By Matt Snyder
The bad blood between the Reds and Cardinals just keeps growing. Sunday, as the Reds polished off the Cardinals for a three-game sweep and control of the NL Central, a war of words broke out after the final out between the two teams.
On the Reds' end, it was Francisco Cordero with a little support from Johnny Cueto screaming into the Cardinals' dugout. I'm not a great lip reader, but it appeared Cordero politely (please note sarcasm) telling the Cardinals to go home. Cueto was more jovial for the most part, waving good-bye and smiling through most of the exchange.
On the Cardinals' end, it wasn't initially clear who was doing the yelling and about half the dugout seemed to be perplexed. After the game, however, reports indicated Gerald Laird was yelling at Cordero about hitting Albert Pujols in the wrist with a pitch. (Mark Sheldon via Twitter)
That's pretty ridiculous. I understand there are bad feelings from the Cardinals' dugout about the Reds, specifically Cueto and Brandon Phillips because of some comments and actions toward St. Louis last season. Rightfully so, considering Phillips called the Cardinals "little bitches" and Cueto was trying to kick people in the head with cleats during their brawl. But in this situation, there is no way the Reds wait until the top of the ninth and in the middle of a game-altering rally to dot Pujols on purpose. The Cards had already scored five runs to cut the lead to 9-7 and Pujols represented the tying run. With Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman being the next two hitters, putting Pujols on base on purpose is one of the dumbest possible things the Reds could do there -- aside from bringing in Aroldis Chapman, which had already been done to jump-start the rally. Both Cordero and catcher Ramon Hernandez said as much after the game to reporters.
“When you’re up by two, do you really want to put the tying run on first base with one out and Holliday and Berkman – one of the hottest hitters of the season so far?" Hernandez asked.
"Gerald Laird did not even play and he’s the one yelling at me because I hit Pujols 0-2 … 0-2," Cordero said. "I wasn’t trying to hit him. I’ve got to face Holliday next. They can take the lead with one swing. Lance Berkman is one of the great hitters in the National League. All I know is [Laird] was loud and saying something to me. I said something back to him."
Still, apparently there were some on the Cardinals who took issue with the pitch.
“We don’t like it when somebody like Albert gets hit, especially in that type of situation," said Cardinals acting manager Joe Pettini (all quotes via Mark My Word). "A lot of guys took offense to it, didn’t like it. That’s baseball. You pitch inside, but you better have a clue when you come inside. They took offense to it, we took offense to it, and the soap opera continues between these guys. There’s always something when you come in here.”
Maybe it was simply emotions after getting swept and losing first place, but any complaints coming from the Cardinals should be at their own failings in the past three games.
For the record, Pujols told reporters after the game he didn't think the hit-by-pitch was intentional. (Joe Strauss via Twitter)
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