Get Down With Your Bad Self, Brandon Phillips. Get Down

After saying some bad things about the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips tried to make nice with Cards catcher Yadier Molina, giving him a little love tap with the bat as he stepped into the batter's box in the first inning of the Cards-Reds game Tuesday night in Cincinnati. Molina was having none of it and a brawl erupted, resulting in the ejection of managers Tony LaRussa (a plus for the Cardinals) and Dusty Baker. "He talked bad about my team, he talked bad about me," Molina said on a postgame interview with Fox Sports Midwest. "Don't talk bad and come up and say 'hi' to me. That's stupid." What, exactly, were the fightin' words? Well, here you go, from Rob Neyer and Hal McCoy : "I'd play against these guys with one leg. We have to beat these guys. I hate the Cardinals. All they do is [bleep] and moan about everything, all of them, they're little [same bleep, plural], all of 'em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals."

Usually I'm against baseball players brawling because it never amounts to anything. Two guys yell, the benches clear, the teams size each other up until the umps get involved and then it's play ball. But last night wasn't that. Last night started out hot and ended with some dude pinned up against the wall, throwing kamikaze combos with his feet. That's when you know you've gotten yourself into a vicious cock a fight. When things escalate from barking and shoving to the other guy getting the crazy look in his eyes and it's like 1812 all over again. I'm not explaining that analogy.