The Cardinals are Morons

Well, all in one night, the Cardinals firmly placed themselves in first as the team that Brewer fans most hate.

Public Enemy No. 1?

Maybe I don’t pay attention to the team enough.  I know that Tony La Russa has a reputation as a jerk, and I’ve seen (and been annoyed by) his antics – from complaining about every aspect of games his team loses, to being paranoid about sign-stealing and other things that probably aren’t happening, to being an apparent steroid enabler (or, at least, one who looks the other way), getting arrested for drunk driving, and suing twitter.  However, the last two days have been so, so irritating, I’ve become the latest member of the Shut-the-hell-up-Tony-La-Russa Club.

So what has happened?  Well, there was the whole debacle with La Russa forcing a trade of one of his best assets, Colby Rasmus.  But that doesn’t affect the Brewers – if anything, we should all be thanking La Russa for being an idiot and getting rid of Rasmus, who could very well be a star.

Yesterday, the Brewers, who were being completely shut down by Chris Carpenter through 4 innings, hung a 5 spot in the fifth.  There were whispers that the Brewers and sign-stealing master Ron Roenicke were onto Carpenter and Molina.  What bothers me more about yesterday, though, were La Russa’s assertions that Miller Park Staff were making the ribbon board around Miller Park’s club level brighter while the Brewers were hitting.  Essentially, the article goes on to say, they were wondering how a below-average road team could also be the best home team in baseball without cheating.

Fast forward to tonight.  In the 7th inning, Takashi Saito hits Albert Pujols on his left hand with a fastball that was near his head.  However, there was no reason the Brewers would be throwing at Pujols at the time, as they were trying to protect a one-run lead.  Perhaps La Russa was mad that Pujols was hit near his recently injured left wrist (which, of course, Milwaukee had nothing to do with – not to mention, can you imagine how impossible it would be to aim a 91 mph fastball at someone’s hand?), or maybe La Russa just thinks Pujols is too good to get hit by a pitch, but whatever the reason was, he came out in the bottom of the inning and had Jason Motte throw a fastball at Ryan Braun.  He missed, so he did it again.  He didn’t miss.  Motte was somehow not ejected, but La Russa took him out.  Of a 7-7 game with playoff implications and nobody out.  The Brewers went on to load the bases with nobody out, and much to my chagrin, were unable to score.  Nothing would have made me happier than La Russa’s moronic behavior backfiring.  Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.

Anyway, it appears that La Russa’s stupidity is spreading to his players.  In the top of the 10th inning, Yadier Molina struck out looking.  On a strike, mind you.  For some unfathomable reason, Molina flipped his lid, bumped the home plate umpire twice, and spat all over his face.  I would be amazed if Molina is suspended for less than 5 games.  That’s right – an all-star catcher, during a pennant race, freaking out about a good pitch.  Getting himself suspended for a long time.

With the Cubs totally irrelevant this year, and the Reds struggling, it is easy for fans to shift their dislike solely on the Cardinals.  I respect that the Cardinals have a loyal, supportive, informed fanbase (much better than the Cubs), but their support of La Russa SHOULD be waning.  He’s been toying with them for ages, and now he’s shipped out one of their future stars and made himself look like a horrible person (which, I guess, he is) in front of thousands of Brewers fans.  In the eyes of this Brewer fan, the Brewers definitely have a new, indisputable nemesis – the St. Louis Cardinals.