Still a dickhead

By: Harvey

It wouldn't be a season unless Tony La Russa did something to prove to all of us that no matter his managing prowess, he still scores a zero for personality.

I didn't see this myself, but apparently Al "The Mad Hungarian" Hrabosky — an ex-Redbird and current color man/borderline retard for Fox Sports Midwest's Cardinals broadcasts — actually got something right during a recent broadcast. He said it was inexcusable for Yadier Molina to not run out a pop-up with the bases loaded.

The pop fly was dropped and an out was still made on a force play at second base (all the runners had to hang tight since it didn't get far beyond the infield dirt), but word is Yadier was already on his way back to the dugout — bat still in hand — when the ball dropped in. He recovered and made it back to first, but the play still caught Hrabosky's eye.

He briefly ragged on Yadier, something he rarely does to a Cardinal player, and La Jackass caught wind of it and proceeded to tell a group of reporters that Al ought to be ashamed of himself and that Pete Rose himself didn't run out every pop fly.

Now, I know and Al knows that Yadi is a hustler. As poor as he is at his job, Hrabosky was doing what he is paid to do — calling it the way he sees it. No matter how many times Molina backs up a play at first or hustles on the basepaths, if he takes a play off he should be subject to criticism the same way any of his teammates would be. As a former big leaguer, Al is just as qualified as Tony to evaluate what he sees on the field.

In fact, Al didn't say another word about it until La Cocksucker started using the press (like a chickenshit) to take shots at the Cardinal color man, who is in the last year of his deal. A FSMW spokesman said the network has no plans to reprimand Hrabosky — since he was doing what he is paid to do — but Tony has been reluctant to let it go and I suppose feels he is standing up for one of his guys.

I don't fault Tony for defending his player, but as usual I fault his piss-poor approach to doing so. He made a mountain out of a mole hill by even discussing it publicly. If he had a problem, he should've gone to Hrabosky. From all the Hungarian's quotes in the aftermath of this "controversy", it seems he would've been willing to discuss it like a man with La Russa. In fact, I'm guessing the play in question never would've been discussed in the booth again.

Mr. Personality may be a great manager and a players' manager to boot, but he ought to pick his battles a little more wisely. When you do things like this, it only makes you look like an asshole. Of course, when you really are an asshole, I guess maybe you don't care if everybody else knows it.