LaRussa and Pinella, two great managers runnin' a train on baseball strategy.

So in last nights game between the Cubbies and Cards, we had an epic matching of wits between managers Lou Pinella and Tony LaRussa.  In the top of the ninth, Lou brought in lefty Sean Marshall with the bases loaded.  After Marshall got the first out, Lou came in to talk to the umpire, apparently to make a double switch since the pitcher’s spot was due up in the Cubs half of the inning.

But what he did instead was a rarely seen substitution that hearkens back to ye days of olde.  Lou put his relief pitcher, Marshall, in left field to replace Soriano, then brought in righty Aaron Heilman to face a right handed batter.  Heilman got the out.  Then Lou brought Marshall back to the mound to face a lefty batter and put Reed Johnson in left.  As brilliant as that was, LaRussa then conferred with the umpire to make sure that once Marshall took the mound, he would have to pitch to someone and can’t be subbed for.  After getting confirmation, LaRussa countered by pinch-hitting a righty batter against Marshall.  Marshall then got out of the bases loaded jam with a strike out followed by a ridiculous, though disputed, running, stumbling, and diving catch in left by the recently brought-in Reed Johnson.  I have to say, that was the best sequence of moves and counter-moves by managers that I’ve ever seen.  Even Lou was laughing when LaRussa countered with the pinch-hitter.  It was an exciting and baffling sequence that showed off just how smart these two wily veteran baseball minds are, and why they have had such long and successful careers.  It’s rare in modern baseball to see managers have such direct effect on the events of a game, and I’m glad I was witness to such an example of great baseball strategery.