Everybody Loves Larry
Yahoo's Big League stew interviews Larry Bowa.
Everybody Loves Larry
Todd Zolecki
David Brown at Yahoo's Big League Stew just did a great Q&A with former Phillies shortstop and manager Larry Bowa.
Here's a sample:
Q: Who was the better "Bull" — Greg Luzinski or Leon Durham?
LB: Wow! And the only reason I'm saying Luzinski is because I played with him a lot longer and we were best friends coming up through the minor leagues. Leon Durham was a very good player but Luzinski — the one thing people don't realize with him — he hit after [Mike] Schmidt, and for a guy to drive in as many runs as he did, as great as Schmidt was ... he picked up a lot of two-out RBIs.
Comments (21)
MARK1NPT: A couple days ago, you mentioned that you thought Brett Myers was suffering from some type of rotator cuff/shoulder/labrum problem. Today, Paul Hagen has a little blurb about Myers in his article. Here it is: * Note to Brett Myers: Ryan Dempster was the Cubs' closer last year. This season he moved to the rotation and is 8-2, 2.81. "He came to camp ready to fight [Oscar] De La Hoya for 15 rounds," manager Lou Piniella said. "He was in shape and on a mission." When I read this, it got me thinking. I'm wondering, do you think Myers might have been suffering from some sort of injury after last season that prevented him from getting in shape to be a starter this year? Or do you think that Myers just came into this season out of shape and that's what led to his problems? It's unusual to hear a pitching coach call a pitcher out for not being in shape like Dubee did with Myers. I mean he came right out and said that the Phils were not happy that Myers was not following their long toss regimen, he wasn't building up arm strength, and that's why he's struggled this year. I have to believe that Myers came in out of shape and the Phils are at their wit's end trying to get him to work harder to get and stay in shape.— bski- As for this question, why does Bowa even need to qualify his answer by saying he played with Luzinski longer and they were best friends coming up? The answer is not much in doubt. Leon Durham had about five good years with the Cubs, that's it. Luzinski had at least six good years with us and went on to have a couple more with the White Sox. Even if you never played a game with Luzinski as your teammate, there's no question he was the better "Bull".— bski
- He might be meaning that since Bull was a long-time teammate and friend of his he would naturally be biased in his favor.— judas_priest
- MARK: Thanks for the response in the previous thread. I re-posted here before I was able to go back and check. Am I to understand by your answer that basically every pitcher falls somewhere along the spectrum between "normal" wear and tear and an injury, and that depending on where you are determines your arm strength and such and how you'll pitch on any given day? Another question. Depending on exactly what is going on, is it possible to improve your situation during the season or does it usually take an extended period of rest for it to really improve? I mean it sounds like Myers is going to continue teetering on the edge of an injury and just do the best he can until he completely breaks down or the season ends, whichever comes first.— bski
- BACK TO BACK TO BACK JACKS......SWEET!!!!!!!!— Clinton, NJ
- I hate to see the title to this article. Everybody does NOT love Larry. I can't stand him and think he is a jerk. He was terrible for this team as a manager, and overrated as a ballplayer. I will never understand why people are in love with this guy.— BobbyG
- bski, excellent questions....as to your first query "yes"....every pitcher falls somewhere between normal wear/tear and an injury. There is a wide spectrum of possibilities however. All pitchers have to train/condition themselves. Minor wear/tear/injuries may be kept at bay with peak conditioning/strengthening. John Smoltz has been able to manage a shoulder issue since high school with his own exercise program separate of other Braves pitchers. Only after pitching for 20 years and going thru 3-4 elbow surgeries did his shoulder finally give out. A significant tear/injury may end a career no matter how dedicated or strong a pitcher keeps himself. Older pitchers like Flash with significant injuries who keep themselves in peak shape can experience a wide variety of success or failure on any given night, they are marked by inconsistency and especially poor command of the strike zone. In season conditioning is imperative to maintain performance for those pitchers who have no/minor problems. For more significant issues sometimes only offseason rest will help or surgery followed by appropriate rehab. The big question is, "where does Myers fall on this sliding scale of decline for pitchers?" I believe he has pitched thru pain/soreness before. His injury last year looked like a labrum/instability injury to me when it happened. I don't know that we know for sure, yet.— Mark1npt
