I wonder how much Brandon Phillips hates the Cardinals now? After Phillips said he hated the Cardinals and thought they were complainers, the Cardinals not only took game one of this series, but then Tuesday night in the bottom of the first inning, catcher Yadier Molina stuck up for his teammates and confronted Phillips as he led off the bottom of the first. The benches cleared and the Cardinals eventually won 8-4 to tie the Reds for first in the NL Central Division.  (Check out the brawl)

It started when Phillips walked up to the plate and tapped Molina on the shin guards as a way to say hello.

Yadier Molina on Phillips tapping his shin guards

Perhaps Phillips was trying to make amends for his comments after his manager Dusty Baker talked to him before the game. Well that didn’t sit well with Molina who said, “The comment he made yesterday that he’s got no friends over here — then why you touch me? You are not my friend, so don’t touch me. I mean, if we’re no good for you, you are not my friend.”

Then Molina stood on top of home plate and the two started jawing which cleared the benches. Former Cardinal Scott Rolen pushed Chris Carpenter up against the screen trying to play peacemaker. Reds’ starter Johnny Cueto was also pushed up against the screen and started kicking.

Carpenter’s thoughts

Carpenter basically called it low class, Cueto said he got scared with 15-20 people pinning him up against the screen. Cards’ back up catcher Jason LaRue was kicked in the head and suffered a mild concussion.

When played resumed, Molina’s bat did the talking. He hit a home run in the second inning off Cueto and added a sac fly. The big inning came in the sixth when the Cardinals scored three times to break a 2-2 tie.

Matt Holliday hit a single with the bases loaded. He had four hits on the night. The Reds clearly being outplayed in this series, committed three errors. Rookie Jaime Garcia (10-5) beat the Reds for the third time this season, giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings.

The Reds threatened in the sixth when they loaded the bases with two outs. A single to left scored two runs, but Jim Edmonds, who walked the previous at-bat, rounded second base too far and the cut off throw went to second ending the rally and keeping the scored at 5-4.

The Cardinals added three more runs as insurance to gain the tie in the NL Central standings.

The good portions of Tony LaRussa’s post game comments

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