Cardinals and Reds Fight, Clear Benches

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips said on Monday that he hated the Cardinals and called them bitches. Word must not have gotten to the Cards until Tuesday because when Phillips came up to bat in the bottom of the first, catcher Yadier Molina had some words. The two started to exchange words and benches rapidly cleared.

Managers Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker seemed to have words for each other and both wound up ejected. Chris Carpenter, who verbally fought with teammate Brendan Ryan on Monday, was in the middle of the fight between the squads. Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, who played for the Cardinals from 2002-2007, was the peacemaker, calming Carpenter and Molina at times.

There’s no way anyone can be surprised that the teams threw down. How could the Cardinals not respond after being called bitches by Phillips? Of course they had to, and obviously each manager defended his team.