Cincinnati Reds

Emotions got the best of both the St. Louis Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night.

Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips made comments a few days earlier about the Cards that didn't sit well with St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina.

Before the bottom of the first inning, the pair got into a heated argument and the benches cleared.

Managers Tony La Russa and Dusty Baker got involved. So did starting pitchers and former allies.

With a playoff chase on the line and bad blood, this rivalry won't be going away anytime soon.

Brandon Phillips's comments from Sunday served as the catalyst for the brawl that erupted in last night's game between the NL Central co-leaders. 

It was Phillips who said, "I hate the Cardinals. All they do is b***h and moan about everything, all of them, they're little b****es, all of 'em."

That comment, followed by an unwelcome tap of Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina's shinguards, turned into a face-to-face spat between Phillips and Molina before a bench-clearing brawl broke out between the two teams.

Brandon Phillips is a great man and just made baseball really interesting. Unless you're a St. Louis Cardinals fan, or don't like the Reds, you should agree with that statement.

Phillips recently had some very colorful things to say about St. Louis that a ballplayer usually would say about their rival, comparing them to little female dogs.

Walt Jocketty, once again, has reached back into his past and grabbed a veteran to bring into the Cincinnati Reds organization.  This time, he has traded away Chris Dickerson to the Milwaukee Brewers for Jim Edmonds. 

Edmonds, now playing for his seventh Major League ballclub in his 16th year as a major leaguer, was hitting .286 with eight home runs and 20 RBI in 73 games for the Brewers.

The list of former Cardinals turned Reds grew again today. Cincinnati sent OF Chris Dickerson to the Brewers for the 40-year-old Jim Edmonds.

Former Cardinals and current Reds GM Walt Jocketty has acquired Scott Rolen, Jason Isringhausen, Russ Springer, and Miguel Cairo in the past year—all Cardinals at one point or another.

The big question: Does Edmonds have anything left in the tank?

Not to pat myself on the back, but on Saturday I wrote a story asking some questions as to what the Reds might do to aid their efforts to secure a playoff spot or even win the National league Central.

One of those questions was whether or not they would find another talent bat to assist in their offensive onslaught and today Cincinnati traded Outfielder Chris Dickerson for veteran slugger Outfielder Jim Edmonds from Milwaukee. It’s a good move, though I would not call it Earth shattering.

For die-hard Reds' fan this could easily have been titled, "Bring it on Cards!" But various politicians have used that sort of rhetoric before, and it hasn't worked very well. And as a die-hard Reds' fan...a little good karma can't hurt.

And it's not a stretch to say that deity Shiva owes the Reds a bit of good karma.

Hmm...two months to go and the Reds haven't faded and have not given any signs of faltering or disappearing. Yes, two months is still a relatively long time and the naysayers will tell you Cincinnati will show their true colors when it gets to crunch time.

I say keep doubting, keep brushing them aside and do your best to pretend that they don't know what they are doing.

We all remember the horror show that was Jimmy Haynes, the maddening inconsistencies of Kyle Lohse, and the general awfulness of Eric Milton.

Looking at what this franchise has now, that seems like a long-ago era.

Quality arm after quality arm is being pumped out by this organization, to the point where Homer Bailey and Aaron Harang may not have starting rotation jobs for the rest of the season.

Under normal circumstances, it is already tough to beat Bronson Arroyo.

And when the Chicago Cubs showed up in the game with cold bats, they just made it even tougher to win.  They suffered a 3-0 loss in this weekend three-game series opener against the Cincinnati Reds.