**** internet...

That's all I have to say about not posting this morning or last night until right now.  I did get an email apologizing for the inconveniences the internet outage could have caused though.  It's a little ironic that I got an email about the internet outage...

Anyway, I'm a little fired up about last night's game.  In fact, you could say I'm a little Carlos Villanueva about yesterday's game.  This blog rarely is a springboard for my rants, but there needs to be a couple things said.  

Before anything.  Here are a couple articles on the CV - Albert Pujols confrontation last night.

A journalist from the St. Louis Dispatch, Bernie Miklasz, has a nice encompassing article with tons of quotations from Pujols after the game.  Pujols says that CV has woken up "a sleeping giant" because of his actions.  He congratulates Villanueva for sparking the Cardinals to victory.

Really, Albert?  You have all my respect in the world.  I think you are, by far, the best baseball player in the league, but it took this to get your blood boiling about the baseball game?  The St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers are in a Wild Card race with only 4.5 games separating the two in the standings.  The Cards desperately needed Wednesday's game to get back in the thick of the race.  Yet, the playoff atmosphere and the rival Brewers being in town couldn't do it for the Cardinals.  They must simply had not cared too much at the beginning of the day.  Nope, it took CV getting amped up towards the Cardinals' dugout for St. Louis to be like, "Oh, maybe I should care about this game and try hard."  Give me a break.

Now, let's get this straight.  Villanueva got into the heat of the moment by celebrating towards the Cardinals dugout.  I'm not sure if he meant to or not, but it happened.  CV did have the right to get amped at that point, so it's hard to find fault in it too much.  He did cross the line, however, when cursing at Pujols when Albert approached him on the mound.  I understand you're not going to back down from anyone, but you know what would have been the perfect retaliation?  Walking silently to your dugout and finishing off the Cardinals.  That would have been nice.

Pujols says the altercation caused the rally in the eighth inning.  Not true.  David Riske elevating all his fastballs caused the rally in the eighth inning.  I'm fairly certain that Bill Hall could have doubled on the grooved fastball to Pujols.  Actually, it's Busch Stadium...Hall would have homered.  Nevermind.  Still, it's not like the Cardinals were driving difficult pitches into the outfield.  They were belt-high fastballs down the middle of the plate.  It's not like Troy Glaus made the perfect slide to get by Jason Kendall's tag at home plate.  J.J. Hardy short-hopped an easy throw because he rushed himself, and Kendall was unable to get the tag down.  Yeah, those were definitely spectacular plays.  I have a feeling the Washington Nationals could have come back against the Brewers last night in the eighth inning if Riske was putting balls on a tee like that.  The Villanueva-Pujols confrontation did nothing.  It's a sign of a dead clubhouse that Pujols needs to create excitement about this to get his team going.  I have never seen a dugout so tense as that of the Cardinals.  Maybe you guys should have fun playing baseball. 

Still, hats off to the Cards and Chris Perez for finishing off the game.  That kid has some nasty stuff.  Losing the lead to the Brewers at that point would have been brutal.  St. Louis did what they had to do and finished the series with a split.  After getting demolished the first game, that's all they could hope for.  Trying to make it some type of "landmark win" because of the CV thing is ridiculous.  You have fun going to Houston and Arizona next.

I enjoyed reading Miklasz's blog, as he provided some keen insight into the whole situation from the Cardinals' perspective.  Then he lost me with this section.

"One more thing: I don’t understand the Brewers. I just don’t. Really, I admire that team and its talent. Doug Melvin is one of the best guys in the game and an excellent GM. There are so many good players on that roster. But why do the Brewers always have to pull stunts? Why do they have to go knucklehead on us so often? What’s up with yanking their shirts out of their pants on the field as soon as they win a game, which, despite what they claim, really is an insult to the other team? What’s up with some of the showboat HR trots? What’s up with a journeyman like Villanueva gesturing wildly and cursing in the direction of the STL dugout? I don’t understand why this talented team feels that it needs to act up like NBA bad boy Ron Artest, or something. I don’t understand why this Milwaukee team feels the need to be controversial. I don’t understand the arrogance, considering that the Brewers have won NOTHING since 1982. And I don’t understand how Yost continues to allow it to happen. The Brewers will probably make the playoffs. They are that good. But we must ask: can you fellas at least hold off on the showboating until you actually win something?"

