The Chris Moeller Archives

Doesn't like us? How can anybody not like us?

Damn, you gotta love ya' some baseball. Come on, people. Cardinals versus the Reds in Cincinnati? Harsh words and intensity Monday spilled over into a 1st inning brawl Tuesday. It's Tony LaRussa versus Dusty Baker again. Moeller Twin versus Moeller Twin. The magnificent Yadier Molina-- a most important Cardinal-- making himself a hero once more, both with his bat and his initiative.

Here are some random thoughts on the vulgar words of the Reds' Brandon Phillips towards the Cardinals and Tuesday's 1st inning dust-up at and behind home plate.

-- This is not just a Moeller family thing. This is big brother versus little brother down to the soles. It's one side on top in the pecking order (get it?) until they get knocked off their bat. The Birds have been bullies in the division standings for 10 full years. The only three seasons in the past decade that the Cardinals have failed to win the Central were the three years ('03, '07, '08) that mound ace Chris Carpenter sat mending his arm, and the Reds haven't finished above the Cards in the standings since 1999. Phillips' comments Monday suggested a player who has never played in a big series-- and he hadn't.

-- It's hard for me to be mad at the guy for his wide receiver-style "smack" when it was so clearly an attempt at team motivation and self-assertion. Phillips has been with the Reds long enough to be keyed up by the team's present opportunity, and his teammate over at first base, a grown man who goes by the name "Joey," announced during the All-Star Break that he hated the Cubs. Hardly an eyebrow had been raised in response to that. Which leads us to the next point...

-- Someone from the Cards' P.R. office needs to send a memo to all television and online media informing them that the team's anger with Phillips has nothing to do with his saying he "hates" them. It's possible that no human other than Ralph Nader cares less about what people think of him than team skipper Tony LaRussa. This should have been clear long ago. What it has to do with, now, is being called "little bitches." I'm not close to the world of professional wrestling or the mixed-martial arts, but I recognize that you can't throw borderline slurs around like that and expect to buddy up with the other side immediately afterward.

-- Let's hope the Commissioner's office suffers a bout of inconsistency by its previous actions when it comes time to level suspensions in connection with Tuesday's brawl-- on both sides. The division and pennant races should be settled on the field. Kudos to the series' umpiring crew for keeping all the ballplayers in Tuesday's game. Both managers were ejected, but as LaRussa said after the game, the managers are the least important participants. The beauty of the game of baseball is that it allows the participants to police it themselves. Fortunately for the Cardinals, there are plenty of ways you can "get to" a middle-infield pivot-man who comes to bat four to five times every game. Also, for hypocrisy's case, it would be good for the commissioner's minions to acknowledge that the brawl will be very good for business in two different towns.

-- It's annoying that the ever-"family-friendly" traditional news media continues to clean up Phillips' comments for him. Each time they do, they let him off the hook and it misrepresents the story. The bottom-of-the-screen crawl on ESPN all day yesterday said Phillips called the Cardinals "complainers" (my quotes), and Aaron saw a headline that said "crybabies." No, Phillips said "bitches"-- "little bitches." There are degrees of severity there. Being called a complainer is not quite the same thing. Thanks for being mindful of the children, but get it right.

-- I would not change one word of any of LaRussa's various responses this week. They seemed carefully-crafted, but cutting. Superb, Skip, superb. I swear I don't understand how anyone cannot like you?

-- I don't give a toot what Bobby Valentine thinks. The "Baseball Tonight" analyst commended Yadi Molina's actions on the air Tuesday night, but even as he offered that "a lot of people agree with Phillips" in regards to the Cardinals. There are plenty of baseball people who despise Valentine, incidentally, who is so "whiny" himself that he once refused to accept an umpire's ejection and snuck back into the dugout to manage his team wearing a fake mustache. Every action that guy has taken this year, including the acceptance of his ESPN gig and his comments Tuesday, have been steered to the same end-- his highly-orchestrated campaign to be awarded the Chicago Cubs' open managerial position this coming off-season. And I hope they pick him.

-- Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, and Yadier Molina all used to play on the same team?! Yeah, right-- an All-Star team, maybe.

-- Major props to Cardinals' rookie starting pitcher Jaime Garcia. On Monday, starter Carpenter stomped around on the mound and chewed out a teammate after his 1st inning mound preparation was thrown off by a shortstop arriving late on the field, a reaction I make no judgment upon whatsoever. But on Tuesday, Garcia's 1st inning prep was disrupted by a full seven-minute bench-clearing brawl. The kid battled into the sixth inning, allowing only two hits, and won his 10th game of the season.

-- Quote of the day: There are some beauties to choose from, but how about this text message from St. Louis broadcaster J.C. Corcoran to Post-Dispatch columnist Bernie Miklasz, "I haven't seen that much pushing and shoving in Cincinnati since The Who concert in 1979."

posted by CM @ 2:56 PM