It is a true thing that I am a bit of what is known as a red ass when its comes to sports competition, but I fall squarely on the side of Molina in this situation with Brandon Phillips and the brawl. Nobody really looks good after a brawl, but Brandon Phillips and Johnny Cueto come out of this looking like complete idiots. Cueto for certain came out as a coward. If Cueto was a Cardinal and he had done that kicking BS he did I would never root for him again, and he would get booed relentlessly every time I was at the game. In fact, I would bet money that he would get boo's from lots of fans everytime he played a home game. I actually bet my bottom dollar that even a couple of his own teammates had some words for him after that little act of pure cowardice.
As for Brandon Phillips, I like the old school mentality. When Joey Votto said what he said about Marlon Byrd I thought it was pretty damned cool that somebody was channeling some inner Bob Gibson. But when Votto did it he didn't say the Cubs suck, or that he hated the Cubs because of any particular trait they had, he just wasn't going to be friendly. In fact he didn't do anything at all to personalize other than to say hey, I am a hard nosed ballplayer and I am not going to be friendly with the opposition when I am in a pennant race. That, to me is a good quality. Phillips on the other had just wanted his quote to make the press, wanted to call out the Cardinals. And you know what? I don't care that he did that either, thats his priority. I don't give a damn what some player thinks about another team personally, and I don't really think any other players care either. But he didn't stop there. Molina had it right when he said (a bit of a paraphrase) you don't tell me you hate me one day and then say hi like nothing happened the next. Which is exactly what Brandon Phillips did with his little bat tap to the shin guard. That a friendly gesture towards other players. In this situation, I don't think anybody with half a brain cell thought for a second that Brandon Phillips wasn't making a calculated gesture to mock the Cardinals at the very least and perhaps Molina on a personal level. Frankly, I would have reacted the same way. Actually, to be perfectly honest Molina probably acted with more restraint than I would have.
Now as for the play by play of the fight, there were some interesting things that happened in in other than Cueto acting like Brandon Phillips proverbial "little bitch." The most interesting of which is Scott Rolen tearing after Carp after what originally looked like a peace mission towards Yadi. (it looked like from what I could read of his lips that he actually kind of agreed with Yadi) I watched this about thirty times from various angles, just trying to piece together exactly what happened. Basically what happened was there was the initial altercation, then Dusty and Tony were having there dust up. There is actually a brief moment where Edmonds actually had a sentence or two of harsh words for his on manager Dusty Baker. (pretty sure all those bush league moves he made versus the Cardinals and Edmonds. Keep in mind Cubs fans, I am saying Dusty Baker was bush league, not your team, well, not your team except for Big Z.) Then Carp says something, and the umpire says something to Carp, then Carp says something very heated to Dusty Baker. At this point Rolen comes after Carp. However, although Rolen charged after Carp, it doesn't appear that he was actually going to get physical other than maybe get in his face and yell, but as soon as Rolen did that the Red's players scrummed in pushing the pile back. As soon as the full weight of the pile started pushing back towards the backstop, Rolen immediately switched from aggressor to trying to hold Carpenter up, and started trying to pull him out of the pile. He was also trying to pull him away from that little girl Cueto who was kicking at whatever moved like a Can-Can dancer. At the end of it Rolen had his hand on Carps back and it looked like what it was. Two old very intense teammates that had let their emotions get the better of it and felt a little ashamed of it. This was nothing, and nothing that is worth talking about really. Rolen's actions showed that he did not want to harm Carp, and they seemed to work out their issues right there. Cueto and Phillips are the Belles of this Ball.
So what does Brandon Phillips comments and actions really mean in the whole long mess of a major league season? Maybe nothing. But, maybe, just maybe it means something. Don't get me wrong, this team cares about winning, and they play hard, but for most of the season passionless is a way to describe how they go about their game. Maybe business like is a better way of putting it. In fact, in July Mo said that perhaps they were going to go after a fiery personality or a joker clubhouse presence just because he really thought that was what his team needed. Something to break that stoic presence of the team. Actually, personally, I thought Carpenter being more fiery in the last three weeks might actually have been an effort to try and flame a little passion. Particularly in younger guys like Rasmus and Ryan who really do seem to play like they don't care sometimes. But ladies and gentlemen. They have a challenge now. They looked like a different team tonight. They weren't a better team, or a more skilled team tonight. But you could see it in them mannerisms, in their eyes. There body language said they were pissed and that there was no way they were going to let any team led by a Cub reject manager beat them. I have said the last few years that I think the Cardinals are a better team when the Cubs are at least competitive. It gives them some fire. Well, they haven't had any fire this year. But now, maybe, thanks to Phillips, they will. If he had just made his comments and that was it, it might have faded. But he didn't. He actually took the insult to them in person and tried to show them up on the field. They won't forget that and Brandon Phillips might have just given them the fire they didn't have and given them what they needed to win the Central crown. Regardless, I bet money that if Ex-Cards GM Walt Jocketty (good friend of TLR, and oh yea, the man who built those Cardinals teams) is still the Reds GM then I bet Brandon Phillips won't be a Red next year. Particularly if they don't make the playoffs.
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