Puhols’ All-Star snub the work of a drunk
By The Heckler
Baseball Big Mouth
baseball news
Far be it from The Heckler to lead another assault of that drunken lush Tony LaRussa. Drunken lush – is that redundant? Who cares. It applies to anyone who would ever fall asleep behind the wheel at a traffic light. It doubly applies to anyone who would actually risk upsetting the greatest player not only on his own team, but the greatest player the city of St. Louis will ever see: Albert Puhols.
Seems ol’ Tony must have been hittin’ the sauce something fierce in the dugout last night, as – somehow – he neglected to use his own superstar in last night’s MLB All-Star game. Huh? Is it any wonder Puhols is one angry hombre today? “It’s the All-Star Game. He can do what he wants,” Puhols said after the game. “He does whatever he wants. If I wasn’t expecting to play, I wouldn’t have come up here.”
The 2005 NL MVP and key component in last year’s (gulp) World Championship run also added that La Russa did not even speak to Puhols the entire game. Albert could only sit and watch, waiting on the bench, as Phillies’ outfielder Aaron Roward flied out to right to end the game. Ever the word smith, La Russa countered Puhols’ comments with, “If he wants to get upset, he can get upset. Whatever he wants to do, he can do. It’s America. That wasn’t the most important thing tonight.”
And what, prey tell, was the most important thing tonight, Tony? Offending your star player? At the expense of allegedly trying to save a bat in case of extra innings? In fairness, La Russa claims he told Puhols how he would be used before the game. “Albert was the guy who was going to do whatever we needed. If Albert doesn’t understand that, I’m surprised and disappointed. It isn’t that tough a thing. I explained his role to him before the game . . . Let me ask you this. If we go to extra innings, who’s going to be our player to move around and play? Can Dmitri [Young] move around and play? Or is Albert going to do that? Who’s the most versatile guy not playing? It’s Albert. It isn’t even that tough. He’ll figure it out sooner or later.”
“I was ready to go since the game started,” added Pujols.
Yes, Puhols has not hit a home run in 22 games – the worst stretch of his career, encompassing 74 at-bats. Yes, there is some logic in leaving a bat on the bench in case of extra innings. And yes, if Tony explained it all to Albert ahead of time, this war of words in the press should not be taking place. That being said, the whole thing could have been avoided with a little foresight of a sober man. Too bad Tony apparently doesn’t fit that bill. Sounds like drunken logic to The Heckler. Good luck smoothing this one over, Tony. Have another drink. Hic.
