Joe Maddon went scorched earth on the St. Louis Cardinals after feeling like they unnecessarily retaliated during Friday’s Cubs-Cardinals game.
Cubs pitcher Dan Haren hit Matt Holliday in the fifth inning, leading the Cardinals to retaliate by hitting Anthony Rizzo in the seventh
“I’m really disappointed in what the Cardinals did right there,” Maddon said after the game. “We did not hit their guy on purpose. That was an absolute mistake. So to become this vigilante group that all off a sudden wants to get their own pound of flesh, that’s absolutely insane, ridiculous and wrong. … And furthermore, we won’t start stuff, but we will end stuff.”
Maddon even threw out a Tony Soprano reference.
“I don’t know who put out the hit,” he said. “I don’t know if Tony Soprano is in the dugout. I didn’t see him in there. We’re not going to put up with that from them or anyone else.”
The Cubs manager says he is not sure whether a beef will continue between the teams and said that was up to the Cardinals, a team of whom he was a fan growing up. He also warned that his team will run on the bases as long as the Cardinals continue to play defense behind them and give them extra space. He also preemptively struck out against the mythical “Cardinals Way,” which might suggest that that strategy is against baseball ethics.
“I never read this book the Cardinals wrote way back in the day regarding how to play baseball,” Maddon said via ESPN.com. “You can take that book and read it yourself because I don’t give a crap about that book. I want everyone there to understand we don’t start stuff but we stop stuff.”
After reading quotes like that, it’s hard to believe another manager once called Maddon a “weird wuss.”
