Here we go again. Tony La Russa just doesn’t stop, does he?
Last night, during the ninth inning of the White Sox game vs. the Tigers, ace Lucas Giolito was ejected from the dugout for arguing balls and strikes.
He initially argued in the bottom of the eighth after controversial strike calls on Adam Eaton and Yoan Moncada. Umpire Will Little then told him to go look at the replay and the location of the pitch that rung up Moncada.
Lucas Giolito did just that, while still recognizing that the call by Little was wrong. He came back and continued to have words with Little, which ultimately resulted in his ejection.
La Russa then went out to talk to Little about the ejection. After the game came yet another controversial quote.
“Giolito was having some fun, but you can’t have it at the expense of umpires,” La Russa said. “I talked to Greg Gibson and said he made a mistake. He was just having fun with the umpire. But I said he’s a special individual. And I understand a little fun or whatever.”
If taken literally, La Russa was defending the umpire for ejecting his own player, and once again, throwing his guy under the bus.
This comes mere weeks after the controversy with Yermin Mercedes, which stemmed from the Sox slugger hitting a home-run on a 3-0 pitch in a blowout game against the Twins. And just like that incident, this one continues to make a meme out of the “Old Man Yells At Cloud” headline from the Simpsons.
Throwing Mercedes under the bus was bad enough, but the fact that it’s happened again really shows what kind of person La Russa is. He’s an old-school guy who’s set in his ways and won’t roll with the times.
We’d probably all like to think that any other manager would defend his player over an ejection, or in the previous incident’s case, getting hit by a pitch. It’s worth noting that Cardinals manager Mike Shildt stood by Giovanny Gallegos after Joe West confiscated his hat because of a sunscreen stain while they were in Chicago playing La Russa’s White Sox.
But La Russa continues to not stick by his own players. First it was Mercedes, now it’s Giolito, and if this pattern continues, then La Russa needs to step away from the game.
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