"Brawl" in Cincinnati

[JayJ79]

At the start of the bottom of the 1st inning in the Cardinals/Reds game yesterday, Reds second-baseman Brandon Phillips got into it with Cardinals catcher, Yadier Molina, which ended up in an altercation that cleared both benches and got both managers ejected.

Did anyone else see it (or see the sportscenter recap of it, or whatever)? What are your thoughts?


Personally, I take issue with Phillips' pre at-bat "routine" of tapping his bat against the shin guard of both the opposing catcher and the umpire. Such a thing should not be allowed. Sure, it isn't going to cause injury or anything, but it was bound to cause trouble.

[AZGrizFan]

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[JayJ79]

thanks for posting the video, AZ.
You could definitely tell that those were the homer Cincy announcers though.

saying Phillips' comments were "just words", and putting the blame (at least initially) on what they were guessing that Molina had said as Phillips was stepping in. (wouldn't those be "just words" as well? )

No mention of Brandon's tap routine.

but then, I guess taking sides is to be expected from the hometown announcers.

[GannonFan]

Well, couple Phillips tapping of the catcher with his comments before the series that the Cardinals were crybabies certainly places a lot of the onus on escalating matters on Phillips. All he did was get the Cardinals to start paying attention to the Reds - hasn't worked out well in the current series.

[Ivytalk]

The St. Louis writers were saying last night that Phillips' comments did incite the Cardinals, and they've played better in this "playoff atmosphere" series so far.

[CitadelGrad]

SWEEP!

[bluehenbillk]

That's the way baseball is meant to be played. If you want to watch no emotion turn to the Golf Channel.

[SuperHornet]

Let me preface this with the fact that I'm a lifelong Reds fan.

I don't like hitters trashtalking the catcher, much less assaulting him. He's asking for the catcher to bust out the old "Hey, Batter!" routine. But Molina's reaction was bad. What Molina SHOULD have done was call for a high hard one near the chin. If that doesn't get Phillips to back off, I don't know what will.

[JayJ79]

Let me preface this with the fact that I'm a lifelong Reds fan.

I don't like hitters trashtalking the catcher, much less assaulting him. He's asking for the catcher to bust out the old "Hey, Batter!" routine. But Molina's reaction was bad. What Molina SHOULD have done was call for a high hard one near the chin. If that doesn't get Phillips to back off, I don't know what will.

Yes, whenever I take issue with someone, I always find that instead of talking with that individual, it is better to have someone else throw a hard object 90 mph at their head.

[AshevilleApp]

Let me preface this with the fact that I'm a lifelong Reds fan.

I don't like hitters trashtalking the catcher, much less assaulting him. He's asking for the catcher to bust out the old "Hey, Batter!" routine. But Molina's reaction was bad. What Molina SHOULD have done was call for a high hard one near the chin. If that doesn't get Phillips to back off, I don't know what will.

That would have worked forty years ago when Gibson, Drysdale, McLain, etc. were pitching. The nature of the game has changed now and pitchers aren't allowed that luxury. Chin music can get you thrown out of the game now.

[OSBF]

Kudo's to Scotty Rolen.

He grabbed Chris Carpenter and escorted him away from the mele to the safety of the backstop.

Thank you Scotty, for protecting one of our most important pieces of the impending playoff drive.

Phillips is little more than a punk ass. Calling the Cardinals "bitches" then inciting the incident. Punk ass.

Molina handeled it correctly, the way a man does. Somebody dis-respects you, you show them the error of their line of thinking.

[JayJ79]

the two managers (LaRussa and Baker), as well as the kicker (Cueto), were given suspensions by MLB.
Molina, Phillips, and Carpenter were fined.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd ... p&c_id=mlb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SuperHornet]

Let me preface this with the fact that I'm a lifelong Reds fan.

I don't like hitters trashtalking the catcher, much less assaulting him. He's asking for the catcher to bust out the old "Hey, Batter!" routine. But Molina's reaction was bad. What Molina SHOULD have done was call for a high hard one near the chin. If that doesn't get Phillips to back off, I don't know what will.

That would have worked forty years ago when Gibson, Drysdale, McLain, etc. were pitching. The nature of the game has changed now and pitchers aren't allowed that luxury. Chin music can get you thrown out of the game now.

That's where you're wrong, Ashe. I have yet to see an ejection and/or fine for a pitch that doesn't make contact with the batter. Throwing NEAR the chin is patently NOT the same thing as HITTING the chin.

[BlueHen86]

That would have worked forty years ago when Gibson, Drysdale, McLain, etc. were pitching. The nature of the game has changed now and pitchers aren't allowed that luxury. Chin music can get you thrown out of the game now.

That's where you're wrong, Ashe. I have yet to see an ejection and/or fine for a pitch that doesn't make contact with the batter. Throwing NEAR the chin is patently NOT the same thing as HITTING the chin.

That's where you are wrong Hornet, Cliff Lee was ejected from a preseason game last spring for throwing a pitch over the batters head. A pitcher does not have to make contact to get thrown out of a game.