Cards Sweep Reds
Before it even started, the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds knew this series was going to be key. Forget that the two teams are going head-to-head in the National League Central Division, or that St. Louis looks down the standings at the Reds year after year, whereas Cincinnati hasn’t been on top for years. The fact is, there is some bad blood between the players and management of the two teams. In a nutshell, Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker are not the best of friends and take great delight in beating each other. Somehow, that has filtered down to the players.
Before the series started, in case everyone didn’t yet know it was personal, Brandon Phillips made it clear: "I'd play against these guys with one leg. We have to beat these guys. All they do is b***h and moan about everything, all of them, they're little b*****s, all of 'em.' I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals."
Tuesday night, Phillips' words became actions when a face-to-face encounter with Yadier Molina lead to a bench-clearing brawl that in turn lead to both La Russa and Baker being ejected. The Cardinals won that game 8-4 to lead the series 2-0 with one game to play.
Both teams wanted this series finale badly. The Cards wanted to sweep the Reds not just for the one-game lead it would give them, but to put the Reds back in second place as if to say, that’s where you belong. The Reds needed it, for the one-game division lead, sure, but also to avoid the humiliation of a sweep after starting a war of words with their richer, more successful cousins down the I-64.
In the end, it was a straightforward affair. Adam Wainwright (17-6) owned the Reds, giving up only two singles in seven shutout innings. “It certainly added fuel to our fire when you’ve got guys opening their mouth, saying stupid stuff,” said Wainwright. “But we only used that in a positive way. It’s very unprofessional to fire back.”
On the offensive side, Colby Rasmus hit his first career grand slam, which was more than enough runs as the Cardinals won 6-1. “A lot of things were going on. It’s a pumped-up series, everybody was jacked up,” said Rasmus. “With the pitching we have, that’s kind of tough for them, especially coming in with the words they were putting out there. I think it just kind of got everybody more pumped up. It definitely didn’t work in their favor.”
The two clubs will meet again for a three-games series in St. Louis on September 3rd and we can expect some fireworks regardless of where the teams are in the standings at that point.
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