Old Time Family Baseball

While Tony La Russa is known for his quick hook and penchant for playing with matchups, you can hardly deny him in his bullpen usage this postseason as his starters have gone kablooey after a fine regular season. La Russa’s reputation may be greatly exaggerated, he will now have added incentive to fiddle with his scorecard as he attempts to break the record for most hooks in a single postseason. From Matthew Leach:

“With two Cardinals relievers pitching in Sunday’s 4-0 loss in Game 4 of the World Series, Tony La Russa has now made 61 calls to the bullpen in 15 playoff games this month. That is tops among all teams this postseason and is tied for second on the all-time list.

Only the 2002 Giants (62 relievers in 16 games) used more. The 1997 Indians (61 relievers in 18 games) deployed an identical number to the Cards, who will have at least two more games — and possibly three — to surpass the record.”

Just like the 1998 home run chase, Ron Washington is right on La Russa’s tail, with 54 yankings this postseason. It’s now up to Chris Carpenter and CJ Wilson to try and keep these numbers from getting so out of hand as to require a Congressional investigation of bullpen usage.