Manager Tony La

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Esther Canseco had some unkind words for Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa after he benched Jose Canseco before Game 4 of the World Series."

St. Louis-- --St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has seen it all in his 28 years as a major league manager, so it's hard to imagine a couple of wet evenings in the Midwest causing him a whole lot of anxiety. He was manager of the Oakland Athletics in 1989, when the earth shook in the Bay Area and put the Fall Classic in true perspective. He was manager of the Cardinals when one of his star pitchers - Darryl Kile - was found dead in the team hotel in Chicago. Into each life some rain must fall, and whoever came up with that cliche was not talking about anything that shows up on Doppler radar.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa blew up at Ruben Sierra yesterday, blasting him as an "idiot" for comments he made in yesterday's Chronicle."

ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa wasn't really bothered by the postponement of Game 4 of the World Series on Wednesday. He said yesterday that he'd be able to deal with it if inclement weather - either here or in Detroit - causes more interruptions of the Fall Classic. The accepting attitude from such an intense manager comes partially from experience. La Russa was manager of the Oakland Athletics in 1989 when their World Series with the San Francisco Giants was postponed for 10 days because of an earthquake before Game 3 on Oct. 17. It was a strange balance of baseball and tragedy.

Oakland's pitching this spring has done nothing to calm manager Tony La Russa's fears after last season, when the A's walked more batters than anyone but Texas and only the Orioles had a higher ERA than Oakland's 4.57.This spring, A's pitchers already have walked 50 in 87 innings. And the A's finished the weekend with a team ERA of 7.03, the worst in baseball."I'm not as much concerned about the bases on balls as I am about some of the other things we're doing," La Russa said. "Early in the spring, it's understandable.

Oakland Athletics manager Tony La Russa was named American League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America yesterday, finishing well ahead of Milwaukee Brewers manager Phil Garner and Orioles manager Johnny Oates.La Russa, who guided a bruised and battered A's team to the American League West title, received 25 first-place votes and 132 points. Garner, whose Brewers club made a late run at the AL East title, got two first-place votes and 76 points to finish second.

The Orioles asked the Oakland Athletics for permission to speak to manager Tony La Russa, according to American League sources.Permission requested. Permission denied.The A's are doing everything they can to keep La Russa, who also will be courted by the Boston Red Sox and other clubs if the A's are unable to extend his contract before it runs out on Oct. 2.If La Russa's contract expires, all teams are free to contact him.Meanwhile, Orioles manager Johnny Oates is sitting at his home in Colonial Heights, Va., waiting for his phone not to ring.

Kevin Malone, former general manager of the Montreal Expos, became the first GM candidate to interview with the Orioles yesterday, and San Diego GM Randy Smith will become the second today.Orioles officials, including owner Peter Angelos, met with Malone yesterday for about two hours. Afterward, Angelos would not comment on the interview; Malone was upbeat and encouraged."I felt very positive and very good," Malone said. "They gave me an opportunity to express myself and they wanted to get a feel what I was all about.

ST. LOUIS - It didn't take long for the National League Championship Series to get nasty. New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips sparked an angry response from St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa when he accused reliever Mike James of hitting shortstop Mike Bordick in the ninth inning of Game 1. Bordick was hit on the right thumb by a pitch after Mets outfielder Jay Payton hit the second home run of the inning off James. Bordick was removed from the game and was not in the starting lineup for Game 2 last night.

PHOENIX - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes nearly retired earlier this year, but he came back at midseason and has re-emerged as a very important member of the pitching staff. Now, he's suddenly in a position to play an even more important part in the postseason. Right-hander Woody Williams was supposed to be the No. 3 starter in the Cardinals' playoff rotation, but he had to shut down a workout on Monday with continued soreness in his back. The setback forced the team to remove him from the postseason roster and add Garrett Stephenson as a long reliever.

