Call your opponent a little bitch, this is usually what happens.



Watching the video, the Cardinals-Reds brawl doesn't appear to be all that impressive. I mean, there weren't any signature, Nolan Ryan-Robin Ventura-like moments. In fact, there were hardly any, if even one, punches thrown. And, despite the sheer number of players involved, only the managers, Dusty Baker and Tony LaRussa, were tossed from the game.

According to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer, Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto made the fight more intense than the video lets on. Cueto reportedly pissed off the Cardinals even more than Brandon Phillips, whose "little bitch" comments started the entire affair, by kicking players during the scuffle.

Fay:

“All I know is we exchanged words and the next thing I know I was in the net with somebody kicking me in the back from behind,” Chris Carpenter said. “I wasn’t throwing any punches, nobody was throwing any punches, and then we’ve got some guy kicking me in the back and ends up kicking my backup catcher in the face and splitting his face open.

The Cardinals said LaRue may have a concussion.

“He could have done some real damage (on LaRue), he got him in the side of his eye, he got him in his nose, he got him in his face. Totally unprofessional. Unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like that. He got kicked square in the side of the face with spikes. C’mon, give me a break.”

That's pretty nuts, and wrong, that Cueto would start kicking cats; I guess St. Louis should just be happy that Edinson Volquez didn't come out packing heat. As a result, the Reds' starter came off as the real villain of the brawl.

Speaking of cats...I was also quite amused by LaRussa's reaction to his ejection. As Craig Calcaterra points out over at Hardball Talk, the control freak manager vomited several times while watching the remainder of the game in the clubhouse. Sure, it's a pennant race and a lot was at stake, but that seems pretty ridiculous. LaRussa's false belief that he can control the outcome of games with his "strategic genius" is well documented. Clearly, he didn't like being out of control after being kicked out last night, literally making him sick to his stomach..

Perhaps the furry creature-loving LaRussa would have been better off tuning out the game--Billy Beane-style--instead spending a few hours watching popular cat videos on YouTube.

Update: As expected, MLB Advanced Media pulled the video embedded above from YouTube. Fear not, though. Click here to view the tauntr.com Cardinals-Reds Brawl mosh version.