- bski, I saw Brett a lot in camp this spring,I live here in FL. I did not think Brett was out of shape. He does stand around the complex a drink a lot of beer though. I noticed Hamels and Zagurski turned down their beers when he offered them. It is unusual for a coach to call out your "ace" like that about conditioning. I don't know if it was the lifting or the road work he was lacking in, but it was definately the long toss and as I metioned the other day here, as a pitcher, if anything is wrong with your arm, you don't feel right long tossing and you don't like doing it. He may not have pain, but with some injuries you just don't feel like you have the power to long toss anymore....his lack of command and decrease in velocity lead me to believe he has a labrum or rotator cuff injury. By injury it could be a tear or just some wear resulting in what we see in his performance. Only when the wear or tear becomes substantial enough, will pain result. Ditto for Gordon.....some days good velocity and command, some days he has no clue where the ball is going, like the other night. Trust me, this is my field of expertise......— Mark1npt
Comment removed.- Somebody send Clinton a blow up doll so he has something to do during the game.— jrquixote
- bski, glad you could find Phillies fans you can have more in-depth discussions with.....I thought Mark's anecdote about how Bret Myers would stand around drinking lots of beer in spring training was hilarious.....I agree with BobbyG, Bowa's personality was not what you wanted in a manager - it might've worked with impressionable college kids, or a couple decades ago, but I don't think that works with grown men in this day and age, in any sport.— sixerzguy
- bski, any predictions for the 4 upcoming AL series? I think we can win each one (series) except for the Angels series, of the 4, their hitters scare me the most (in the regular season, playoffs is a different story). I feel like our pitching is good enough to take Boston and the other teams.— sixerzguy
- SIXERZGUY: Get over to reclinergm. We never finished our "Gillickball" quest. I posted again under "Hope You Enjoyed First Place, Florida". Also, Pete posted a new topic, "Phillies Ramblings", where we can continue our baseball talk.— bski
- SIXERZGUY: I'm never too optimistic about our chances in inter-league play. Historically, we have not done very well. Think about what happened this year when Toronto came to town. We always seem to run into some kind of difficulty. Whenever Boston comes in, they pound the ball. If were going to beat them we're going to need to put up a lot of runs. You know what is absolutely crazy to me? I'm almost positive that over the entire history of inter-league play, American League pitchers are hitting better than National League pitchers.(If not over the entire history, I know for a fact it's happened in several seasons.)— bski
- MARK1NPT: I've run several marathons, so I know about being somewhere along the spectrum between normal wear and tear and an injury. I'm also keenly aware of being day to day, of having it one day and not the next, of running with minor problems, and the like. As elemental as this may sound, I've always felt that the body needs to be gradually built up and maintained to perform, regardless of the sport. The type, intensity, duration, etc...of training varies according to the sport, but a gradual progression is the proper way to go, especially if you have any hope of avoiding injury. I'm wondering how you feel about pitch counts. I think they're ok early on, BUT I don't agree with a fixed 100-pitch limit for the duration of a pitcher's career. When a guy is young, it makes sense to bring him along slowly, but gradually you've got to slowly increase the workload. Otherwise you end up with what we have now where very few pitchers are allowed to go too far beyond 100 pitches and they are not allowed to do it very often. To make an analogy, I didn't run 26.2 miles the first time I laced up the shoes. I started out small with 4 mile runs and 20 mile weeks. I gradually built up to 20 mile runs and 50 mile weeks. I don't see any reason why a guy's pitch count can't be increased gradually over the course of several years--say 100, 105, 110, 115 or something along those lines. My point is that a guy will never be able to go beyond 100 pitches consistently unless he is trained to do so. I will never be able to complete a 20 mile run if I limit myself to 10 mile runs. Gradually, over time, I've trained myself to go 12, then 14, then 16, etc...The bottom line is you can only do what you've trained to do. If I've only trained to run 10 miles, I'll only be able to run 10 miles. The same goes for a pitcher who has always been held to 100 pitches, as far as I see it.— bski
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