Crowd causes Cards bullpen mix-up

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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Tony La Russa thought he was making a simple request of the bullpen: get closer Jason Motte ready.

Turns out it was anything but simple.

What happened after the call was a comedy of errors that played out like something from the "Can you hear me now?" cell phone commercials.

Cardinals bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist thought La Russa only asked for Marc Rzepczynski to start throwing, when the manager really wanted both left-hander Rzepczynski and right-hander Motte to get loose.

La Russa realized the problem once he put in Rzepczynski and saw no one else warming up, so he called back and asked for Motte again. This time, Lilliquist told Lance Lynn to start throwing, even though he was only supposed to be used in an emergency.

The series of miscommunications left Rzepczynski on the mound against Mike Napoli with the bases loaded, a lefty-righty matchup that clearly favored Texas. The Rangers' catcher delivered with a two-run double that sent Texas to a 4-2 victory Monday night.

"That phone in a loud ballpark, it's not an unusual problem," La Russa said. "I mean, it doesn't make it right, but ... "

As the pitchers came and went, La Russa's deployment seemed curious. But he's the winningest active manager and he's known for his unconventional use of the bullpen, which is probably why nobody questioned whether there might be something wrong.

Rzepczynski and Motte didn't even know there was a mixup until after the game.

"I go out there, the phone rings and we get going when we're told," Motte said. "I started throwing when I was told to start throwing."

And when was that?

"When Lance Lynn walked out," Motte said. "I don't need a whole lot of time anywhere."

Lilliquist said the problems were caused by noise from the fans.

"It was loud," he said. "A lot of places are like that. The phone is as good as any phone anywhere."

What if the Rangers win the World Series in part because of the noise level of the 51,459 fans at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington?

"They all get rings," said Rangers second baseman Ian Kinsler, though he added that he's not buying.

He added: "If that's the truth, I can believe it, because it's been incredibly, incredibly loud. I think everyone in here has said it before, we've been to Tampa, Detroit, New York, St. Louis, San Francisco, and this is the loudest outdoor ballpark we've even been at. They are great fans. It's a great way to go out. Hopefully, they'll be that loud screaming at the TV when we're in St. Louis."

La Russa said the noise problem is not unusual with bullpens "that are right amidst the fans and excitement." The visitors' bullpen at Rangers Ballpark is in left-center field, with fans on either side.

"Maybe we need to come up with some ear mikes or something," La Russa said.

Considering all the technology available these days, there's got to be a better way to do this -- right?

"Yeah, smoke signals from the dugout," La Russa said. "There are times, like what happened in Philadelphia (during the first round of the playoffs). The phone went out, and so we used cell phones. And then the Phillies brought down walkie talkies, and they fixed the phone."

The eighth inning began falling apart for St. Louis when Octavio Dotel took over for starter Chris Carpenter and gave up a leadoff double.

An intentional walk followed, then with one out, Rzepczynski came in for a lefty-lefty matchup with David Murphy. Texas could've gone to a right-handed hitter, but stuck with Murphy. He hit a comebacker that ricocheted off Rzepczynski's leg to second baseman Nick Punto. He couldn't field it cleanly, loading the bases.

"He made a great pitch, but it happens," La Russa said. "Sometimes it happens for us, today it happened against us."

Rzepczynski said he wasn't surprised to remain in because there was a lefty on deck, Mitch Moreland.

"I've done that all year, where if there's a righty in between, I'm going to go out there and get the chance to get the righty out," Rzepczynski said.

La Russa added that he didn't think it was a matchup doomed to fail.

"We had a chance with Rzepczynski's stuff to get Napoli on the first pitch," La Russa said. "And then he put a nice swing on a breaking ball."

Napoli drove a pitch into the wall in right-center field on one hop. Rzepczynski struck out Moreland, then La Russa went to the mound and tried bringing in Motte. Only he hadn't warmed up yet. So when he called for the righty, in came Lynn.

"I said, 'Why are you here?'" La Russa said.

With first base open, Lynn was told to intentionally walk Kinsler. La Russa then returned to the mound and finally got the reliever he'd wanted several batters earlier, Motte. Only now St. Louis was down by two runs and the bases were loaded.

The bearded closer struck out Elvis Andrus on three pitches, which only made the regrets of what might've been tougher for Cardinals fans to swallow once they learned of the wacky breakdown.

La Russa's constant mixing and matching of pitchers was celebrated as a big reason the Cardinals overcame a 10½-game deficit down the stretch to make the postseason, and his deft handling of the bullpen helped them get past Philadelphia and Milwaukee in the first two rounds. But things haven't been the same since Motte closed out a victory in Game 1.

Relievers have given up eight runs over their last 11 innings. Motte lost Game 2, Mitchell Boggs allowed a game-breaking three-run homer -- to Napoli -- in Game 4 and Dotel was the loser in Game 5.

Now the Rangers head to St. Louis with a 3-2 lead in the series. The Cardinals are facing elimination, something no one needs to explain more than once.

Information from ESPNDallas.com's Richard Durrett and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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