After their 6-2 loss to the Brewers Monday night, the Cardinals were full of excuses. For starters, pitcher Chris Carpenter accused the Milwaukee base runners of relaying signs to the hitters during their five-run fifth inning. The Brewers could never score five runs in an inning off Carpenter, so they had to have been cheating somehow. That sparked some bad blood that carried into the next day when Albert Pujols was hit on the forearm by a Takashi Saito pitch. St. Louis hurler Jason Motte returned the favor to Ryan Braun in the bottom of the frame, prompting the umpire to warn both teams Tuesday night.
Believe it or not, none of that was the most entertaining news from the series. The biggest howl came from Tony La Russa, who filed an official complaint after Monday’s game accusing the Brewers of tinkering with the Miller Park scoreboard lighting to distract the Cardinals hitters. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Big League Stew, La Russa believes the Brewers were dimming the ribbon board that surrounds the home plate loge level to make it darker when the Cardinals were batting. Major League Baseball later said that while they pay attention to such complaints they do not believe there was an issue.
Considering La Russa is a guy with a history of condoning cheating, his accusation is a serious stretch. The Miller Park crew has been known to pull some funny stunts in the past, but dimming the lights to distract opponents would be quite an elaborate scheme to gain the upper hand. It may come as a surprise, but it is possible for the Brewers to be ahead of the Cardinals in the NL Central without cheating.