St. Louis -- There's cheating and then there's cheating, or so everybody seemed to be saying as the 102nd World Series devolved yesterday into something that can best be described as Smudge-gate. Was Kenny Rogers flouting the rules of baseball if he had pine tar or some other dark, sticky substance on the palm of his left hand in the early innings of a strong Game 2 performance at Comerica Park? The rule book would answer clearly in the affirmative, and the prescribed punishment would have been a suspension if St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa had asked the umpires to check Rogers' hand and they had, indeed, found something other than infield dirt.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Orioles spoke yesterday with the agent for Richard Hidalgo, and according to sources the outfielder is unlikely to return to the team and ever play for the organization. Hidalgo, who signed a minor league deal with the Orioles last week, left the team Saturday morning, just a couple of days after passing his physical. While the Orioles were in Jupiter, Fla., to face the Florida Marlins, he approached manager Sam Perlozzo and told him that he needed to leave the team to be with his wife, who was hospitalized with an illness.

JUPITER, Fla. - St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa knows all about perception and reality, which is why he isn't ready to go quietly into third place in the National League Central. The Cardinals were the team to beat last spring, but they finished third in a tight three-team race that was won by a team that had the 14th-best record in the league the year before. "In 2000, the Reds got [Ken] Griffey and the only thing everyone wanted to know is how many games they were going to win by," La Russa said.

ST. LOUIS - The bench-clearing confrontation that occurred in the fifth inning of Game 1 did not result in any physical hostilities, but it still prompted disciplinary action from the commissioner's office. Major League Baseball vice president of on-field operations Bob Watson notified San Francisco Giants manager Dusty Baker and St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa that they have been fined $500 each for their actions and those of their players during the altercation. "These guys are supposed to be the peacekeepers in these types of situations," Watson said before Game 2, "but they were, in a sense, escalating it."

PHOENIX - St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Andy Benes nearly retired earlier this year, but he came back at midseason and has re-emerged as a very important member of the pitching staff. Now, he's suddenly in a position to play an even more important part in the postseason. Right-hander Woody Williams was supposed to be the No. 3 starter in the Cardinals' playoff rotation, but he had to shut down a workout on Monday with continued soreness in his back. The setback forced the team to remove him from the postseason roster and add Garrett Stephenson as a long reliever.

ST. LOUIS - It didn't take long for the National League Championship Series to get nasty. New York Mets general manager Steve Phillips sparked an angry response from St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa when he accused reliever Mike James of hitting shortstop Mike Bordick in the ninth inning of Game 1. Bordick was hit on the right thumb by a pitch after Mets outfielder Jay Payton hit the second home run of the inning off James. Bordick was removed from the game and was not in the starting lineup for Game 2 last night.

If it works, don't change.The Oakland Athletics may have recorded a major-league first Thursday night because manager Tony La Russa followed that philosophy with his strategy.This one will require more than a little research, but it's doubtful that any team ever used seven relief pitchers in a game without any allowing a run. But that's what the A's did in a 6-4 win over the Orioles two nights ago.La Russa set the tone for this one early, using left-hander Vince Horsman to get one batter, Harold Baines, leading off the sixth inning.

Jeff Torborg comes to the plate today in the ninth inning of the first round of interviews in the Orioles' managerial search.Torborg, a three-time major-league manager and the ninth candidate interviewed for the vacancy created when Johnny Oates was fired 11 days ago, is the last person scheduled for an interview.After talking with Torborg, the Orioles' panel of four -- general manager Roland Hemond, assistant GM Frank Robinson, attorney Russell Smouse and vice chairman of business and finance Joe Foss -- will begin working on a short list they will present to majority owner Peter Angelos.

ATLANTA -- There was the question of respect that simmered before this National League Championship Series began. Now there's a matter of post-game celebrations and excuses that nearly brought things to a boil on the day off Tuesday.The celebrations, deemed in excess by Atlanta Braves general manager John Schuerholz, belonged to the St. Louis Cardinals after they took two of the three at Busch Stadium last week.The excuses, thought to be inappropriate by Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, belonged to the Braves after the defending World Series champions were pushed to the brink of elimination in this best-of-seven series.