Maybe actor Bill Duke said it best when portraying ‘Abdullah” in the movie “Car Wash.”
“It’s all fallin’ apart, man. It’s fallin’ apart.”
With four games against the Chicago Cubs this weekend and three at Milwaukee the last week of the season, the St. Louis Cardinals quest to win the NL Central is far from over.
But the season has quickly fallen apart.
The feel-good story of Rick Ankiel felt different after the New York Daily News connected him with an Internet prescription ring under investigation by law enforcement authorities. He went into an immediate slump and so did the Cardinals.
In fact, as of Wednesday morning the Redbirds had failed to win a game since the Ankiel allegations arose.
As if the unexpected losing streak isn’t enough, manager Tony La Russa has decided to campaign for another job, using the local media as the villain determined to drive him out of town.
La Russa says that he did not deserve local media reports that he says “(accused) him of neglect after Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock died in a car accident in April in which he was legally drunk.
Remember that La Russa was charged earlier in March with a DWI when he fell asleep at a stoplight in his car in Jupiter, Fla.
“There were people writing that because of what happened in the spring, I had lost credibility and respect on that issue,” La Russa told USA TODAY.
“That I was less likely to pursue my responsibility or be a leader on that issue. Those were personal insults. You gotta be s— me. To think that because I fell asleep I would be reluctant to confront Josh, that kind of bull—- goes beyond responsible journalism. At some point you say, ‘It ain’t worth it. It’s not fun.’ “
I stay up on what is being said and written by whom and where and I can’t remember anyone ever accusing La Russa of neglect.
However, it seems obvious that Hancock had a problem that needed to be addressed and no one with the Cardinals did anything to prevent his untimely death. In addition, Scott Spezio’s alcohol and drug use spiraled completely out of control before he left the team. The team had done nothing except put up with unexplained dizziness and games missed.
La Russa does not sound like a man who had had enough of one of the best jobs in baseball.
He sounds like a man searching for a way out. The Cardinals should give it to him if he cannot handle himself any better than he has this past week. The media is not the problem. HGH, alcohol and drugs are the problem.
If La Russa can’t face that reality, it is time for him to move on.
In fact, maybe Tony should step down on Thursday and the Cardinals could name Whitey Herzog interim manager for the final pivotal weeks of the season.
Some truthful order could be returned to a team that is obviously struggling to understand personal and franchise accountability.