La Russa could manage Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire and still be considered a "good baseball man." It is why it's sometimes OK to bean a guy but not other times. It is why the joke often is on the fans. It is why the old boys club – and La Russa and Leyland are old boys in every sense of the phrase – always protects itself.

How else can you explain La Russa, who has a long, rich history of gamesmanship and checking for gloves and foreign objects, just allowing the umpires to ask for a washing of the hand as a favor and then letting it end there?

"It's not important to talk about," La Russa said.

Can you imagine an NFL game where one player is suspected of using illegal equipment, the opposing coach complains, the ref sees something in line with said complaint and then just lets the guy take off the equipment and the coach is cool with it? Or do you see Bill Parcells strangling someone?

La Russa's failure to officially ask for an inspection baffled even his own staff and players.

"They're not arbitrarily going to go out there and check him," Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan said. "They have to be asked to check him."

Why didn't the Cardinals ask?

"You have to ask Tony that," Duncan said.

Do you believe it was just a clump of dirt on Rogers' hand and, moreover, that he didn't notice?

"Do I have to answer that?" Duncan replied.

I know this is a stupid question, but is there a reason why you posted this huge excerpt from Wetzel's column without identifying it as such?

Just curious.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

A pitcher doctored a baseball?! Me, Whitey Ford, Gaylord Perry, and Tommy John are shocked and appalled!
Actually, this story reminded me of the scene where Frank Drebin checks the pitcher for a gun in the Naked Gun and finds a jar of vaseline, a nail file, and an electric sander on the guy, then waves to "play ball." Life imitates art!

 

[ifilus]

So let me get this straight - because I have a hard time believing it - because these two old curmudgeons coached together on the 1983 White Sox, essentially, LaRussa doesn't call out the other guy's pitcher for cheating? And let's him go out and throw eight shutout innings instead?

Can you think of any other reason for La Russa not to ask the ump to inspect Rogers?

Because both teams do it and both managers know it.

 

[Columbo]

So let me get this straight - because I have a hard time believing it - because these two old curmudgeons coached together on the 1983 White Sox, essentially, LaRussa doesn't call out the other guy's pitcher for cheating? And let's him go out and throw eight shutout innings instead?

Can you think of any other reason for La Russa not to ask the ump to inspect Rogers?

Because both teams do it and both managers know it.

But La Russa DID talk to the ump... what is all this chirping about him not saying anything?

 

[ballscribe]

Maybe he talked to him, but I guess he didn't specifically ask for Rogers to be strip-searched.

 

[spnited]

I heard some idiot (not sure who) on ESPN radio in NY about an hour ago ranting about "conclusive evidence" that Rogers was using pine tar in all 3 of his post-season starts ("He cheated against the Yankees, he cheated againt the A's, he cheated against the Tigers. There is conclusive evidence that he is a cheater.") and that if Selig had any balls he'd suspend Rogers for the rest of the World Series. Has anyone seen this "conclusive evidence?"
Considering La Russa never challeneged him and Rogers was not even ejected from the game, is this not a moot point now? Game over.

If you think he's dirty next time out, search him. If not STFU. No?

 

[buckweaver]

a) don't listen to talk radio. ;D

b) you're absolutely right: it's a moot point. Series is tied, STFU, play some ball. ... But if anything is even remotely showing on Rogers' hand in Game 6, La Russa has to bring out the ****ing SWAT team on him.

 

[spnited]

a) I should know better
b) agree 100%

 

[ballscribe]

Gammons was on air earlier saying how small a deal it really was. After speaking to the umpire supervisor who arrived in St. Louis.
In a nutshell, he said that it was a much better outcome than parading a bunch of relievers into the game (had Rogers been ejected).

Yup, because allowing a team to keep to keep its starter in the game (if it was determined that he had contravened the rule), and making sure the game didn't have too many pitching changes trumped issues about the integrity of the game, and its rules.

I think the dean might have misspoken on that one.

 

[beefncheddar]

After all this, I'm left wondering ...

Why keep the rule in the books if
1) everybody's breaking it
2) nobody's willing to call anyone for breaking it

**** it. Leave a tub of vaseline beside the rosin bag. Maybe a six-pack of emery boards and a couple of thumbtacks.

But then you've gotta let the batters cork their bats, right.

Just don't let anyone use drugs.

What a ****ed up sport.

 

[beefncheddar]

Holy ****, LaRussa ****ed this one up.

From today's news conference:

He said he brought the smudge to the umpires' attention, but did not demand they search Rogers. They didn't. La Russa also said the Cardinals were aware Rogers had a similar spot earlier in the postseason.

So, he KNEW what was going on and STILL missed his chance to bust his ass and knock Detroit's best pitcher out of the series?

 

[ballscribe]

I suspect that probably happened after the game, not before. I could be wrong, though.


The "check the pockets for pine tar" trick seems to be in the same category as the "measure the stick" schtick on hockey.

As in: everybody does it. Wink wink, nudge nudge. You don't out me, I won't out you – unless I'm desperate and need to try anything because my team is about to go down the tubes. And I'd better be right or I'll look like an ass on national television.

 

[sheos]

He didn't wipe his ass thorougly, it's very obvious.

 

[LiveStrong]

He didn't wipe his ass thorougly, it's very obvious.

wipe with the left, shake with the right

 

[Gehrig38]

Wow - what next.


A notorious Muslim extremist told a demonstration in Detroit yesterday that the Kenny Rogers should face execution.

Anjem Choudary said those who insulted Islam would be "subject to capital punishment".

His remarks came during a protest outside Comerica on a day that worldwide anger among Muslim hard-liners towards Rogers appeared to deepen.

Rogers yesterday apologized for causing offense when he pitched on Sunday night. He insisted he was "deeply sorry" but his humbling words did not go far enough to silence all his critics or quell.

On Sunday in a silent protest towards Muslim violence Rogers rubbed dirt on the palm of his left hand that was caught by Fox TV cameras. In the Muslim faith the left hand is considered dirty.

 

[spnited]

How can Wetzel possibly write this (and believe it)?


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=dw-larussa102306&prov=yhoo&type=lgns


And doesn't it contradict what he wrote yesterday?


http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=dw-rogers102206&prov=yhoo&type=lgns