MilWauke Brewer Vs Cardinal Rush

MilWauke Brewer Vs Cardinal Rush Fan Take's

Locked in a tight NL Central race, the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals have been engaged in some bitter battles. The most recent one was Tuesday night's game, a game that got out of control in the late innings.

In the seventh inning with the Brewers up by a run, Brewers reliever Takashi Saito(notes) allowed consecutive singles to open up the inning, which put runners on the corners with no out and Albert Pujols(notes) stepping up to the dish. With the count 1-0, Saito's fastball tailed inside and drilled Pujols in the hand, admittedly a bit close to his head. Pujols appeared to be in severe pain, but he remained in the game. The Cardinals would tie the game, but the Brewers were able to control the damage and limit the Cards to only one run in the inning.

Ryan Braun(notes) led off the next inning for the Brewers and was immediately brushed back by a Jason Motte(notes) fastball. Motte, who is the Cardinals fastest pitcher, then plunked Braun in the back with a fastball on the next pitch. Motte stared down Braun and made no indication that the pitch was an accident; in fact, his body language signaled the opposite. LaRussa pulled Motte to bring in a lefty to face Prince Fielder(notes), leaving many to believe Motte was brought in to do one thing and one thing only: retaliate.

After the game, LaRussa denied that the Braun beaning was intentional, but he did say that they were trying to establish the inside half of the plate the first two pitches. In a heated exchange with a reporter which saw La Russa call Brewers fans "idiots," LaRussa would not agree that Saito's hitting Pujols was an accident, nor would he say that he ordered for Braun to be hit.

LaRussa is completely delusional for thinking that the Pujols hit-by-pitch was intentional. Saito is the Brewers' quietest, most harmless reliever—by that I mean he is always cool and calm, and he would never hit someone with a pitch intentionally. In addition, there is no way the Brewers called for Pujols to be plunked. With a one run lead and runners on the corners, why in the world would the Brewers give away the game just so they could hit Pujols? They wouldn't. Still, LaRussa, being the classy guy that he is, clearly sent his hardest thrower out there to hit one of the Brewers' two best hitters, Braun, as payback for an accident.

The next incident came in the 10th inning when home plate umpire Rob Drake rang Yadier Molina(notes) up on a called strike three. Molina immediately barked at Drake, then accosted him and visibly bumped him twice and appeared to spit on Drake's face. Whether the saliva came from Molina's mouth intentionally or as a result of Molina's yelling is open for interpretation. After the game, Molina claimed it was an accident, of course.

Molina will certainly face some action from the league office, and a likely suspension will be handed down to him soon. Molina's actions completely crossed the line and then some. Making contact with an umpire is bad enough, but to do it twice, get right in his face and spray saliva all over his face, and then cuss him out for the next 10 minutes as Molina took his slow walk to the showers in a disgrace to the game of baseball.

Overall, this game was another classic example of LaRussa having no control over his team and even instigating a fight between the teams. LaRussa also filed a complaint before Tueday's game saying that the Brewers were darkening the stadium when the Cardinals were batting so it would be harder for the Cards to see the ball. Sounds like an excuse-making, sore loser to me. LaRussa is usually a good manager and his resume commands respect, but it would be nice if the guy learned how to lose with class, too.

Drew is a lifelong Brewers fan who endured all the tough losing seasons of the '90s and early 2000s and is finally enjoying some great winning baseball from the Brewers the last few years. His earliest Brewer memories were seeing the likes of Jeremy Burnitz, Mark Loretta(notes), and Jeff Cirillo trot out to take the field at Milwaukee County Stadium. Read MOre