St. Louis-Cincinnati – the brawl is on
We’re entering the business end of the season in the National League Central Division, less than 50 games to go and after tonight’s brawl between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Cincinnati Reds, nothing separates the two teams at the top. Below these teams, there’s a lot of daylight in the standings, which makes each game between the two more important and more intense.
Intimidation became an important factor Monday when Reds second baseman, Brandon Phillips took some shots across the bow at La Russa’s Cardinals before Monday’s game: "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.'”
He also said, "I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals."
Game on. Except the Reds lost the game that night, 7-3 and took a few shots back from La Russa, a trained lawyer who pointed out that Phillips was criticizing his own team mates. "I don't think that will go over well in his clubhouse," La Russa said. "Phillips is ripping his [own] teammates. (Scott) Rolen, (Jim) Edmonds, (Miguel) Cairo, (Russ) Springer, all of the ex-Cardinals over there. He isn't talking about this year. He's talking about the way we've always played. And those guys are old Cardinals."
Then it was time for round two: Tuesday night’s game. When Phillips came to bat in the first inning, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina had a few words for Phillips. Both men removed their helmets and got into it causing the benches to empty, including Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Reds manager Dusty Baker, who started jawing at each other in the middle of the field.
Ex-Cardinal Rolen, who appeared to be playing peacemaker, then made a run at current Cardinal Chris Carpenter and the two ended up against the backstop screen under a crush of 40+ players, although no serious punches were thrown. Following the mêlée, both managers were ejected from the game.
The Cardinals won the game 8-4 behind some hot hitting by Matt Holliday, who went 4-5 with three RBIs. The win pulled St. Louis into a tie for first place with the Reds. The two teams have one more game left in this series in Cincinnati, and then one more three-game series this year at the start of September in St. Louis. What happens in those games might depend on Major League Baseball’s response to the drama on Tuesday night.
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