Tony La Russa Miffed At ‘Intentional’ Plunk As White Sox Bounced By Astros

Tony La Russa's angry. Again.

This time, the White Sox skipper became miffed on Tuesday night when Houston pitcher Kendall Graveman supposedly threw a pitch at the shoulder of an unsuspecting Jose Abreu of Chicago. The eighth-inning hit-by-pitch in the White Sox's 10-1 loss sent a cranky La Russa out of the dugout and towards home plate to blow off some steam.

La Russa, seeming more angry about the plunk than the loss which ended Chicago's season, simply could not accept that the pitch in question may just have gotten away from Graveman:

"It will be a good test of the character and credibility of the winning team because it was intentional. Catcher kept looking in the dugout, so they did hit him intentionally.

"I'll be really curious," added La Russa. "They should have the guts to admit that they did it."

By the time the fastball slammed into Abreu's shoulder, Chicago was likely already scheduling their offseason vacations. They trailed 7-1 with two outs in the eighth and also trailed the Astros 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

Astros manager Dusty Baker, unsurprisingly, saw the pitch differently.

"I beg to differ with Tony," Baker told reporters. "There was no intent, and there was no reason to do that. Zero."

Sensing his team would soon be clearing out their lockers, La Russa may have used the hit-by-pitch as one last opportunity for some camera time. After all, his next chance to blow a gasket in public won't come until spring training.