I literally scratched my head at this when I read it.  I feel bad for Miklasz a bit, as he is trying to talk about some stuff he doesn't understand.  Let's review.

"[W]hy do the Brewers always have to pull stunts?"  Really?  The untucking of the shirts really bothers you that much St. Louis?  Bernie Miklasz is claiming it is an insult to the other team when the Crew does this, "despite what they claim."  I cannot believe this.  It is something Mike Cameron did, on his own, to honor his father.  His father was a blue-collar worker when Mike was young, and after a hard day's work, he would come home, untuck his shirt, and relax.  Cam untucks his shirt after a good, hard day's work...which, heaven forbid, is a Brewers victory.

The rest of the Brewers outfield thought the tribute was pretty cool, so they began to do it too.  Sometimes baseball teams have a camaraderie that extends beyond the baseball field.  They show support for one another.  Now the untucking of the shirts has morphed into an evil act that is showing up the other team.  You know what shows up the other team?  Facing their dugout, screaming and pumping fists...not untucking shirts after a victory.  Give me a break.  This is one of the stupidest things ever to be upset about.  I actually thought it was a joke that the Cardinals were upset about it a month or so ago. 

Do the Cardinals always have to have something to whine about concerning the Brewers?  It was the beanball war last season.  This year, it's the untucking of the shirts and the Villanueva celebration.  What's it going to be next season, huh?  You don't like Milwaukee's retro uniforms because the blue pinstripes are distracting when you're trying to hit?  Ned Yost was caught drinking a Miller Light in Busch Stadium after the game, and you find it offensive to the local community? 

Or maybe, just maybe, you don't like that the Milwaukee Brewers just beat you in the season series 10-5.  You have to find something not to like or some controversy to take away from the fact that the little boy down the street, the Brew Crew, has grown up and doesn't really like to be pushed around anymore.  In fact, some of the Baby Brewers have grown up and can push back pretty hard.  Instead of admitting that, the Crew has to be this "punk kid" living at the end of the street that is so disrespectful.  What a joke. 

Back to the quotation.  Miklasz then complains about the showboating home run trots.  Brewers fans admitted Ryan Braun cadillac-ed it out of the box in the last series, but you know what?  He didn't do that in the first game of the series.  Young players make mistakes and get caught up in the moment sometimes.  Braun learned his lesson, and put his head down and ran after hitting a home run in Tuesday's game.  Yet, Tony LaRussa still calls for Braun to get beaned in the back with a fastball.  Fine.  Great.  Grand.  You'd think Tony would have a little more respect for the Brewers that than.  Sure, the unspoken baseball code may call for him to get beaned, but does it have to be exactly where a player is injured?  TLR is fanning the flames more than any St. Louis fan wants to admit.

Oh yeah, do I need to mention the Cardinals have Albert Pujols?  He stands around admiring his home runs more than anyone I have ever seen, except maybe Aramis Ramirez.  That home run he hit against Brad Lidge in the playoffs...Albert still may be standing at home plate watching that one fly.  The Cardinals are honestly upset with Braun for doing the same thing their own team does?  That's asinine.  I'll be the first to say it was unsportsmanlike for Braun to stand at home plate and watch that home run a month ago, but the Cardinals should be the last team to complain about that. 

Finally, the author says that Villanueva, a journeyman, needs to not get so amped up.  First of all, sorry if the Brewers were more pumped up than the Cardinals about the series at that point.  Secondly, CV is not a journeyman.  He's been on an entire TWO teams his entire career, and only one big league team.  If Carlos is a journeyman pitcher, I'm the second coming of Albert Pujols.  What an absolute joke.

I'll be the first to admit that Carlos shouldn't have directed everything at the Cardinals' dugout.  Fine.  Whatever.  This whole thing is being blown out of proportion to be something like the savior to St. Louis' season.  It's been said many times that these teams don't like each other.  I think that's only partly true.  It seems as if the Brewers view the Cards as a rival, but don't despise St. Louis.  The Cardinals hate the Brewers because they have overtaken them as the second best team in the division.  It's always a hard fall from the top, I suppose.